CRMEF - Key Persons
Dr. Ingraham was born in Waukesha, WI where he spent his entire life until the age of 23. Because he and his siblings were home schooled, his parents were able to take the entire family on educational vacations every spring. Dr. Ingraham had visited all continental United States before he finished high school! He attended Marquette University in Milwaukee and earned a degree in biology. After taking a year to work, he was accepted at American University of Antigua, where he earned his medical degree.
Once he finishes his time in Cedar Rapids, Andrew hopes to start work as a rural ED physician in a remote Midwest town. In his spare time, he enjoys house renovations such as electrical, plumbing, and wood working. He also enjoys improving or repairing his car and motorcycle.
Bradley J. Willis, MD, MPH is a graduate of Cedar Rapids Medical Education Foundation. Dr. Willis started his career as a Social Worker and later became Board Certified in Behavior Analysis and obtained his Master's in Public Health. Dr. Willis has a deep passion for medicine and the social barriers that affect the everyday lives of his patients.
Dr. Callie Rose Pittard was born in Minnesota and raised in Iowa and Nebraska. After graduating high school from Ankeny, IA, she completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a degree in Spanish and Humanities in Medicine. GO BIG RED! From there she moved to Kansas City and received her Masters in Biomedical Sciences and Medical Degree from Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences. She is very excited to join the family here at Cedar Rapids Medical Education Foundation and begin her career as a physician.
Dr. Callie Pittard's professional interests include Women's Health, Obstetrics, Palliative Care and Rural Medicine.
When not caring for patients or studying she enjoys running along the river downtown, trying new restaurants, petting every dog she sees, and visiting her parents Mark and Anne in Panama City, FL. She also has one sister and brother in law, Leah and Jon, in York, NE.
Dr. Hawks was born and raised in Council Bluffs, Iowa. She knew from a young age that she wanted to grow up to be a doctor like her dad, an oncologist and hematologist in Council Bluffs. Dr. Hawks attended college at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, where she earned her bachelor of science in nursing. While working on her BSN, she also found time to earn her private pilot certificate and she met and married her husband Patrick. She then continued her medical education at American University of the Caribbean in Sint Maarten. Living in the Caribbean gave her many opportunities to enjoy two of her favorite activities, travel and hiking.
Dr. Hawks also enjoys camping, cooking, reading, playing the flute, and spending time with her husband and their two cats.
Dr. Alexandre Efimov was born in Germany, but spent time in Russia and Spain in his younger years. After moving to Canada, he graduated from York University in Toronto, Ontario where he studied Inorganic Chemistry and Biochemistry but graduated with Bachelor degree in Biology. He is passionate about French language and had an opportunity to live and study in Chicoutimi, Quebec, Canada where he attended Université du Québec à Chicoutimi and learned french language and culture. Dr. Efimov has participated in number of volunteering events, fundraises and medical observerships in OBGYN and surgery in Canada.
Dr. Efimov attended Ross University School of Medicine, where he had a great opportunity to participate in community health clinics and realize his passion for primary care. He is very grateful to be a part of CRMEF family and live in Cedar Rapids. Outside of his medical training, Sasha enjoys hiking, trying different cuisines, traveling and exploring new cultures, as well as reading adventure and sci-fi books.
Dr. Atabak Kermani was born and raised in Tabriz, Iran. He was raised in a family of doctors as both his grandfathers and parents are physicians, as well as his brother! Dr. Kermani attended medical school at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. After medical school, he worked as an emergency room doctor and hospitalist, in addition to earning his master's degree in Medical Education from Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. Dr. Kermani came to the United States in 2013 with his lovely wife, Mina, and their fur baby, Chiko, who is really the head of their family. Mina is now his colleague at CRMEF, as she was for their seven years of medical school together.
Atabak loves his family, dogs, food, classical music, technology, swimming, snow and milk. He plays classical guitar and hopes to continue playing during his residency. He and Mina are shopaholics and enjoy shopping together in their free time. Atabak is fluent in Farsi, English, Azeri and Turkish and hopes to use these language skills in his practice. Atabak misses his family back home so much and cannot wait to see them soon.
Dr. Bailey Englund grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska. As a proud Cornhusker, she attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for her undergraduate degree. GO BIG RED. Dr. Englund completed her medical school training at Kansas City University. Her professional interests include obstetrics and culinary medicine and she plans to pursue an OB fellowship after her Family Medicine Residency.
Dr. Englund and her husband, Josh, just celebrated 3 years of marriage and have a 2-year-old golden retriever named Charlie. She loves to cook and experiment with new recipes as well as have people over for dinner! If she could eat one food for the rest of my life, it would be pizza.
Dr. Bledar Haxhiu was born in Albania. After moving to Philadelphia with his family when he was 14 years old, he attended high school and earned his undergraduate degree from Ursinus College in Pennsylvania. Dr. Haxhiu completed his medical school training at American University of Integrative Sciences.
Dr. Haxhiu enjoys scuba diving, soccer and sailing. After purchasing a dilapidated sailboat with a friend in Chicago, they were able to successful sail around Lake Michigan with the help of some manuals and YouTube videos. Dr. Haxiu enjoys working in underserved communities and, after graduation, hopes to work in different countries where primary care is lacking. He and his wife, Diana, have two German Shepherds named Meatball and Mia.
Dr. Brock Mills was born in Dubuque, Iowa and grew up in several cities across the Midwest. He attended Iowa State University for his undergraduate training and completed medical school at Des Moines University. Dr. Mills has a special interest in diet and fitness and using exercise to improve health.
Dr. Mills is the proud owner of Melvin, a 5-year old greyhound. He enjoys going to Green Bay Packer and Cyclone football games, attending Nascar events and spending time with family and friends.
A lifelong Hawkeye fan, Dr. Danielle Howsare was raised in Iowa City, Iowa! After earning a BS in Biology and playing four years of NCAA volleyball with the University of Northwestern- St. Paul, she spent three years working as a nursing assistant at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. These years as a nursing assistant were very influential in developing her into the kind of physician she is today. Dr. Howsare then received her DO from A.T. Still University- Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine and happily returned home to Iowa to join CRMEF.
Dr. Howsare loves that in family medicine you can take your passion in so many directions. Two of her favorite pieces of this specialty are pediatrics and woman's health.
Danielle and her husband, Jacob, are glad to be living close to family in the Iowa City area. They are proud parents to their dog Mia, a five year old lab/American bulldog mix. If you don't see her at a sporting event or cheering on the Chicago Cubs, you just might find her reading Harry Potter for the hundredth time!
Dr. Nelson grew up on a farm near Bowbells, North Dakota, and received his undergraduate degree from Dana College in Nebraska. He graduated from the University of Iowa College of Medicine in 1975 and the Cedar Rapids Family Practice Residency in 1978. He added a Masters Degree in Health Informatics in 2010 from the University of Missouri, Columbia.
Dr. Nelson was in private practice in Cedar Rapids for six years before joining the CRMEF faculty in 1984. As Director of Medical Informatics, Dr. Nelson oversees the informatics curriculum. He was named Educator of the Year in 1990 by the Iowa Academy of Family Physicians.
Dr. Nelson's wife, Mary Anne, is also a family doctor in Cedar Rapids. In his spare time, Dr. Nelson enjoys photography and experimenting with computers and electronics. He is active in church and several local community organizations. Dr. Nelson has many diverse talents. As a member of the Fellowship of Christian Magicians and the International Brotherhood of Magicians, he shares his creative talents as a balloon artist and entertainer.
Dr. Karen Nelson received her doctorate in Counseling Psychology from Northwestern University. She was on the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine's clinical faculty in Psychiatry where she focused on teaching residents, psychotherapy and formal assessment. She joined the CRMEF faculty in 2018. As a die hard generalist who loves to teach, she finds Family Medicine to be an ideal match.
Her areas of interest include teaching, motivational interviewing, treatment of behavior dysregulation, depression, anxiety, including OCD.
She grew up in Colorado, Kansas, Arkansas and Texas. She lives with her family in Iowa City. Karen enjoys spending time with family and friends. Her hobbies include working out, reading, cooking, entertaining and attending theatre.
Dr. Kelly Hoenig is originally from Iowa City, Iowa, and received her Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy. After receiving her degree, she completed a specialized pharmacy residency in Primary Care at the William S. Middleton Veterans Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. Dr. Hoenig joined the Cedar Rapids Family Medicine Residency faculty in 2005.
Her areas of interest include chronic disease state management, including diabetes, as well as infectious disease. She is married to Wyatt, who is the IT Director at Eastern Iowa Health Center, and they have three kids. In her free time Kelly enjoys spending time with family and friends, boating at the Coralville Reservoir and supporting Iowa Hawkeye football… Go Hawks!
Dr. Kyle Cassidy-Wescott is an Iowa native! Born and raised in Springville, IA, he stayed local and earned his undergraduate degree from Coe College. After working as a pharmacy technician during and after his undergraduate studies, Dr. Cassidy-Wescott left eastern Iowa to attend the American University of the Caribbean in St. Maarten for his medical degree.
Kyle enjoys playing basketball, exercising, trying new foods/wines and traveling. He has also played the guitar for 12 years! He lives in Cedar Rapids with his golden retriever named Midas.
Dr. Rachel Atherton grew up in Cedar Falls, Iowa, just up the road from Cedar Rapids. She went to Central College in Pella, Iowa, for her undergraduate training, and she attended the University of Iowa for medical school. She is very excited to now be a part of the CRMEF family!
When she's not working, Rachel enjoys spending time with her husband, Grant, and their families, including several nieces and nephews. She also enjoys spending time outside with her dog, Ellie, baking, cooking, and swimming.
Born and raised in a small town in northern California called Tracy, Dr. Ryan Cook first earned a BS in Molecular Biology from UC San Diego. After his undergraduate years, Dr. Cook spent six years working in a research lab, some time working for a pharmaceutical company and a little over a year working as a "Life Enrichment Assistant" in a retirement community and memory care facility. He says this last job was the best job ever- he was paid to plan parties, games and try to find novel ways to have fun!
Dr. Cook came to Iowa to attend Des Moines University where he earned his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine. His professional interests include behavior health, geriatrics, palliative care, LGBT health.
Dr. Cook and his husband, Adrian, have a fur-baby named Bagheera, who is a black cat named because of his resemblance to the panther in The Jungle Book. Dr. Cook has a love for art and music, but none of the talent. In his limited time away from the demands of his residency, he likes gardening, running and entertaining such as planning parties, game nights and movie nights.
Dr. Tiernan Murphy joins CRMEF from Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. He attended University of New Brunswick, earning a BSc in Kinesiology while playing soccer for the university on the Varsity Reds. Heading south, Dr. Murphy earned his medical degree from Saba University School of Medicine.
Tiernan and his wife, Christina, live in Cedar Rapids with their twin sons and daughter. He enjoys sports, music and camping with his family.
Dr. Zahn Raubenheimer was born in South Africa. He grew up in the beautiful town of Jeffrey's Bay, which is close to Port Elizabeth. After he moved to a small farming town in Alberta Canada, hockey took over his life as it does everyone! Dr. Raubenheimer has always loved medicine and it has always been a part of his life as his father and his brother were both physicians at the local hospital in Canada.
At the end of his junior hockey career, Dr. Raubenheimer earned a full athletic scholarship to play Division 1 hockey at the University of Omaha Nebraska. After he completed his degree, he make the difficult choice to say goodbye to the sport of hockey and accept the adventure of the Irish and made my way over to Trinity College Dublin in Dublin Ireland to earn his medical degree.
Dr. Raubenheimer is very family oriented and enjoys spending time with his parents or his wife's family. He is a hunter and supporter of wildlife conservation and hopes to help sponsor those who fight deforestation and animal cruelty after residency.
Job Titles:
- Residency Program Director
Job Titles:
- Director for the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts
Dr. Toyoda was born in Osaka, Japan to a South Korean mother and Japanese father. Her parents hoped that she would have a future working internationally and named her Erika, since it is a common name in Japan as well as other countries. She moved to Rapid City, South Dakota at the age of 7 and enjoyed growing up there in the beautiful Black Hills just half an hour away from the iconic Mount Rushmore. She attended the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City, SD for her undergraduate training, going onto the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine for her medical degree.
When she isn't taking care of patients, Erika enjoys singing, jewelry making and various forms of art. She played the violin from 4th-12th grade and hopes to play again someday. Erika enjoys traveling and has returned to Japan and visited South Korea numerous times. She hopes to travel all around Europe in the future.
Job Titles:
- Director of Residency Education, Director of Medical Student Education
Dr. Ellis was born in Storm Lake, IA, but grew up in the small town of Holstein. He went to college at Mount Mercy University here in Cedar Rapids, and completed his medical training at Des Moines University in Des Moines, IA.
Dr. Ellis joined the Cedar Rapids Medical Education Foundation faculty in 2015 and practices full-spectrum family medicine while teaching and mentoring family-physicians-in-training.
Outside of medicine, Jason nurtures his interests in technology, cars, motorcycles, and music. He enjoys singing and playing the guitar and trumpet. Jason takes full advantage of the many outdoor activities available in the greater Cedar Rapids area including cycling, golfing, fishing, and frisbee golf.
Job Titles:
- Director of Residency Well - Being
Dr. Donovan was born in a suburb of Washington, D.C., but grew up in Stanwood, Iowa (a small town east of Cedar Rapids). She enjoyed 4 years in Decorah, Iowa where she majored in Athletic Training and graduated from Luther College in 2006. She spent the next years of her life in Iowa City solidifying her love for the Hawkeyes while attending the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine and then completing a Family Medicine Psychiatry residency at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. She is excited to enhance the psychiatry curriculum at CRMEF.
When Jen is not at work, she can often be found in the stands of local sporting event (Go Kernels, Rough Riders and Titans). She also enjoys spending time with her family and gardening.
Dr. Beck was born 10 blocks north of Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, NY. He grew up in NYC, NY state and New Jersey. Dr. Beck graduated from The Johns Hopkins University with a degree in Earth and Planetary Science-Paleobiology. He taught Chemistry at Loyola High School in Towson, MD before entering Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. After graduating in 1988, he joined the Family Medicine Residency at the University of Minnesota-Smiley's Point Clinic.
Dr. Beck joined a small Family Medicine group after graduating from the residency program. He then became a faculty member at the University of Massachusetts-Fitchburg Family Medicine for one year before entering solo practice in 1996 where he formed a traditional family medicine clinic in which he delivered babies, aided OBs in C-section, saw hospitalized and nursing home patients, examined newborns and started an outpatient clinic in Westford, Massachusetts. Dr. Beck moved to Iowa in 2004 and joined a hospital owned clinic in Atlantic. He joined CRMEF on April 1, 2009, and except for a brief 15 month interval at Brown University, has been a faculty member since then.
Dr. Beck is married to Elizabeth Tracey, who is the artistic director for the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts. He has five children, Aisling, James, Ryan, Killian and Robert William. He enjoys the Jersey Shore with his extended family, skiing, watching plays, reading fiction and non-fiction and concerts. Go Radiohead.
Bob grew up in the "Chicagoland" area. After spending time in the Air Force, he earned a Bachelor's degree from Eastern New Mexico University, followed by a Master's degree in Hospital and Health Administration from the University of Iowa.
Bob was a Clinical Administrator with the University of Iowa Department of Internal Medicine for 12 years before joining the Cedar Rapids Medical Education Foundation in 2008. He serves as both the CRMEF Program Administrator and the Director of Practice Management Education.
Bob is a fan of the Chicago Cubs, Bears, Bulls, and Notre Dame. He also enjoys reading and is a horrendous guitar player. Bob's wife, Cathy, is a dentist in Iowa City. They have two sons.
Job Titles:
- Director of Continuing Physician Professional Development
Dr. Reider was born of humble stock, and in his misspent youth he was a "subwayaholic" forcing his mother to take him on the number 6 and 7 trains in Queens and Manhattan for hours at a time. He successfully overcame his subway train addiction by relocating to Iowa where he completed his undergraduate education at the University of Iowa. He then received his medical degree from the University of Virginia in 1971, thereafter returning to the University of Iowa to complete residency in Internal Medicine in 1974. Dr. Reider entered the United States Air Force after residency and practiced general Internal Medicine at small base hospitals. He joined the Cedar Rapids Family Medicine Residency faculty in 1978. Dr. Reider holds a Certificate of Added Qualifications in Geriatrics.
As the Director of Continuing Physician Professional Development, Dr. Reider coordinates the CME activities for the Cedar Rapids medical community at large, including the conferences specifically targeted for the Family Medicine Residency. He also precepts at Eastern Iowa Health Center, and makes inpatient and nursing home rounds, as well as home visits, with the residents. He is interested in Utilization Review and the Peer Review process.
Dr. Reider is married to Sue. They are parents of three children Joshua, Meaghan, and Eamonn. In his free time, you might find Dr. Reider grabbing a bagel and coffee at Bruegger's, walking, or watching soccer or NCAA wrestling on the small screen.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Program Director
Sara Spiva, DO is originally from Bettendorf, IA. She graduated from Wartburg College and received her Doctor of Osteopathy degree from Kansas City University. She graduated from Cedar Rapids Medical Education Foundation in 2017 and became a faculty member shortly thereafter. She practices full-spectrum family medicine and has special interest in Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine, OB, procedures and point of care ultrasound. Her hobbies include sewing, quilting, painting, gardening, hiking, fishing, camping, bird watching, reading and watching sci-fi/fantasy and board games.
Dr. Sayeed Ahmed was born and raised in Gaibandha, Bangladesh. He earned his MBBS from Rajshahi Medical College, Bangladesh. Prior to moving to the United States, Dr. Ahmed was a resident medical officer in surgery in Zambia.
Additionally, Dr. Ahmed received a Masters in Healthcare Administration from Des Moines University (DMU). Furthermore he earned a nursing degree from Mercy College of Health Sciences in Des Moines and a Nurse Practitioner degree from Simmons College in Boston. Prior to joining CRMEF, Dr. Ahmed worked as a Nurse Practitioner Hospitalist at Mercy Medical Center, Des Moines.
Sayeed has several talents beyond his passion for medicine. Several of his sculptures are in a collection at Des Moines University. These sculptures include Dr. A. T. Still, founder of osteopathic medicine and Dr. S. S. Still, founding president of DMU. His painting and sculptures have been exhibited at the Iowa State Fair. As a poet, he has been published in a DMU literary magazine. He has received awards in both painting and sculpture.
He is married to Sadia, and they share two daughters, Samreen, and Sabreen. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with family.