Program Leadership and Core Faculty

Internal Medicine

Program Leadership and Core Faculty

Bijal S. Mehta, M.D., FACP Profile Image

Bijal S. Mehta, M.D., FACP

  • Program Director
  • Director of Medical Education
  • BS: Interdisciplinary Biological and Medical Sciences (Junior Honors), University of Florida
  • M.D.: University of Florida, Alpha Omega Alpha
  • Residency: University of California – San Francisco

"I have tremendously enjoyed my time as Program Director of the Internal Medicine residency at Mountainside Medical Center after spending 17 years in New York City. We have an amazing faculty that is dedicated to teaching and treating patients from all different backgrounds who come in with every conceivable pathology. We have a wonderful hospital staff that truly works as a team alongside the doctors to provide the highest level of care to every patient. Of course, what sustains me is the house staff. They are caring, energetic, open to new ideas and receptive to learning. To top it all off, this hospital has an incredibly supportive administrative leadership with a vision for the future and a vested interest in training doctors who will be integral to its continued success."

Valerie Allusson, M.D. Profile Image

Valerie Allusson, M.D.

  • Chief Medical Officer
  • Medical School: University of Medicine Paris, France
  • Residency: Albert Einstein, Bronx NY
  • Fellow Health Management Academy Senior Fellow Hospital Medicine

"In the 21st century, the key to practicing great medicine is to train residents in the three fundamental aspects of patient care: the application of best evidence medicine, providing patient centered care and providing high quality, cost conscious care.

Working with residents is to me a representation of what I would call the 'Circle of Learning.' The most exciting moment comes when one is able to transition from knowledge to the state of 'connaissance' which involves the integration and application at the bedside of what one knows. Our departmental philosophy also emphasizes teamwork and communication - learning how to better communicate, build bridges, connections and relationships between individuals. It is a wonderful experience from which we all learn every day."

Jennifer Knight, M.D. Profile Image

Jennifer Knight, M.D.

  • APD, Ambulatory Medicine
  • Medical Director, Adult Health Center
  • BS: Florida State University
  • M.D.: Ross University, Dominica
  • Residency: St. Luke’s/Roosevelt Hospital Center, New York, NY

"Teaching tomorrow’s physicians is a privilege. After spending at a little more than three years in private practice, I've tremendously enjoyed becoming a clinician educator and Director of the Adult Health Center at HUMC Mountainside. My goal is to mentor residents and develop their superior clinical skills, empathy and ability to adapt and function in today's ever-changing outpatient health care environment. The house staff at Mountainside continuously impresses me with the compassionate care they provide to our patients and their dedication to learning the craft of medicine."

Roveena Goveas, M.D. Profile Image

Roveena Goveas, M.D.

  • APD, Hospital Medicine & Quality Improvement
  • M.D.: Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, India
  • Master of Science: Epidemiology, Michigan State University
  • Residency: and Chief Residency: Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
  • Fellowship: Nephrology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI

"It has been said: 'Medical residency is a period of unbelievable professional growth and development, and with good fortune, may even be accompanied by comparable logarithmic personal enlargement. The resident makes a knowing and informed commitment to be a physician: to take care of patients with compassion, justice, honor, dignity, scholarship, and devotion'

As a physician and teacher, I have a unique role of having a direct impact in nurturing future physicians. It was this passion that drove me to be a part of the team at HUMC Mountainside Hospital and be involved with residents from bedside rounds to didactic conferences. My goal is to mentor the residents to practice evidence-based medicine, integrating current evidence with personalized care to deliver the best to each patient. Here, at HUMC mountainside Hospital, the diversity of medical conditions, the inter-disciplinary team approach provides a rich learning experience and it is rewarding to see the residents grow."

Isaac Soliman, M.D. Profile Image

Isaac Soliman, M.D.

  • APD, Medical Education & Curriculum Development
  • Clerkship Director, HM SOM
  • MD: Misr-Ain Shams University Hospital (El-Demerdash), Cairo, Egypt
  • Residency: Mountainside Medical Center

"I am of the belief that one can learn the 'nuts and bolts' of medicine at any qualified institution, however it takes a special environment, with the right teachers, staff, and attitude to cultivate a true physician. As a graduate, and now a teaching attending at Mountainside, I have found the environment of our residency program to be one that goes above and beyond; not only producing academically strong physicians of the future, but passionate ones, who care for patients as much as they do for evidence based medicine. The opportunity to share what I know and learn from the residents and staff on a daily basis, only augments the passion I have for my career. There is nothing more rewarding to a physician than caring for his patients, and nothing more rewarding to a teaching physician than witnessing his team do that. If the old adage 'if you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life' holds true, then I can honestly say I have never worked a single day since residency"

Dr. Hassan Malik  Profile Image

Dr. Hassan Malik

  • APD for Simulation
  • C.M.H. Lahore Medical College
  • Residency: Hackensack Meridian Health Mountainside Medical Center

“It has been my dream to be on the teaching faculty at Mountainside Medical Center. I love everything about this place – the residents, the staff and the other attendings. Mountainside has been my home since my first day of internship here. I hope to instill all that I have been taught to the incoming trainees and continue to learn with them!”

Dr. Aiza Akbar Profile Image

Dr. Aiza Akbar

  • Clinical Instructor
  • Medical School: King Edward Medical College
  • Residency: Mountainside Medical Center

"I am fortunate and blessed to be part of this Mountainside Family. From starting as an intern and now an attending, I have always felt welcomed, and more importantly valued. I hope to continue this tradition as a teaching attending, where showing care and compassion to the residents translates to the care and compassion they provide to their patients. "Happiness inspires productivity" - in my opinion, your work place should be your happy place and I am so lucky that is the case for me!"

Zaza Cohen,  M.D., FCCP Profile Image

Zaza Cohen, M.D., FCCP

  • Director, Critical Care
  • M.D.: University of Vermont School of Medicine
  • Residency: Boston Medical Center, Massachusetts
  • Fellowship: Yale New Haven Hospital, Connecticut
  • Faculty Appointment: Assistant Professor Medicine, Rutgers-New Jersey Medical School

"It is said that a physician is entrusted with the health of an individual, while a teacher is entrusted with the health of a generation. If that is true, then imagine the impact of a physician educator, whose task is to make every patient encounter a 'teachable moment'. It's hard and fun, challenging and rewarding all at once. There is no prize better than a feeling that while helping patients through their illnesses, you are also importing morsels of knowledge into young physicians' minds that will stay with them the rest of the way. I get multiple opportunities to do so every day in our ICU and hope that these mountains of knowledge accumulated by our residents throughout their training will positively affect countless patients they will treat in the future."

Ali El-Sayed, M.D. Profile Image

Ali El-Sayed, M.D.

  • Chair, Department of Medicine
  • Associate Director, Critical Care
  • M.D.: University of Gezira, Sudan
  • Residency: Oakwood Hospital, Dearborn, MI
  • Fellowship: University of Virginia, Charlottesville
  • "Teacher of the Year" 2015

"I enjoy working with house staff. I believe my role is to nurture critical thinking and allow autonomy while providing a framework upon which to build a process of lifelong learning. Our pathology is diverse and our residents learn a broad-based approach to Critical Care Medicine. Watching house staff grow and mature as they learn is a very rewarding experience."