Department of Medicine

About Us

Dedicated to the future of care

The Department of Medicine provides residents with a thorough, broad-based education while giving patients individualized care through Feinberg-affiliated hospitals and care sites and conducting high-level basic and clinical research through our 12 specialized internal medicine divisions.

The unique culture at the Department of Medicine is built on its rich history of research and clinical innovation embedded in an exceptional clinical environment, driven by faculty and staff whose commitment and talent create patient care improvements through scientific advance.

These extraordinary strengths allow the Department to adapt to tremendous challenges and opportunities that are arising in healthcare. We have seen more change over recent years than in many preceding decades. As each of us contributes to expanding what we can achieve, we are driven by the same core mission: Patients First.”

Susan E. Quaggin, MD, FRCP(C), FASN

Read Message from the Chair

What We Do

Faculty Spotlight

Al B Benson

Professor of Medicine (Hematology and Oncology)

Colon cancer, Gastric cancer, Pancreas cancer, Rectal cancer

Ravi Kalhan

Professor of Medicine (Pulmonary and Critical Care) and Preventive Medicine (Epidemiology)

Ravi Kalhan, MD, MS is Director of the Northwestern Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Program where comprehensive care is provided to patients with asthma and COPD at all stages of severity. Dr. Kalhan additionally serves as medical director of the lung volume reduction program leading the multidisciplinary evaluation of patients for both bronchoscopic and surgical approaches to severe COPD. Dr. Kalhan attended college at Brown University in Providence, RI where he majored in modern American history. He subsequently entered medical school at Case Western Reserve Universit...

Martha L Twaddle

Clinical Professor of Medicine (Hospital Medicine)

Dr. Twaddle combines nearly thirty years of experience in the care of seriously ill people and their families in a variety of areas of service. She currently serves as the Medical Director for Palliative Medicine & Supportive Care at Northwestern Medicine - Lake Forest Hospital. Her academic work includes developing curriculum, guidelines and models of care for healthcare professionals to provide care for the seriously ill in all settings. In addition, at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, she works with teams that are evaluating the impact of communication skills training on...

Rachel M Cyrus

Associate Professor of Medicine (Hospital Medicine)

Rachel has been the Clinical Practice Director for the Division of Hospital Medicine at Northwestern since 2012. Her current roles include Key Medical Director for General Medicine, co-chair of the Department of Medicine Quality Management Committee, and Quality and Safety Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program. At the national level, Rachel has served on the Society of Hospital Medicine Practice Management Committee and has spoken on teamwork and interdisciplinary rounding. Honors include being named one of ACP’s 10 top hospitalists in 2017 and being selected for members...

Lee Francis

Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine (General Internal Medicine)

Dr. Lee Francis joined Erie Family Health Center in 1991 and has served as President and CEO since 2007. Dr. Francis is charged with enacting Erie’s strategic vision of serving as a national leader in the provision of community-based health care.

Bradley P Knight

Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) and Medical Education

Dr. Knight is the Chester C. and Deborah M. Cooley Distinguished Professor of Cardiology at Northwestern University, and has been the Director of Cardiac Electrophysiology at the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute at Northwestern Memorial Hospital since November 1, 2009. He earned his BSPH at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and his MD at the Ohio State University. After completing his training in Medicine, Cardiology, and Cardiac Electrophysiology at the University of Michigan, he joined the Michigan faculty in 1997. He later served as the Director of Cardiac Electrophysiology at ...

Sergejs Berdnikovs

Associate Professor of Medicine (Allergy and Immunology)

The question of primary interest in my lab is why only select individuals, despite being genetically similar and living in the same allergen environment, are prone to developing allergic disease, and which processes drive this predisposition? To address this, we employ a systems biology approach and bioinformatics to explore whether there is underlying unity in the pathogenesis of seemingly disparate allergic diseases. By synthesizing large volumes of biological data, we link departures from homeostatic conditions (including changes in metabolic, developmental, and endocrine systems) at the ep...

Alan R Hauser

Professor of Microbiology-Immunology and Medicine (Infectious Diseases)

Our laboratory investigates the pathogenesis of the multidrug resistant gram-negative bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Klebsiella pneumonia. We focus on virulence factors such as the type III secretion, an apparatus that injects toxins directly into host cells. Other interests are the use of genomic approaches for the identification of novel virulence determinants and the development of novel translational approaches to treat bacterial infections. Our studies utilize a broad range of techniques, including molecular and cellular assays as well as animal models and e...

Neil J Stone

Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) and Preventive Medicine

Lipid metabolism, cardiovascular nutrition; premature coronary heart disease

Jayesh Mehta

Professor of Medicine (Hematology and Oncology)

Myeloma, Transplantation