Program Leadership
After completing medical school at Loyola's Stritch School of Medicine in Chicago, Dr. Diamond-Falk moved to Portland for her Med-Peds Residency training at MHMMC. Upon graduation from residency, she began working as a Hospitalist for both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at MHMMC and has been the Med-Peds Program director since 2014. She previously served on the MPPDA (Med-Peds Program Director Association) Executive Committee as Secretary and Treasurer and remains active in the national Med-Peds community. She is interested in global health locally (developing an Immigrant Health Elective with IM/Med-Peds residents as part of an education innovation grant and leads the Interpreter SIM event) and internationally (spends time in Rwanda at a teaching hospital in Kigali). When not working as a hospitalist or program director you might catch her at a gymnastics competition, hockey arena or building a fairy house on Mackworth Island as she keeps (very!) busy with her husband, 3 children and dog.
Edmund (Ted) Sears, MD started as Associate Program Director in April 2016. He completed medical school at the Dartmouth-Brown Program through Brown Medical School, then his Med-Peds residency, IM Chief Residency, and Pulmonary/Critical Care Fellowship at Brown University. He has been in Maine since 2012, when he joined Chest Medicine Associates and began practicing at MHMMC. He also serves as Associate Director of the MHMMC Adult CF Program, which draws on his Med-Peds training and allows him to collaborate with pediatric pulmonology and is an APD for the Pulmonary/Critical Fellowship. He has research interests in CF and general pulmonary medicine. Ted’s family escapes to their place on Kezer Lake whenever they can to spend time on the water and ski nearby at Shawnee Peak.
Dr. Powell is the Med-Peds Clinic Director extraordinaire for the resident clinic where she precepts residents as well as sees her own patients at the MHMMC Internal Medicine-Pediatric Clinic. She moved to Maine in 2014 after completing medical school at Chicago Medical School, and her Med-Peds residency training at Rush University Medical Center. She is involved in many QI projects related, not only to the resident clinic, but to primary care throughout MaineHealth. Amanda helps remind everyone about self-care through resiliency tips in the weekly clinic email updates and recruits interested residents to run with her in 5K races and sometimes even a half marathon.
Simmons Thomas, MD has been working with the Med-Pedes residency program since 2012. He works as an adult hospitalist. He has worked as continuity clinic preceptor and managed his own patient panel in the Med-Pedes clinic since 2014. He became Assistant Program Director for the Med-Pedes program in 2021. Dr. Thomas completed medical school at the Medical College of Georgia and his Med-Pedes residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital.
Marissa Nichols joined our program in 2022. She has a Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration from Chapman University. In 2018 she moved with her family from California to Maine and they have been living “the way life should be” ever since. When she isn’t in the office you’ll most likely find her in her garden, camping with her family, with her nose in a book, or enjoying one of the many amazing restaurants the Portland area has to offer.
Faculty
Kathryn Brouillette, MD graduated from the MHMMC Med-Peds residency program in 2015. She is a medical school graduate of McGill University who currently works as an Internal Medicine hospitalist at MHMMC and Pediatric Hospitalist at CMMC (Central Maine Medical Center). Dr. Brouillette is a faculty advisor for our program, a member of our Med-Peds Program Evaluation Committee, and a faculty interviewer.
Eliza Bullis, MD joined Adult Hospital Medicine at MHMMC in 2016 but has been spreading her pediatrics roots since she started. She now does Pediatric Primary Care 1 day a week and fills in per diem as a preceptor in Med-Peds resident clinic. Dr. Bullis also serves as the MS3 Clerkship Director for Internal Medicine and is quick to find the students most interested in Med-Peds. She is a graduate of Tufts University School of Medicine. She completed her residency and a chief resident year for Pediatrics at Yale University. She serves a Med-Peds resident advisor and interviews candidates for the residency program.
Dr. Emerson graduated from our Internal Medicine-Pediatric Residency Program in 2009 after attending medical school at Albany Medical College. He is currently working as a primary care provider at MaineHealth Primary Care - Internal Medicine and Pediatrics - Windham, a community Med-Peds rotation site.
Ben Felix, MD serves as a Med-Peds Resident Clinic preceptor, Director of International Clinic at MHMMC, and primary care provider in the IM Ambulatory Clinic at MHMMC. Ben completed his Med-Peds residency at Brown University in 2014 and medical school at Indiana University. Before coming to MHMMC Ben spent time working with pediatric cancer survivors.
Edward Fels, MD joined Rheumatology Associates in Portland in 2009 where our residents complete their Rheumatology rotation and is a faculty advisor for our program as well as a residency candidate interviewer. Dr. Fels completed a combined Internal Medicine-Pediatric Rheumatology Fellowship at Duke University after graduating from MaineHealth Maine Medical Center's Internal Medicine-Pediatric Residency Program in 2005.
Melanie Murray, MD works at MaineHealth Primary Care - Internal Medicine and Pediatrics - Windham, where she practices primary care and works with residents during their community Med-Peds rotation. Dr. Murray completed her Internal Medicine-Pediatric Residency at MaineHealth Maine Medical Center in 2007 after receiving her M.D. degree from Wright State University in Ohio.
Erica Hidu, MD works in the Med-Peds Resident Clinic both as a primary care doctor and a preceptor. She completed her Med-Peds residency at MaineHealth Maine Medical Center in 2021 and served as Pediatrics Chief Resident from 2021-2022. Dr. Hidu was born and raised in Maine and spends her free time outside, preferably anywhere near the ocean, with her family and dog.
Carol Hubbard, MD is a developmental specialist in the MaineHealth Pediatric Specialty Care Portland - Division of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics. She has been at MHMMC since 2000. She plays an integral role in the developmental/behavioral rotations and is a Med-Peds residency candidate interviewer. Dr. Hubbard received her M.D. degree at the University of North Carolina and completed her residency training in the Harvard Combined Internal Medicine-Pediatrics Program. She completed her Fellowship in Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Boston University.
Jill Kerekes, MD joined MaineHealth Primary Care - Internal Medicine and Pediatrics - Windham in 2009. She currently works with residents during their community Med-Peds rotation and also serves as the rotation director for the Med-Peds Primary Care medical student rotation. Dr. Kerekes is a graduate of the Ohio State University College of Medicine. She completed her residency training in Internal Medicine-Pediatrics at Loyola University. She is a member of the Med-Peds Evaluation/Promotions Committee and a residency candidate interviewer.
Katherine Liu, MD came to MHMMC for residency after completing her medical school training at Medical College of Wisconsin. She joined the Adult Hospital Medicine group in 2016 and previously did pediatric hospital medicine. She is a resident advisor and interviews residency candidates. She has an interest in international health.
Eliott Morgan, MD is an Adult Hospitalist here at MHMMC and a Pediatric Hospitalist at CMMC (Central Maine Medical Center). He completed medical school at Virginia Commonwealth University SOM in 2018 and went on to join the MHMMC Med-Peds residency where he served as chief resident. Outside the hospital, Eliott likes to hike, bike, surf, and ski with his wife and two young daughters. Eliott serves as a residency applicant interviewer.
Eugene Paluso, MD has practiced Internal Medicine-Pediatrics at MaineHealth Primary Care - Internal Medicine and Pediatrics - Windham since 1993. He served as a continuity clinic preceptor for many years and continues to work with residents during their community Med-Peds rotation. Dr. Paluso received his M.D. degree from Tufts University School of Medicine and completed his training in Internal Medicine-Pediatrics at Baystate Medical Center.
Rute Rothwell completed her Med-Peds residency at MaineHealth Maine Medical Center after attending University of Massachusetts Medical School. She is a Medicine nocturnist/hospitalist and per diem with Pediatric hospital medicine.
Jessie Schaumburg went to medical school at Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed her Med-Peds residency at MaineHealth Maine Medical Center. She works at the residency Internal Medicine and Pediatric Clinic as a primary care provider and preceptor, at a local high school doing school-based health care through Greater Portland Health, an FQHC, and also practices adult hospital medicine. She is the faculty advisor to Tufts student-run medical forensic evaluation clinic for asylum seekers.
Andreas Thyssen, MD is a combined Adult and Pediatric Hospitalist here at MHMMC. After medical school at University of Colorado, he completed his residency here at MHMMC where he served as chief resident for Med-Peds. He has an interest in lifestyle medicine. Dr. Thyssen serves as a resident advisor and residency applicant interviewer.
Christine Twining, MD joined MaineHealth Endocrinology and Diabetes - Scarborough, Maine in 2008, where she sees adult endocrinology patients. Dr. Twining is a graduate of Duke University School of Medicine. She completed her combined Internal Medicine-Pediatric residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital in Connecticut. She then went on to complete a 2-year Adult Endocrinology Fellowship at WJB Dorn Veteran's Hospital/Palmetto Richland Memorial Hospital in Columbia, South Carolina before moving back to Maine to practice.
Chris Withers, MD joined MaineHealth Hospital Medicine - Portland after completing residency here in 2018. Chris served at Med-Peds Chief Resident and enjoys teaching. He completed his medical school at New York Medical College. Chris serves as a residency applicant interviewer.