The medical school is pleased to welcome four new faculty members to its departments of Medicine, Psychiatry and Family and Community Medicine, and the Center for Immunobiology.
Brett Jagger, MD, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine specializing in infectious diseases. Dr. Jagger is an alumnus of Graceland University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Biology in 2004. He followed that up with an MD from the Indiana University School of Medicine in 2013. He also earned a PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2012.
Dr. Jagger completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Barnes-Jewish Hospital at Washington University.
Prior to coming to WMed, Dr. Jagger spent four years as a clinical fellow in the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Internal Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. He also was a trainee at the school’s Oliver Lengenberg Physician-Scientist Training Program for six years and served as Medical Officer of the Day at John Cochran VA Health Care System.
In the Center for Immunobiology, Peter Pioli, PhD, has joined the faculty as a research assistant professor. Dr. Pioli is an alumnus of the University of Wisconsin, Parkside, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics in 2006. He went on to earn a master’s degree in Molecular Biology, Biochemistry and Genetics from the University of California, Irvine in 2010 and earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and immunology from the University of Utah in 2015.
Most recently, Dr. Pioli worked as a postdoctoral scholar in the laboratory of Dr. Kenneth Dorshkind in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. There, his research included Hematopoietic stem cells and aging and the role of plasma cells in altering aging patterns of hematopoiesis. Dr. Pioli also has worked as a postdoctoral scholar in the laboratory of Dr. Hanna Mikkola in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Los Angeles, where his research included Mef2c-mediated regulation of B lymphopoiesis and responses to stress.
Meanwhile, Sonia Shariff, MD, has joined the faculty as an assistant professor of Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Shariff is an alumna of Wayne State University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Pre-Medicine in 2006. She went on to earn her MD from St. Matthew’s University School of Medicine in 2011. Dr. Shariff completed her residency at WMed.
Most recently, Dr. Shariff worked as an attending physician and board-certified psychiatrist at Pine Rest Christian Mental Health and Center Pointe. She also has worked as a clinical professor in the Department of a clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Michigan State University since 2016.
In the Department of Family and Community Medicine, Ramona Wallace, DO, has joined the faculty as an assistant professor of Family Medicine with OB. Dr. Wallace is an alumna of Michigan State University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Physiology in 1986. She went on to earn her Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1990. Dr. Wallace completed her residency at St. Lawrence Hospital.
Most recently, Dr. Wallace worked in private practice in functional medicine at Bluewater Wellness and serves as the medical director at Muskegon Family Care. Dr. Wallace is a diplomate of the American Board of Family Practice and the American Board of Osteopathic Family Medicine and is board-certified through the Institute for Functional Medicine.