Faculty & Chiefs

Dr. Ruth Weissberger graduated from Brown University and Jefferson Medical College (now Sidney Kimmel Medical College), and completed her residency training in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Nephrology at St. Luke’s Hospital in New York City. A recipient of a National Health Service Corp scholarship, she worked at community health centers in Connecticut, and subsequently served as Medical Director at Fair Haven Community Health Center in New Haven, and Community Health Services in Hartford. After working in private practice and community medicine, Dr. Weissberger joined the faculty of the Hospital of Saint Raphael Internal Medicine Residency Program as a Clinician Educator in 2005, and received the Chairman’s Award for Service to Mission in 2009. She became Associate Program Director at the Yale-Waterbury Internal Medicine Residency Program in 2014, and Program Director the following year. Dr. Weissberger’s areas of interest include cross-cultural medicine, health care disparities, and creative writing by physicians. She is the author of the novel The Cure for Remembering.

Dr Kanwar Arora received his Medical School Degree from Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, India. He pursued his residency training at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai/Queens Hospital in New York. He after graduation has served at various roles in academic medicine with most recent being Associate Program Director at Griffin Hospital, CT where he more experience in curriculum development, OSCE development, medical education and coached the Doctor Dilemma team, prior to returning to Yale Waterbury Internal Medicine Residency Program in 2021. He is currently working as Firm Chief and is actively involved in inpatient teaching of residents at the program. He is currently Clinical Instructor of Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine and Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at Frank Netter School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University. Dr Arora enjoys his time teaching house staff to prepare for board exams and encourages them to participate in research projects. He enjoys spending time with his family and in his free time likes to hike, play tennis and photography. He served for 4 years on National Doctors Dilemma Committee as a contributor and reviewer.

Dr. Jo-anne (Joey) Cosgriff graduated from UCONN Medical School in 1999. She completed her Internal Medicine residency at the University of Rochester, Strong Memorial and stayed on to be a Chief Resident. Joey then went on to Yale University where she did a Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship and a Masters in Public Health. She joined the faculty of the Yale Primary Care Residency in 2006 and earned the George Thornton Teacher of the Year award in 2007. While at Waterbury Hospital, she has become the Medical Director of the Intensive Care Unit in 2009 and the Medical Director of Performance Improvement in 2012. She attends regularly in the Waterbury ICU where she enjoys working closely with the residents. She also has an outpatient pulmonary practice in Middlebury. In her free time, Joey enjoys spending time with her husband and two children.

Dr. Pia Dogbey received her medical degree from the University of Ghana Medical School before completing her residency training at the Hospital of St. Raphael, in New Haven, CT. She served as Chief Resident, and remained on the teaching faculty as a Clinician Educator in the Department of Medicine at the Saint Raphael Campus of Yale New Haven Hospital until 2013. Dr. Dogbey has a passion for clinical medicine, patient safety, as well as teaching patient communication and clinical reasoning to medical students and residents. She is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at the Yale University School of Medicine and the Frank Netter School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University, and her dedication to teaching has led to her receiving inpatient teaching awards.Before her appointment as Firm Chief for the Yale Waterbury Internal Medicine Program, she served as the Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine Program at the Griffin Hospital, where she gained more experience in medical education, program administration, and curriculum development. Dr. Dogbey remains dedicated to teaching and mentoring medical students, residents and other aspiring and young professionals. She enjoys time with family and friends, and has had opportunities to share her experiences on balancing family and career with high school students and young medical professionals on local and international platforms.

Dr. Suleyman Felek graduated from Gazi University Medical School and completed his residency in infectious diseases and clinical microbiology at Firat University in Turkey. He subsequently joined the core faculty at the Firat University Medical School. From 2001 to 2012, he worked on infectious disease research at the Ohio State University and University of Michigan. From 2012 to 2013 he researched stem cell and regenerative medicine at Bell Biosystems. His internship was at Richmond University Medical Center and residency was at Yale-Waterbury Internal Medicine Residency Program. His academic interests include infectious diseases and pathogenesis of infectious diseases. He published two books and several peer-reviewed journal articles. Two of his publications were the cover paper in Infection and Immunity and Microbiology journals.

Dr. Medhat Ghaly graduated from Ain-Shams Medical School, Egypt. He joined Yale School of Medicine initially as Associate Research Scientist at the section of Cardiovascular Diseases. He completed his residency training in Internal Medicine at Yale New Haven Medical Center-Waterbury Hospital program and received Senior Resident of The Year Award in addition to Waterbury Hospital ACE Award. He subsequently joined the faculty of the Yale-Waterbury Internal Medicine Residency Program as a Clinical Educator.Academic interests include advances in cardiac devices, cardiac sarcoidosis, research in residency, and primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases. He participated in designing and teaching point of care ultrasound curriculum for Internal Medicine residents.

Dr. Habashi graduated From Ain Shams University Faculty of Medicine in Cairo, Egypt.  He worked as a primary care physician in Egypt and Doctors of the World in NYC, then, joined Yale School of Medicine as an Associate Research Scientist. He completed his internal medicine residency training at Yale-Waterbury Internal Medicine Residency Program. He subsequently joined the faculty of the Yale-Waterbury Internal Medicine Residency Program as a Clinician Educator. Dr. Habashi has a special interest in Global Medicine and Point of Care Ultrasound. He is currently pursuing MSs in Epidemiology at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the Distance Learning program. He enjoys hiking, playing soccer, and skiing.

Born and raised in Connecticut, I graduated with High Distinction in the medical humanities from Quinnipiac University’s Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine, as a member of the inaugural class of 2017. Prior to medical school, I studied studio art at New York University, with an emphasis on painting.As a medical student, I combined my dual passions for both art and medicine in a scholarly project in which I developed a methodology for forensic facial reconstruction from unidentified skeletal remains. I used this methodology to create a likeness from an unidentified skull, leading to the identification of a missing Connecticut woman. I was also able to use my art as an avenue for teaching by developing a series of illustrated worksheets and diagrams on a wide variety of topics.As a physician, I have a special interest in the management of patients within the context of their complex social circumstances, taking particular care to address psychological, ethical, and palliative care issues.

Dr. Podell joined Waterbury Hospital in 1989 and is Chairman of the Department of Medicine, Clinical Professor of Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine, and Clinical Professor of Medicine at the Frank H. Netter M.D. School of Medicine, Quinnipiac University.Dr. Podell graduated from the University of Rochester School of Medicine in 1980. He completed his internship, residency, and fellowship in rheumatology at Yale University School of Medicine in 1986. Dr. Podell is board certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology. In 1989 he became the Director of Rheumatology at Waterbury Hospital and joined the clinical faculty of the Yale Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency Program. In 1994 he became Director of Medicine until 2007 at which time he served as Firm Chief for the next five years until assuming the role of Chairman of Medicine at Waterbury Hospital again in 2012. Dr. Podell is also a past Governor of the Connecticut Chapter of the American College of Physicians.Dr. Podell’s interests lie in patient centered care and in general clinical rheumatology.Dr. Podell is a Master in the American College of Physicians, and a Fellow in the American College of Rheumatology. He is also a Fellow in the Royal College of Physicians-London.He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Laureate Award from the Connecticut Chapter of the American College of Physicians, and the George Thornton Award for recognizing his teaching ability. Dr. Podell also has won the Hospital Teacher of the Year from the Yale University School Internal Medicine Primary Care Residency Program on two occasions. He has also won the Teacher of the Year for the newly formed Yale-New Haven Hospital/Waterbury Hospital Internal Medicine Residency Program. He has been one of Connecticut’s Top Docs consecutively since 1995 and has been featured in the Diagnosis Column of the New York Times magazine section written by Dr. Lisa Sanders. In addition, the Podell Firm has been named in his honor at Waterbury Hospital.

Dr. Yuliya Riat has joined Waterbury Hospital/Chase Clinic in October 2015. She is originally from Kazakhstan, where she received her Medical Doctorate Degree from the prestigious Karagandi State Medical University. She had completed her residency in Internal Medicine and graduated from Geriatrics Fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine. Dr.Riat is practicing Geriatric Medicine and Internal Medicine and the areas of her expertise range from care for the independently living residents, to the assisted living, where she visits her patients at their homes, and to the dementia units in the long term care facilities. She is focusing her interest on Geriatric Assessments, particularly in diagnosing and treating dementia and memory loss, gait and balance problems, addressing Geriatric polypharmacy and elderly drivers’ safety. Dr.Riat has received several awards for medical excellence throughout her career.

Dr. Danise Schiliro graduated from New York University School of Medicine and completed her residency training and chief residency at the New York University Internal Medicine Residency Program. She subsequently became an Associate Program Director for the internal medicine residency program at New York University and a member of the inpatient teaching faculty at Bellevue Hospital Center. She served in these roles from 2008 until 2014 when she moved with her family to Connecticut and joined the teaching faculty of the Yale-Waterbury Internal Medicine Residency Program. In 2015 she became the firm chief of Waterbury Hospital with the Yale-Waterbury Internal Medicine Residency Program, and she was the recipient of the Teacher of the Year Award for the 2014-2015 academic year. In addition to working and learning with internal medicine residents, she enjoys her role as a teacher and mentor for medical students from University of Connecticut and Quinnipiac University Schools of Medicine. Her academic interests include substance use disorders and handover of patient care and transition of care from the inpatient to outpatient settings. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband, two young sons and French Bulldog and rooting for her beloved New York Yankees.

Dr Atsuko Yamahiro received her Medical and Master in Public Health degrees from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, IL. Her postgraduate training includes residency and chief residency at the Yale Internal Medicine/Primary Care program in the HIV Training Track. She worked as an Associate Program Director for Ambulatory Education at the Internal Medicine Residency Program at MetroHealth System in Cleveland, OH prior to returning to Connecticut. She joined the Yale Waterbury Internal Medicine Residency Program faculty in 2019. She works as a primary care physician at Chase Clinic, where she cares for patients living with HIV.