Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism

Update for applicants: The 2023 interview season will be conducted virtually based on guidance from the Hopkins GME office and other national organizations. In-person tours of the hospital may be arranged towards the end of the application period. The Department of Medicine is looking into ways to make this happen in a fair and equitable way. Check back for more information. Interested individuals are invited to learn more about our program.

Our endocrinology and metabolism fellowship program welcomes applications from applicants without discrimination based on race, gender, sex, ethnicity, religion, country of origin or disability.

Applications for both clinical scholars and research tracks are accepted only through the Electronic Residency Application (ERAS) site. We require the following supporting documents to be submitted via ERAS:

• Application
• Picture (not required, but appreciated)
• CV
• Personal statement
• 4 Letters of Recommendation, including one from your program director
• Dean’s Letter - MSPE
• Medical School Transcript
• USMLE Transcript
• ECFMG Report (if applicable)

Applications are reviewed and interview offers are generally made in late August-early September. Our program participates in the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP) and all applications are processed through the NRMP. Per guidelines from the NRMP, our GME office has provided information on contracts and policies that can be found here.

We welcome applications from foreign medical graduates. Foreign medical graduates will need to have completed a U.S.-based residency program in internal medicine prior to beginning the program. With regards to visa status, holders of J1 and existing H1B visas are considered primarily for our clinical scholars track (2 years).

Merit George

Hometown: Medford, NY
Medical School: Mayo Clinic School of Medicine (MN)
Residency: Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Clinical Interests: diabetes, thyroid, general endocrinology
Research Interests: hospital to home transition for newly diagnosed diabetes
Merit was born and raised in New York. He later attended Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA, where he graduated with dual degrees in biology and psychology and participated in research related to the Hispanic health paradox as well as bench research related to rodent models of adolescent behavior. He completed medical school at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, where he was involved in several collaborative research projects related to cardiovascular device infections, and patterns of integrative medicine use amongst outpatient cardiology patients, amongst others. He moved back to the east coast to complete his internal medicine residency at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA, where he developed a clinical interest in endocrinology, including diabetes outcomes. Merit plans to pursue a career as a clinician educator in endocrinology. In his free time, he enjoys watching movies, trying out new restaurants, and watching his favorite baseball team play (NYY).

Sananda Moctezuma Vega

Hometown: Caracas, Venezuela
Medical School: Universidad de Navarra
Residency: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Morningside – West
Clinical Interests: Obesity, diabetes, dyslipidemia
Research Interests: Social disparities of health and behavioral interventions in underserved communities to promote effective strategies and improve metabolic health.
Sananda was born and raised in Caracas, and received her medical degree from the Universidad de Navarra, Spain before moving to New York City to pursue residency training at the Icahn School of Medicine Mount Sinai Morningside – West Hospitals. During medical school, she enjoyed working with her endocrinology mentors, among whom were the chair for the Spanish Society of Endocrinology and Nutrition and the co-chair for the Scientific Advisory Board for the European Association for the Study of Obesity. During her endocrinology clerkship with Dr. Lewis Braverman, she became more interested in the pathophysiology of thyroid disease, obesity, and diabetes, particularly when framed around social determinants of health. During residency she completed the Graduate Medical Education Leadership Program, and later became co-chair for the Education Subcommittee of the ACGME Health Disparities Collaborative at the Icahn School of Medicine. She has assisted in the creation of a Health Equity Resource Collection and facilitated cultural humility workshops for residents. She has led several academic projects, quality improvement initiatives, and directed curriculum development focused on designing behavioral interventions in underserved communities to promote effective health strategies and improve metabolic health. As a chief resident, she participated in the development of a guideline for residents for the management of hyperglycemia in the hospitalized non-critically ill patients as a scholarly project for the Harvard Macy Institute’s Future Academic Clinician Educators. After her fellowship in Endocrinology, she plans to have a career in academic medicine. Sananda is a member of the Endocrine Society as well as the Obesity Society. During her free time, she enjoys spending time outside with family and friends, dancing, and attending classic car shows.

Rabail Sadiq

Hometown: Lahore, Pakistan
Medical School: C.M.H. Lahore Medical College, Pakistan
Residency: Norwalk Hospital affiliated with Yale School of Medicine
Clinical Interests: General endocrinology, thyroid disorders, diabetes, and obesity
Research Interests: Gestational diabetes and type 1 diabetes in young adults
After residency in internal medicine (2017-2020) I did General Internal Medicine fellowship at Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center where I took part in the Clinical Research Training Program and received a Master of Science (M.S.) in Clinical Research Methods.

Salman Bhat

Hometown: Srinagar, Kashmir
Medical School: Government Medical College Srinagar, Kashmir
Residency: University at Buffalo/ Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
Clinical Interests: Metabolic Syndrome, Obesity, General Endocrinology
Research Interests: Regulation of appetite and satiation/satiety by the neuro-gastro-endocrine axis.
Salman grew up in Srinagar, Kashmir and Riyadh, KSA. After completing high school in New Delhi, he transitioned to medical school in Srinagar. Fascinated by hormone physiology and by Lehninger’s Biochemistry, he decided to further his medicine career in the US and trained at University at Buffalo. During his residency, he was involved in a QI study on diabetes self-management and worked with Dr. Paresh Dandona on a pilot project evaluating eicosapentanoic acid and inflammatory responses. After completing his chief residency at UB, Salman chose to further his pursuits in clinical endocrinology and obesity research at Hopkins. He and his wife currently reside in North Baltimore. He is a dedicated soccer and tennis fan, rooting for Real Madrid and Federer. He consumes news voraciously and has watched both the Office and Seinfeld a number of times. Loves to read the Economist. Favorite restaurant in Baltimore is Villagio Café.

Sooyoung Lim

Hometown: New York, New York
Medical School: University of Chicago Division of the Biological Sciences The Pritzker School of Medicine
Residency: Duke University Hospitals
Soo was born in NYC but grew up in various parts of South Korea. She came back to the U.S. for college. In between college and medical school, she served in Americorp in McAllen, Texas, where she worked at a public charter school with a focus on juvenile obesity programs. She attended medical school at University of Chicago and completed internal medicine residency at Duke University, North Carolina. In her free time, she enjoys hiking and painting.

Reza Pishdad

Hometown: Shiraz, Iran
Medical School: Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Iran
Residency: Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, New Jersey
Clinical Interests: General endocrinology, thyroid disorders, and metabolic disorders
Research Interests: Endocrine malignancies and endocrine causes of hypertension
Reza was born and raised in Shiraz, Iran where he attended medical school at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences and completed his internal medicine residency at the same institution. He has been involved in endocrinology research since his early years of medical school through the Endocrine and Metabolism Research center at Shiraz University. He subsequently immigrated to the United States and spent six months of clinical rotations at the Division of Endocrinology at Georgetown University Hospital under the supervision of Dr. Verbalis. After repeating his internal medicine residency at Rutgers University in New Jersey, he started an endocrinology fellowship on clinical track at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is planning to pursue research on endocrinopathies associated with cancer immunotherapy in patients treated with Immune-Checkpoint Inhibitors. Reza desires to subspecialize in endocrinology oncology at an advanced fellowship program.

Noemi Malandrino

Hometown: Caltagirone, Italy
Medical School: Catholic University of Rome, Italy
Residency: University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD
Clinical Interests: Diabetes, obesity, thyroid disorders, general endocrinology
Research Interests: Diabetes, obesity, insulin resistance, body composition, aging, cognitive dysfunction, clinical epidemiology
Noemi was born and raised in Caltagirone, a town approximately 60 miles south the volcano Etna in Sicily, Italy. She then moved to Rome, where she obtained her M.D., Ph.D. and board in internal medicine – all from the Catholic University School of Medicine. She also worked as a Visiting Research Associate with Dr. Robert Smith and Dr. Wen-Chih (Hank) Wu, at the Hallett Center for Diabetes and Endocrinology and at the VA Medical Center, Brown University, Providence, RI. In the more recent years, Noemi has lived in the Baltimore - Washington DC area. First, she was post-doctoral fellow in the NIDDK intramural research program working with Dr. Rebecca Brown and Dr. Phillip Gorden at the NIH campus in Bethesda. More recently, before joining the Johns Hopkins University Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism, she was clinical resident in internal medicine in Baltimore at the University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus, where she was presented with the 2019-2020 Excellence in Ambulatory Medicine Award. Noemi is a member of the Endocrine Society; she was presented with the Helmsley Charitable Trust Abstract Award during the Endo Meeting in Chicago in 2018. Noemi plans to continue her career as a clinical practitioner in the field of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism, and as a physician-scientist with a research focus on diabetes, obesity, insulin resistance and endocrine- and metabolic-related aspects of aging, cognitive dysfunction and other medical sequelae.