The Section of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology at Yale School of Medicine (YSM) is pleased to welcome five incoming clinical fellows for 2023.
“Our fellows look forward to gaining the skills and knowledge to become outstanding practitioners and thought leaders in communities around the country,” said Section Chief Richard Bucala, MD, PhD, Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Medicine (Rheumatology) and professor of pathology, Yale School of Medicine, and of epidemiology (microbial diseases), Yale School of Public Health. “They each have unique skill sets and collectively represent our diverse commitment to research, clinical care, and service.”
The new fellows in rheumatology are William Bracamonte, MD, PhD, Blerta Green, MD, and Krishnasai Abhishek Madathanapalli, MD. The new allergy and immunology fellows are Luke Legakis, MD, PhD, and Elena Zidan, MD.
William Bracamonte, MD, PhD, holds an MD from the Universidad Central de Venezuela Escuela de Medicina Luis Razetti and a PhD from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He completed his medical residency at Texas Tech University in 2021. As a postdoctoral research fellow at Johns Hopkins, he carried out translational research in the field of cardiac autoimmunity and transplant immunology. His main ongoing projects are characterization of heart resident innate lymphoid cells and analysis of its role in human cardiac inflammatory diseases; determination of prognostic biomarkers of heart transplant rejection; and novel therapeutic targets in Sjogren’s Syndrome.
Bracamonte’s interests include literature, writing, and music, especially the experimental sound of the ’70s and the development of the electric guitar. He was almost a professional-level pitcher as a teenager.
Blerta Green, MD, received her undergraduate degree and Master of Science degree in immunology at the University of Toronto. She holds a medical degree from Case Western Reserve University. During her training, she researched ankylosing spondylitis, among other projects. She completed the Yale School of Medicine Internal Medicine Traditional Residency Program in 2018.
Green was a hospitalist at the Yale New Haven Health Northeast Medical Group from 2018–2023. She also taught students and residents and was a clinical experience coach for the Interprofessional Longitudinal Clinical Experience (ILCE) course, through which she led multiple bedside teaching sessions to first-year medical and physician associate students. Green was appointed as an assistant clinical professor of medicine at YSM on July 1, 2023, and joined the fellowship program on September 1, 2023.
Green’s hobbies include hiking, reading, planning vacations, and spending time with her family.
Luke Legakis, MD, PhD, is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University’s medical and graduate schools. For his graduate studies, he performed translational research investigating mechanisms and therapeutics for chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain. He completed his internal medicine residency at Yale New Haven Hospital. His current research interests are focused on the immunological and genetic-based mechanisms involved in immunotherapy-related adverse events. He is interested in pursuing an academic career in allergy and immunology with a focus on immune dysregulation.
Legakis’s interests include outdoor adventures, travel, reading, and spending time with his family.
Krishnasai Abhishek Madathanapalli, MD, is a graduate of Jawaharlal Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education and Research and completed his residency training at the University of Connecticut. He is interested in an academic rheumatology career, with a particular focus on systemic sclerosis. Currently working with Monique Hinchcliff, MD, associate professor of medicine (rheumatology, allergy and immunology), he was awarded a Rheumatology Research Foundation Resident Research Preceptorship grant. He is investigating the use of a handheld USB microscope to perform nailfold capillaroscopy in the clinic setting in patients with systemic sclerosis-associated Raynaud’s phenomenon in relation to a newly developed patient questionnaire, the Assessment of Systemic Sclerosis–Associated Raynaud’s Phenomenon.
Madathanapalli’s hobbies include trivia and cryptic puzzles. He was an intramural table tennis tournament champion in 2015.
Elena Zidan, MD, received her MD degree from I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, the oldest leading medical university in Russia. She completed her internal medicine residency at Bridgeport Hospital, in Connecticut. During residency training, she was involved in analyzing immunologic response to mRNA Covid 19 vaccine in patients with antibody deficiency. She is now a first-year allergy and immunology fellow in the Section of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology.
Zidan’s hobbies include all winter and water sports.
The Section of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology is dedicated to providing care for patients with rheumatic, allergic and immunologic disorders; educating future generations of thought leaders in the field; and conducting research into fundamental questions of autoimmunity and immunology. To learn more about their work, visit Rheumatology, Allergy & Immunology.