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Training future generations of family physicians.

Why Choose Family Medicine?

Family medicine physicians provide comprehensive, continuous healthcare to all members of the family throughout the course of their lives. By building relationships based on communication and respect, these physicians gain a deeper understanding of the whole person, including the range of physical, emotional and socioeconomic factors that influence a person’s health status.

The Department of Family & Community Medicine integrates biological, clinical and behavioral sciences to train our physicians to provide outstanding levels of patient-centered and culturally appropriate care.

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Education

Faculty Spotlight

Kiran Joshi

Clinical Assistant Professor of Family and Community Medicine

Interests include quality improvement, global health, community based participatory research.

Deborah Smith Clements

Professor of Family and Community Medicine and Medical Education

Dr. Clements joined the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in 2013 as Chair of Family and Community Medicine and Program Director for the McGaw Northwestern Family Medicine Residency at Lake Forest. In this role, she sets the priorities and vision for family medicine at Northwestern and oversees the training of residents in three residency programs at multiple sites across the Chicagoland area. She is also responsible for the family medicine undergraduate medical education at Feinberg. Previously, she served as the Program Director for the University of Kansas Medical Center F...

Robert J Kasper

Instructor of Family and Community Medicine

Dr. Robert Kasper completed his residency in Family Medicine at Hinsdale Hospital in 2019. He is a 2016 graduate of Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine at Midwestern University, and a graduate with a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Benedictine University in 2011. Throughout his education, he has participated in various small-scale research projects in the fields of analytical chemistry, genomics, and obstetrics/neonatal care. He has a broad variety of personal and academic interests, including providing excellent low-risk obstetric care, expanding the understanding and appr...

Rosanne D Vasiloff

Assistant Professor of Family and Community Medicine

Dr. Vasiloff has been on staff at Northwestern Medicine since 2015. She is board certified in Family Medicine and Obesity Medicine. She sees patients ages 12 and up at Northwestern Medicine- Lakeview. She received her medical degree from Northwestern's Feinberg School of Medicine and completed her residency at Hinsdale Hospital, where she served as Chief Resident. 

Jeffrey M Panzer

Clinical Instructor of Family and Community Medicine

Family physician at Erie Family Health Center.

Alisha T Thomas

Clinical Instructor of Family and Community Medicine

Dr. Thomas is board certified in Family Medicine. She sees patients of all ages at PCC Austin Family Health Center on the west side of the city. She received her medical degree from the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern and completed her residency training, including a chief resident year, at West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, IL. Dr. Thomas enjoys providing full-spectrum inpatient and outpatient family medicine care, including prenatal, intrapartum and postpartum management, to her patients. She is delighted to have the opportunity to teach and mentor learners at various leve...

Amin Farokhrani

Assistant Professor of Family and Community Medicine

Dr. Farokhrani is board certified in Family Medicine and Sports Medicine. He sees patients at the Northwestern University Health Service. He received his medical degree from the Wayne State University (Detroit, MI), completed his residency at Wayne State University/Crittenton Hospital and sports medicine fellowship training at the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Farokhrani’s clinical interests include: exploring innovative models in primary care sports medicine, performing MSK procedures, clinical utilization of MSK ultrasound and biomechanical research. He is thrilled to share his love of teaching, lea...

Anuj Kumar Shah

Clinical Instructor of Family and Community Medicine

Anuj Shah is an Integrative Family Physician, based out of Heartland Health Center’s Lakeview Clinic. Dr. Shah graduated from Loyola’s Stritch School of Medicine, and completed his residency at the Greater Lawrence Family Medicine Center in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He continued onto a family medicine fellowship at MacNeal Family Medicine Residency, and received his Masters in Public Health at UIC. For almost 10 years, he worked as a family physician and educator at Erie Family Health Center in Humboldt Park. Dr. Shah developed his passion for holistic care through the University of Arizona Int...

Anna Balabanova Shannahan

Assistant Professor of Family and Community Medicine

Dr. Anna Shannahan (nee Balabanova) is currently Associate Director of Education at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Northwestern as well as Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Northwestern.​She was born in Russia, continuing to speak fluent Russian, and spent much of her life in Colorado Springs, Colorado. As an athlete and figure skating coach who earned a US Figure Skating Association Gold Medal, she is passionate about diet, exercise, and helping others achieve their health goals. At the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern as a medical student, s...

Michael K Rakotz

Clinical Assistant Professor of Family and Community Medicine

Dr. Rakotz oversees efforts to prevent cardiovascular disease for the American Medical Association. A practicing family physician for more than 20 years, Dr. Rakotz recently served as the Director of Population Health and Virtual Medicine at Northwestern Memorial Physicians Group. In 2014, his office was one of 30 sites in the U.S.to earn the designation as a Million Hearts® Hypertension Control Champion. In addition to his position in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, he is a Fellow for the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology (HIT).

Our Community

Our multiple affiliated care sites offer unique training experiences and comprehensive patient care.

Starzl Academy

Former trainee - Luisa Morales Nebreda, MD

Physician-Scientist Training & Resources

We offer a wide range of resources, mentorship opportunities and training to help our residents excel as physician-scientists. Explore all of the resources and hear from housestaff who are making research a major part of their career development plans.

VISIT THE STARZL ACADEMY SITE

Health Equity

Our vision is to make Northwestern, our communities, all communities, our lives and the world a better place - with everyone having the chance and responsibility for reaching their own pinnacle of health

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