Alpha of Indiana Chapter
Induction Banquet
Friday, February 14, 2025, 6-9pm
Crowne Plaza Hotel - Grand Hall in Union Station
123 W. Louisiana Street, Indianapolis, Indiana
Program of Events
Welcome and Invocation
Dinner Served
History of AΩA and Student Group Report
Volunteer Clinical Faculty Award
Keynote Address by Gareth Gilkey, MD
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Class of 2019
Class of 2025 Students
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Click here for student information A - kol
Click here for student information kom - Z
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Elected members are nominated by current AOA members and voted on at the annual election meeting. The Indiana Alpha Chapter is eligible to elect six alumni, ten faculty and twenty housestaff for this honor. The nominees should be individuals who have demonstrated outstanding scholarship. leadership in teaching, research and volunteerism.
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Alumni - Click here for Alumni information
Annette Foti Childress, MD - Pediatrics
Jordan C. Huskins, MD - Pediatrics
April P'Pool, MD, ABP, ABOM - Pediatrics
Noelle Clark Sinex, MD, FACP - Medicine
Allyson Thomas, MD - Medicine
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Faculty - Click here for Faculty information
Cole Beeler, MD - Medicine
Dylan Douglas Cooper, MD - Emergency Medicine
Janice L. Farlow, MD, PhD, - Otolaryngology
Marwan Ghabril, MD - Medicine
Peter Gunderman, MD - Radiology
Wade Kvatum, MD, - Family Medicine
James Christopher Miller , MD - Neurological Surgery
Haley Pritchard, MD, MS - Medicine
Mitesh V. Shah, MD - Neurological Surgery
Julie Vannerson, MD - Medicine
Residents - Click here for Resident information
Mounir Al Gibbawi, MD - Medicine
Janina Quintero Bisonó, MD - Medicine
Lauren Carpenter, MD - Medicine-Pediatrics
James Goen, MD - Psychiatry
Gretchen Goble, MD, Medicine-Pediatrics
Ricky E. Lemus-Zamora, MD - Medicine
Mac Light, MD - Medicine-Pediatrics
Gabrielle Michaeli, MD - Emergency Medicine
Ricardo A. Serrano, MD - Psychiatry
Anisha Sharma, MD - Psychiatry
Elizabeth Shay, MD - Otolaryngology
Marielle Siebert, DO - Medicine
Corey Stump, DO - Radiology
Jessica Adams Thompson, MD, MBA - Medicine
Jack Tiahnybik, DO - Medicine
Matthew Tobin, MD, PhD - Neurological Surgery
Piiamaria Virtanen, MD - Neurological Surgery
Ben Weiner, MD - Medicine-Pediatrics
Harikiran Vasu, MD Award
The Indiana University Chapter of Alpha Omega Alpha and the Vasu family has established the Harikiran Vasu, MD Award in the memory of our former AΩA student President Hari Vasu. This annual award will be presented to the AΩA senior student who best embodies Hari's dedication to altruism, compassion, the pursuit and sharing of knowledge, and demonstrating kindness, integrity, and empathy for all others.
Volunteer Clinical Faculty Award
The Indiana University School of Medicine chapter of Alpha Omega Alpha’s Volunteer Faculty award is presented annually to recognize a community physician who contributes with distinction to the education and training of clinical students. This award was instituted to honor community physicians who donate their time, skill and experience to teach medical students and residents. The AΩA student members nominate and elect the most deserving of this award.
Theppanya Keolasy, MD
Dr. Keolasy is a Family Medicine physician with Parkview Physicians Group in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He completed his undergraduate degree at Hope College in Holland, Michigan and earned his medical degree at Indiana University School of Medicine in 2001, completing his residency training at St. Joseph Regional Medical Center.
Dr. Keolasy has been married to his wife Tiffini for 23 year and they four children, ages 21, 20, 17 and 14. He enjoys reading (psychological thrillers), watching true-crime documentaries, listening to classic 80's and 90's music and attending live sporting events.
2025
Volunteer Clinical Faculty
Award Recipient
Dr. Theppanya Keolasy
Family Medicine
Parkview Physicians Group
AOA Student Chapter
President: Alexa Mederos
Secretary: Aditya Belamkar
The IU Alpha Omega Alpha student chapter is proud to announce another great year of accomplishments. Picking up where last year’s graduating class left off, several new initiatives and events have been successfully completed. Current members have worked hard to ensure that AΩA is well represented as an organization committed to the lifelong pursuit of professionalism and service to others. We remain enthusiastic and excited to continue our efforts throughout the upcoming year.
Mentoring
Members from AΩA hosted panels where first- and second-year medical students were able to gain insight from current AΩA members. First year students were exposed to AΩA, the core values of the organization, and given advice for success at IUSM.
Pearls
A living document aimed at helping medical students make the major transition from preclinical to clinical students underwent a major revision this year. We hope this compilation of advice regarding Step exams, clerkships, and residency application information will prove a useful handbook to Indiana University medical students across the state.
Mini Medical School
Based on overwhelmingly positive feedback, Mini Medical School was revitalized and expanded this year. The event serves as an opportunity for high school students to discover what the field of medicine entails and what IU has to offer. We quadrupled the size of the event this year by doubling the number of Indianapolis Public School students able to attend and for including, for the first time, students from rural school districts throughout the state of Indiana.
Keynote Address: Gareth H. Gilkey, MD
"Reflections on a Mid 20th Century Internship"
Gareth H. Gilkey, MD
Associate Professor Emeritus of Medicine
Indiana University School of Medicine
Born in the state of Washington, Dr. Gareth Gilkey is a Phi Beta Kappa Graduate of Depauw University who was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society as a medical student at the University of Washington. He completed his internal medicine residency here at IU, but not before serving two years in the military, including one year in Vietnam. After serving for a year as chief resident, he completed a gastroenterology fellowship here. During his year as chief resident, he met his wife Katherine, and they have three sons and numerous grandchildren. Over his distinguished teaching career, he has won the medicine department’s teaching award twice, the outstanding teacher in medical science education, the medicine department’s distinguished teacher award, and the Joseph Mamlin service award. Dr. Gilkey has been practicing medicine for over 60 years, and if anyone can share words of wisdom on an occasion such as this, he is that physician.
The AΩA Indiana Chapter would like to kindly thank
the following members for their donations:
Tim Brady
Naga P. Chalasani
John C. Christenson
Lauren Feder
Meg Gaffney & Matt Galvin
Marwan Ghabril
Richard Gunderman
TK & Tiffini Keolasy
John Kincaid & Mary Soper
Patrick Loehrer
Mitesh V. Shah
Stanley & Marianne Spinola
Vasu Family