UNLV HEALTH - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine
Allison G. McNickle, MD, has a trauma surgery and research background, with a special interest in trauma resuscitation and the management of extremity injuries. In addition to her clinical practice, she actively trains others to care for trauma patients through advanced trauma life support and pre-hospital lectures.
Dr. McNickle is an assistant professor at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV Department of Surgery and the section chief of trauma surgery. Board-certified in both general surgery and surgical critical care, she also serves as the associate program director of the acute care surgery fellowship.
Dr. McNickle was raised in the Chicago suburbs and now resides in Las Vegas. She is an outdoor enthusiast, spending her free time hiking, climbing, and canyoneering.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Surgery at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine
Dr. Annabel Barber, a professor of surgery at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV, is a board-certified surgeon who performs surgeries for patients with breast, colorectal, thyroid and head and neck cancers. She also sees patients with the following gastrointestinal disorders: acid reflux, heartburn, and inflammatory bowel disease.
A graduate of the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, she pioneered the use of pulsating electrostatic field therapy in Nevada for treatment of gastroparesis symptoms in patients. "It's an electric stimulator on their stomach that causes it to empty better and takes away their nausea," she says. "I've been working on that for quite some time, and we are doing further studies on that."
She has collaborated extensively on research with her husband, Dr. Robert C. Wang, who also works for the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV.
Dr. Barber, who has done research on nutrition and critical care, is a proponent of patients taking better care of their health through dieting. Her research has included the effects of the Mediterranean diet on gastroparesis.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Pediatrics at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine
Beverly A. Neyland, professor of Pediatrics at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV, earned the B.S. degree from Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina, and the M.D. degree from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. Additional training includes an externship at the University of Zagreb in Yugoslavia; an internship at the Long Beach Memorial Children's Hospital, Long Beach, California; and pediatric residency at the UCLA/Harbor General Hospital in Torrance, California. She is Board Certified by the American Board of Pediatrics.
She was in private practice in Las Vegas for 25 years, and during that time she
also served as Chief of Pediatrics at the University Center of Southern Nevada from 1974-85, and Chief of Pediatrics at the Sunrise Hospital and Children's Hospital from l990-200l. Since l996, she has served as a member of the faculty in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Nevada School of Medicine in Las Vegas. She has served as the Clinical Director of the University Medical Center, Lieds Pediatric Ambulatory Care Clinic; and as Interim Chairperson of the Department of Pediatrics at UNSOM in Las Vegas until a permanent chairperson was selected.
Dr. Neyland is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics; President of
Dr. Daniel Kirgan, a professor in the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV Department of Surgery, is currently vice chair of the department, and chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology.
A graduate of the George Washington University School of Medicine, he completed his general surgical residency at the University of Nevada Reno School of Medicine. Following completion of his residency, Dr. Kirgan did a two-year surgical oncology fellowship at the John Wayne Cancer Institute in California.
Dr. Kirgan has served as a state liaison to the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer and has been on the American College of Surgeons Board of Governors.
A member of multiple surgical societies, including the Alpha Omega Alpha Society, Fellow American College of Surgeons, Society of Surgical Oncology, Association of Academic Surgeons, Society for the Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, Southwest Surgical Congress, and Western Surgical Association, Dr. Kirgan has been recognized as one of Newsweek magazine's Cancer Surgeons of 2015 and in the Desert Companion magazine as Doctor of the Year from 2013 through 2017.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine
Dr. Dodds Simangan is an an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine, and a board-certified general pediatrician; who sees patients while teaching medical students and pediatric residents at the UNLV Health Pediatric Clinic and the newborn nursery at Sunrise Children's Hospital.
Dr. Simangan has lived in several areas in the US but claims Spokane, Washington as his hometown. After pursuing a degree in Sociology and studying Pre Medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle, he completed his medical school training with A.T. Still University, School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona. There, he was of the inaugural class and partook in an innovative curriculum which partnered with the National Association of Community Health Centers that centered medical training at 10 training hubs around the country, which for Dr. Simangan, was the Wai'anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center. While in medical school, Dr. Simangan concurrently earned his Master's Degree in Public Health with a focus on health planning and programming. He then matched, trained, and served as Chief Resident at Nevada's only general pediatrics residency here in Las Vegas, where he has continued on as faculty.
Dr. Simangan's professional interests include general pediatrics, primary care, academic pediatrics, community based medicine, electronic medical records, advocacy & public policy, and public health. As part of his teaching of Pediatric Residents, being one of the Associate Program Directors, as well as director for multiple rotations within the Pediatric Residency Program, Dr. Simangan has become versed with and created close ties with several community and academic organizations which focus on childhood vaccinations, maternal and child health, newborn care, human trafficking, intimate partner violence, preventing child abuse, lead poisoning prevention, childhood poverty, minority health equity, oral health, and food insecurity.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Surgery at the UNLV School of Medicine
- Doctor September 16, 2020
Dr. Brian C. Ward, an assistant professor of surgery at the UNLV School of Medicine, is a general surgeon who treats patients with a wide variety of conditions, including hernias and diseases of the breast, stomach, colon, rectal, small bowel and gallbladder.
He also handles cases involving skin and soft tissue masses and disease.
Earning his MD from Indiana University, Dr. Ward completed his residency at UNLV in general surgery. He also holds a doctorate in biomedical engineering from Purdue University.
Dr. Ward's research has appeared in peer-reviewed publications that include the Journal of Surgical Research and BioMolecular Concepts.
His PhD research - he was named as the co-inventor on three patents for research done at Purdue - was on developing and testing an anti-inflammatory/anti-fibrosis molecule that was tested to prevent surgical adhesions in the abdomen.
A graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, Dr. Flores completed fellowships in both surgical critical care and trauma/acute care surgery through the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV.
While in medical school, she was one of 250 medical students to receive a prestigious Albert Schwitzer Fellowship - the year long program is designed to increase the skills of young physicians, who work to address the needs of underserved people. Dr. Flores also became a member of the Gold Humanism Honor Society which honors students and teachers who are exemplary in clinical care, leadership, compassion and dedication to service.
Her research has been published in journals that include the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma and Otolaryngology Care Reports. Dr. Flores has been a principal
Dr. Carmen Flores, an assistant professor in the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV Department of Surgery, practices general, trauma, acute care and burn surgery.
Dr. David Savarese, an associate professor in the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV Department of Pediatrics, was director of a community health center in Connecticut that offered medical care, behavioral health care and dental health care to children and their families who were traumatized by the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting in Newtown, Conn. That tragedy took the lives of 20 children and six adults.
Having spent most of his career in the field of community health, Dr. Savarese believes the community health center approach to medicine is a good one because it offers patients medical and behavioral health care as well as dental treatment in one central location.
He supervises medical students as he provides care for children at the UNLV Health Pediatric Clinic.
"Parents often discover a lack of specialty care like child psychiatry, counseling and care for behavioral disorders, and there can be long waiting lists," he said. "I am trying to do whatever I can for these patients and their families. I was in their situation once, as a father of adopted children with disabilities. I learned about behavioral health and am comfortable in caring advocating for these children."
Dr. Savarese and his wife, a psychologist, have held educational seminars for parents on the topics of behavior and discipline.
Dr. Douglas R. Fraser, is an associate professor in the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV Department of Surgery, and is the Trauma Medical Director at University Medical Center in Las Vegas. As the Chief of Trauma, he works daily to ensure the complex operations of the only Level 1 Trauma Center in Nevada.
Dr. Fraser completed his surgical residency at UMDNJ Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey. As the Division Chief of Acute Care Surgery [Trauma, Emergency General Surgery, Surgical Critical Care] he works closely with fellows, residents, students, and staff to provide the best possible care to critically injured patients.
As the Program Director of the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV Acute Care Surgery Fellowship, he is proud to know this same fellowship gave him his advanced surgical training in ACS and now he is educating the next generation of surgeons to do the same.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine
Dr. Fateh Peera, who at the University of Arizona College of Medicine studied the importance of calories obtained from beverages as a contributing factor to obesity in children, joined UNLV Health as a pediatrician in 2018.
A 2007 graduate of the University of Arizona College of Medicine where he also completed his residency program in pediatrics, he worked as a pediatrician in Tucson, AZ for five years before becoming an assistant professor of pediatrics at Texas Tech University in 2015.
Prior to joining UNLV Health in 2018, Dr. Peera, who is also an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV, worked in Henderson, NV in urgent care and for Healthcare Partners in Nevada.
A member of the American Academy of Pediatricians, Dr. Peera's research work includes a study of the Human Papilloma Virus and autism screening in the Spanish speaking population. He has presented lectures on the diagnosis and treatment of septic shock and on normal visual development.
From her extended family what Dr. Jennifer Baynosa often heard as a child was that one day she would find a nice man, fall in love, get married, and have a family.
Taking care of her children and her husband, preparing their meals and washing their clothes, was the future that would be hers.
"I grew up in a conservative Hispanic family," says Baynosa, today an associate professor of breast oncology surgery at the UNLV School of Medicine as well as the general surgery residency program director. "Women were basically seen as caregivers in that culture."
However, one woman who had a lot of clout in Baynosa's family, her mother, saw a future where there would be options for Baynosa and her sister.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor With the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine
Dr. Joseph Thornton, an associate professor with the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV, has been a practicing colon and rectal surgeon in Las Vegas for more than 25 years.
A graduate of Meharry Medical College in Nashville who later did a colon rectal surgery fellowship at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Dr. Thornton is board certified in colon and rectal surgery and a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons.
Most of his time with patients is divided between treating anal-rectal problems and performing endoscopes, although incontinence has become a recent focus.
He's a strong advocate of nutrition for good colon and rectal health and brought a prescription-free proprietary hemorrhoid treatment to market called Tush M.D.
Dr. Thornton is sure of two things: It's his job to make sure residents become the best doctors they can be, and University Medical Center is the safest place in Las Vegas to get a colonoscopy.
Elizabeth C. Wilkes, who holds a master of science degree in nursing from Purdue University Global, is a nurse practitioner in general pediatrics for UNLV Health, the clinical arm of the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV.
She provides pediatric primary care services, including obtaining comprehensive and focused histories, conducting physical examinations, developing diagnoses and implementing individualized care plans. Such care plans include prescribing medications, ordering diagnostic examinations such as labs/imaging studies, and completing in office procedures when necessary.
A graduate of Sacred Heart University in Connecticut, where she earned her bachelor of science degree in nursing and won Student Nurse of the Year honors, Wilkes has worked in several Southern Nevada hospitals, including the St. Rose Dominican Hospitals. There, she was honored with both the Star Performer Award and the Hello Human Kindness Award.
Wilkes achieved board certification as a family nurse practitioner through the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC).
Elizabeth Robinson graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in December of 2015 with a bachelor of arts (BA) in Sociology. Upon graduation she started working in the mental health field as a Registered Behavior Technician treating autistic children.
She also worked as a Qualified Mental Health Associate doing psychosocial rehabilitation with children, young adults, and seniors.
Elizabeth is currently full time employed as a Day Treatment Counselor with UNLV Health Mojave Counseling.
During her free time, she enjoys spending time with family, listening to a variety of music, exercising, and reading.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Nevada Board of Medical Examiners
Job Titles:
- Member of the Robotics Committee of the American Foregut Society
Dr. Burke, who also has a strong interest in abdominal core health that sometimes requires abdominal wall hernia repairs, earned her medical degree from the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University as part of the Dartmouth College-Brown University joint medical program. During her medical school training, she worked in the Dominican Republic for a year as part of an international collaboration between the Brown Department of Medicine and the Hospital Cabral y Baez Department of Medicine.
After completing her residency in general surgery at the University of Wisconsin, Dr. Burke also completed a fellowship in pediatric and adult surgical critical care at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and trained in advanced GI and minimally invasive surgery through her fellowship at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine.
A member of the Robotics Committee of the American Foregut Society, Dr. Burke has published research in several peer-reviewed publications, including the Journal of Surgical Research and American Journal of Surgery.
Josephine Sun, MD, is originally from Salt Lake City, UT and spent half of her childhood in Taiwan. She received her undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Utah. During medical school, she was involved in many volunteer activities including the Somali Refugee Program and health fairs for the underserved community.
Dr. Sun completed pediatrics residency training at UNLV Pediatrics in 2021, then joined the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV as assistant professor of pediatrics the same year. Her primary clinical roles include caring for patients in the UNLV Medicine Pediatric Clinic and for newborns at the Sunrise Hospital Nursery. She is active in medical education and enjoys teaching medical students and resident physicians during their clinical rotations. She has presented lectures on different topics including pediatric dental health advocacy, pediatric board reviews, and her Newborn Nursery Quality Improvement project.
She is fluent in Mandarin-Chinese and eager to reach the Chinese-speaking population of Las Vegas to care for their children's medical needs. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, watching movies, traveling, and spending time with her husband and their German Shepherd.
All of Dr. Jones' higher educational training has been done at the University of Mississippi. As an undergraduate there, he received his bachelor's degree in biology. He earned his medical degree from the University of Mississippi School of Medicine and his master's of pathology from the University of Mississippi Graduate School of Health Sciences.
His psychiatric residency was completed through the University of Mississippi Medical Center Department of Psychiatry.
Job Titles:
- Member of the American Academy of Pediatrics
Osman Khan Yousufzai, MD, a graduate of the Medical College of Georgia, is an assistant professor in the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV Department of Pediatrics.
Named chief resident during his pediatric residency training at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine, Dr. Yousufzai's writing has been published in the American Medical Association's Journal of Ethics.
A member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Yousufzai has cared for complex patients requiring coordination of care at University Medical Center and Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center.
Dr. Yousufzai graduated from the University of Georgia with a bachelor's degree in biology. He enjoys teaching evidence-based medicine to resident physicians and medical students.