Class of 2028

Farid Aboharb, MD, PhD
Weill Cornell Medicine
Research Track

Hey there! I was born in Venezuela and grew up just outside of Philly in the town of Pennsauken, NJ. Since as far back as I remember I was interested in brains and wanting to be a scientist. At Rutgers New Brunswick, where I went to college, I studied brains alongside philosophy and learned about the physician scientist path. My next step was the Tri-Institutional MD-PhD program in New York City. I studied how brains make sense of the social world by doing electrophysiology in non-human primates during my PhD at Rockefeller University. I got into coding and bringing my love of video games into my work by using computer generated stimuli of social scenes. Before finishing medical school, I took a brief detour in Ithaca to complete a Masters of Engineering in Biomedical Engineering and study psychedelics. Psychiatry has long been the most interesting speciality to me - examining how brains make minds, and how we can heal their dysfunctions. My goal is to develop tools and paradigms in the space of neuroimaging, bioinformatics, and neuromodulation. Beyond the hospital, I love to explore the city, play video games, and watch stand up comedy.

Joseph (Will) Butkiewicz, MD
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Hi there! I was born and raised in Northeastern Pennsylvania before coming to Philly for college at Penn, where I studied Linguistics and French. After graduating, I spent two years teaching in a public elementary school and then completed a postbaccalaureate premedical program at Bryn Mawr College. I returned to Penn for medical school, where I found my home in psychiatry. I’m thrilled to keep learning as part of the warm Penn Psychiatry community, and to keep enjoying the vibrant and diverse city of Philadelphia. My current clinical and professional interests include LGBTQ+ mental health, addiction psychiatry, psychotherapy, and medical education. In my free time, I like to garden, bake, read, run, hike, and hang with family and friends.

Evan Calvo, MD
Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine

I grew up in Northeast Philadelphia and started my undergraduate career at the University of Pittsburgh, but ultimately returned home to earn my BA in psychology with a minor in chemistry from Temple University. I worked as a research assistant in the Psychology Department at Temple University for 2 years where I developed a number of clinical and academic interests pertaining to psychotic disorders and the psychosis-risk spectrum. I then joined the MD program at the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine in Scranton, PA, where I continued exploring my interests and passions inside the field of psychiatry. Currently, I have too many clinical interests to list, but am broadly interested in interventional, consult-liaison, and acute inpatient psychiatry. I also look forward to incorporating a growing passion for mental health advocacy in my career. Outside of professional life, my favorite things to do include running, cycling, and exploring the Philly food scene.

John Curran, MD
Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University

Hello! I grew up in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, a suburb just outside Philadelphia. I attended Georgetown University, where I majored in Biology and minored in Justice and Peace Studies. During my time at Georgetown, I found a home in the University’s Center for Social Justice, collaborating with and learning from many great community organizations in D.C. After graduation, I worked as a clinical research coordinator at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, studying headache and migraine. I later continued my journey at Jefferson, attending Sidney Kimmel Medical College, where I quickly developed an interest in psychiatry. My current interests include consultation-liaison (CL) psychiatry, addiction psychiatry, and community psychiatry. I am thrilled to join the incredible community of residents and faculty here at Penn and to train in such a supportive environment! Outside of the hospital, I enjoy reading, cooking, running, and exploring the many beautiful neighborhoods we have here in Philly.

Karen Gomez, MD, PhD
Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Research Track

I completed my undergraduate studies at Temple University with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry, a minor in Spanish, and a certificate in Genome Medicine. I then attended medical school at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, where I joined the MD-PhD dual-degree program. I completed my PhD at Columbia University in the Systems Biology Track of the Integrated Program in Cellular, Molecular and Biomedical Studies. My thesis focused on the genomics of immune dysregulation in the context of cancer. During my clinical rotations in medical school, I developed a passion for psychiatry. I am particularly interested in psychiatric genomics and utilization of computational approaches to better understand and treat mental illness. I am honored to be continuing my clinical and research training here at Penn. Outside of the hospital, I enjoy cooking, gardening, and hiking. 

Finola Goudy, MD
Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University

Hello everyone! I grew up here in Philadelphia before heading to Barnard College to study neuroscience and behavior and explore my love of theatre and the arts in New York. After college, I spent two years working in clinical research at Weill Cornell Medicine before returning to Philadelphia to attend medical school at Sidney Kimmel Medical College. Throughout medical school, I spent many evenings leading a student-run free clinic for people experiencing homelessness in the city, where I saw firsthand how mental health impacted my patients’ lives. This drove me to pursue psychiatry and fostered my drive to give back to my home city through clinical work. On my interview day at Penn, I could sense a deep care for the community and warmth amongst the resident and faculty, and I am honored to be starting my training here this year. Outside the hospital, you’ll find me enjoying one of Philadelphia’s many amazing coffee shops, taking care of my house plants, cooking dinner with my husband, crafting, and spending time with friends and family! 

Carina Guerra, MD
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Hello! I grew up all over the place, calling everywhere from Florida, Indiana, Peru, New Zealand, and North Carolina my home. At an early age, I became a major theater kid. I’m talking arts school for performance starting in the 8th grade and doing Shakespeare competitions in high school alongside being cast in school and amateur productions. My dreams of Broadway continued until halfway through my theater degree at UNC-Chapel Hill, when I realized that what I loved most about performance was human stories and understanding how people think and behave. I pivoted and graduated with a BS in psychology planning to be in the mental health field. I worked in psychiatric neuroimaging research for a year before I decided to pursue medicine with the intent of becoming a psychiatrist. During my time as a Penn medical student, I incorporated my training as a performer through the development of a theater course for medical students and also deepened my interest in social determinants of health graduating with concentrations in both medical humanities and community health. I’m thrilled to be able to continue my training at Penn Psychiatry, where I plan to further explore my many interests within the field including the medical humanities, community psychiatry, and psychotherapy. Outside of medicine, I enjoy eating the several delicious cuisines Philly has to offer (especially at the southeast asian market, Chinatown, and Reading Terminal), long city walks, and spending time with my partner and my pet rat Remy at our home next to the Italian Market. 

Gabriel Herbst, MD
Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University

Hello! Aside from a brief (though arguably significant) period of my life from birth to twelve months, I have lived in Pennsylvania. I am hoping that my twenty-five years of experience living in Pennsylvania will translate to a smooth transition to Philadelphia, but I’ve mostly lived in small towns, so that’s TBD. I attended Allegheny College followed by Temple Medical School (St. Luke’s Campus). I had a sneaking suspicion in college that I would end up pursuing psychiatry. At that time, I had started to wake up to the fact that every person has a unique story to tell, and I really love to listen. My suspicion was confirmed during my psychiatry rotations where I had the opportunity to listen to patients’ stories, and through them, learn the extent to which peoples’ lives are affected by mental illness. I want to be the best physician I can for people with mental illness, which is why I am both excited and honored to train at UPenn! Outside of medicine, I like to spend time with friends/family, be outside, exercise, and attempt to read a book here and there. 

Corey Horien, MD, PhD
Yale School of Medicine
Research Track

I grew up in Thief River Falls, MN and went to Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. After spending a year at the University of Oxford studying various aspects of Neisseria type four pili molecular biology, I joined the MD-PhD program at Yale University. I worked with Todd Constable and obtained my PhD in neuroscience, investigating individual differences in functional connectomic data in neurodevelopmental conditions. I look forward to continuing this work at Penn and working with amazing researchers and clinicians across the department. In my downtime, I love ice hockey (go MN Wild!), yoga, reading, and trying new restaurants.

Naomie Shembo, MD
The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University

I grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina though I spent the last nine years in Providence, RI completing Brown’s BA/MD program. During my undergraduate years, I pursued majors in Public Health and French/Francophone Studies, alongside a scholarly concentration in Medical Education during medical school. Throughout my academic journey, I've been dedicated to cultivating inclusive spaces for patients and peers to speak freely about our mental health. 

I am excited to learn more about integrating my perspective as a member of the LGBTQ+ community with the practice of psychotherapy as I move through residency. I look forward to exploring how this integration can enhance patient care and support within diverse communities. I am also particularly interested in continuing to pursue medical education during residency. 

Outside of the hospital, you’ll often find me on the couch watching reality TV with my partner and our diva of a cat, Mari! 

Andrew Siliciano, MD, PhD
Weill Cornell Medicine

I grew up in Ithaca, New York and stayed in the beautiful Finger Lakes Region to study Applied and Engineering Physics at Cornell University.  During this time, I became interested in how the brain gives rise to behavior, and how dysfunction in neural circuits may manifest as psychiatric illness.  As my interests shifted from physics to medicine, I decided to pursue an MD-PhD at the Weill Cornell/Rockefeller/Sloan-Kettering Tri-Institutional program in New York City.  For my PhD, I turned to the tiny fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, a model organism whose concise neural architecture allows for deep mechanistic understanding of how brain circuits give rise to complex behaviors.  I chose to study the behavioral algorithms and neural mechanisms underlying odor plume tracking (in other words, how a fruit fly finds the banana on your kitchen counter!).  After returning to the wards, I found that I wanted to pursue a career in psychiatry, and am trilled to be training at Penn!  My interests are broad, but include addiction, interventional, and consult-liaison psychiatry. In my free time I enjoy cycling with my wife, laughing with my daughter, and petting my cat Tubbs. 

Chidinma Wilson, MD
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Hi everyone! I was born in Michigan and spent several of my formative years in California. From an early age, I knew I wanted to be a physician, but my career vision became more defined in high school. As a first-generation Guyanese American, I desired to understand differences in health outcomes for those closest to me. So, I delved into unpacking the drivers of health disparities, particularly adverse childhood experiences, cultural differences, and language barriers. This exploration ignited my passion for health equity. 

I matriculated into Oakwood University to pursue a dual degree in Biology and Spanish, and spent a year abroad in Entre Ríos, Argentina. Afterward, I started medical school at Penn, where I was honored to partner with the community through various leadership roles, including Co-Chair at the United Community Clinic and Co-Coordinator for Philadelphia Towards Racial and Environmental Equity. During my clerkship year, I found what lay at the intersection of my passions: psychiatry. I am overjoyed to continue my here training at Penn for residency, where I strive to deepen my interest in timely, trauma-sensitive interventions for children and their families and quality mental health care for marginalized communities. In my free time, I enjoy exploring local restaurants, traveling, putting puzzles together, and trying new activities with my family and friends.