(New Brunswick, New Jersey) - Avant-garde Health has named 26 doctors from Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS) and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH), an RWJBarnabas Health facility, Healthcare Research All-Stars in 2025. This honor recognizes the top five percent of physicians in the United States publishing leading-edge research, which ultimately contributes to better patient outcomes. More than 424,000 physicians and 4,700 hospitals were considered for the awards.
Several physicians on the list were in the top 1% including:
- Jeffrey Carson, MD, distinguished professor of medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the medical school and Provost–New Brunswick at Rutgers University (Internal Medicine Research)
- Andrew M. Evens, DO, MBA, MSc, professor of medicine at the medical school; deputy director for clinical services and chief physician officer, Rutgers Cancer Institute and Jack & Sheryl Morris Cancer Center; system director of medical oncology and oncology lead, RWJBarnabas Health Medical Group; and associate vice chancellor for clinical information and data analytics, Rutgers Health (Hematology Research)
- Maya Guglin, MD, professor of medicine and section chief of heart failure in the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases and Hypertension at the medical school and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (Cardiology Research)
- Partho Sengupta, MD, Henry Rutgers Professor of Cardiology and chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases and Hypertension at the medical school, and chief of cardiology at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (Cardiology Research)
- Arvind Trindade, MD, professor of medicine, associate director of endoscopy, and director of surgical endoscopic research and the Barrett’s Esophagus Program at the medical school; co-chief of endoscopy for Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital; and vice president of GI Clinical Operations, Southern Region—Central for RWJBarnabas Health (Gastroenterology Research)
Medical school faculty on the list, who also provide clinical services through Rutgers Health and RWJBarnabas Health Medical Group, represented more than a dozen specialties/subspecialties. They include:
Endocrinology Research:
Top 2-3%:
- Ankit Shah, MD, assistant professor of medicine
GI/General Surgery Research:
Top 2-3%:
- Theodore Eisenstat, MD, professor of surgery
- Dylan Nieman, MD, associate professor of surgery
Gynecologic Surgery Research:
Top 2-3%:
- Eugenia Girda, MD, associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences at the medical school, and gynecologic oncologist and associate chief of surgical officer research for Rutgers Cancer Institute
- Juana Hutchinson-Colas, MD, professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences, and chief of the Division of Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery
- Ruby Lin, MD, maternal-fetal medicine fellow
- Nancy Phillips, MD, member of the medical school’s Women’s Health Institute and volunteer faculty
Top 4-5%:
- Gloria A. Bachmann, MD, MMS, professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences; associate dean for women’s health; and co-director, Women’s Health Institute
- Lena Merjanian, MD, assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences
Internal Medicine Research:
Top 2-3%:
- Benjamin Bates, MD, instructor of medicine
- Payal Dave, MD, associate professor of medicine
- Jigar Patel, MD, assistant professor of family medicine and community health
Top 4-5%:
- Andrew Azab, MD, assistant professor of medicine
- Patrick Boland, MD, associate professor of medicine and associate program director of GI Medical Oncology at Rutgers Cancer Institute
- Sneha Jacob, MD, MS, associate professor of family medicine and community health
- Sarang Kim, MD, professor of medicine
- Ibiyonu Lawrence, MD, associate professor of medicine and division chief of geriatrics in the Department of Medicine
- Jay Naik, MD, assistant professor of medicine
- Manish Patel, MD, associate professor of medicine
- Sheetal Patel, MD, assistant professor of medicine
- Stephen Priest, MD, assistant professor of medicine
- Vinod K. Rustgi, MD, distinguished professor of medicine, clinical director of hepatology, professor of epidemiology, and professor of pathology and laboratory medicine
- Frank Sonnenberg, MD, professor of medicine
- Christina Theodorou Ross, MD, assistant professor of medicine
- Xiangbing Wang, MD, PhD, professor of medicine
Neurology Research:
Top 2-3%:
- Gian Pal, MD, associate professor of neurology
Neurosurgery and Spine Research
Top 2-3%:
- Robert E. Gross, MD, PhD, chair, Department of Neurosurgery at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and senior vice president for neurosurgical services at RWJBarnabas Health
- Gaurav Gupta, MD, professor of neurosurgery and chief of cerebrovascular and endovascular neurosurgery at the medical school, and system co-director of Cerebrovascular and Endovascular Neurosurgery at RWJBarnabas Health
Top 4-5%:
- Hai Sun, MD, associate professor of neurosurgery and assistant director of research in the medical school’s Department of Neurosurgery, and a member of Rutgers Brain Health Institute
Pulmonology Research:
Top 2-3%:
- Reynold A. Panettieri Jr., MD, professor of medicine at the medical school, vice chancellor for translational medicine and science, and director of the Rutgers Institute for Translational Medicine and Science
Top 4-5%:
- Jared Radbel, MD, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
Rheumatology Research:
Top 2-3%:
- Victor Sloan, MD, clinical professor of medicine (volunteer faculty)
Urology Research:
Top 2-3%:
- Saum Ghodoussipour, MD, assistant professor of surgery in the medical school’s Division of Urology, and director of the Bladder and Urothelial Cancer Program at Rutgers Cancer Institute
Top 4-5%:
- Thomas Jang, MD, MPH, professor of surgery and chief of urologic oncology at the medical school and Rutgers Cancer Institute
Vascular Surgery Research:
Top 4-5%:
- William Beckerman, MD, associate professor of surgery, program director of the Vascular Surgery Integrated Residency Program, and medical co-director of the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Center for Wound Healing
Media Contacts:
Claire Mulhern 862-252-1880
cm1417@rwjms.rutgers.edu
Peter Haigney 908-227-9317
peter.haigney@rwjbh.org