Wednesday, January 6, 2021

USA College of Medicine represented in Mobile Bay's 40 Under 40

From left, Nicolette Holliday, M.D.; Philip Almalouf, M.D.; Benjamin Niland, M.D.; Richard Menger, M.D., M.P.A.; and Katrina Weaver, M.D.

Five faculty members and two alumni from the USA College of Medicine were named to Mobile Bay’s 2020 40 Under 40. Each year, Mobile Bay magazine recognizes 40 individuals under the age of 40 who demonstrate leadership, professional excellence and a commitment to the Mobile Bay area.

Philip Almalouf, M.D., is an assistant professor of internal medicine at the USA College of Medicine and a pulmonologist at USA Health. A native of Damascus, Syria, Almalouf came to Mobile as a pulmonary critical care fellow in 2009. A Red Sash faculty member, he has won many awards, including four John Bass Awards for Teaching and the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award. Almalouf serves as medical director for Homedica and St. Joseph Hospice. He volunteers at Victory Health Partners and is active in community education efforts.

Nicolette Holliday, M.D., is an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the USA College of Medicine and an obstetrician-gynecologist at USA Health. Holliday earned her medical degree from the USA College of Medicine, where she also completed her residency training. She was the first OB-GYN in the Mobile and Baldwin county region to receive her Focused Practice Designation in Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology and has recently opened up a division at USA Health to care for these patients. Holliday also serves as the OB-GYN clerkship director, where she mentors future healthcare providers.

Richard Menger, M.D., M.P.A., is an assistant professor of neurosurgery at the USA College of Medicine, a neurosurgeon and chief of complex spine surgery at USA Health, and director of the Spine Institute of the South. Menger graduated with honors from Cornell University and Georgetown University School of Medicine. After a seven-year neurosurgery residency, he went on to complete the Advanced Pediatric Spinal Deformity Fellowship at Columbia University Medical Center. He also was awarded the Hale Champion Public Service Fellowship at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where he earned a master of public administration. Menger, a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy Reserves, was deployed to New York this past spring during the first wave of COVID-19.

Benjamin Niland, M.D., is an assistant professor of internal medicine at the USA College of Medicine and a gastroenterologist and interim program director of gastroenterology at USA Health. Niland was instrumental in building the motility program at the USA Health Digestive Health Center, which aims to improve the lives of many patients in our region. His interests include esophageal disease, GI physiology and functional disease and inflammatory bowel disease. An active member of St. Ignatius Catholic Church, Niland volunteers his time to help those in underserved communities during medical mission trips.

Katrina Weaver, M.D., is an assistant professor of surgery and pediatrics at the USA College of Medicine and a pediatric surgeon at Children’s & Women’s Hospital. Since joining USA Health in January 2020, Weaver has made significant advances in the pediatric burn and pediatric trauma departments. She created the area’s only pediatric and adolescent bariatric program, which provides new surgery options for young patients dealing with obesity. Weaver also volunteers on international medical mission trips, and collects and ships medical supplies to underserved people around the globe.

Ankit Gulati, M.D., M.B.A., a 2011 graduate of the USA College of Medicine, is a rehabilitation physician and medical director for Infirmary Health J.L. Bedsole Rotary Rehabilitation Hospital. Gulati oversees the quality and compassionate rehabilitative care for patients who have been impacted by severe illness or injury. As medical director of Rotary Rehabilitation Hospital and Colony Rehabilitation, he has led the charge for both facilities to achieve and maintain accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities. Gulati also is working on developing a rehabilitation program for those affected by COVID-19 in our community.

Patrick Leon Murphy Jr., M.D., a 2013 graduate of the USA College of Medicine, is a family medicine physician with Alabama Medical Group. In his first two years there, he was elected to serve on the practice’s board of directors. The board-certified family medicine physician, along with another doctor, started the new aesthetics division within AMG. He has served on numerous professional and community boards throughout his education and career in medicine. Murphy also is involved with The Fuse Project, a nonprofit benefiting Gulf Coast children.