As a resident of Mather Hospital, you will have the distinction of working with, and being mentored by, a remarkable group of board-certified physicians. Our faculty includes nationally recognized clinicians and researchers, with vast levels of experience teaching and guiding students in their journey to becoming licensed physicians. All of our faculty members are board certified, some in multiple specialties, bringing a well-rounded knowledge to each rotation they supervise. The physicians listed below are considered the core faculty of the residency program. All of these physicians hold academic appointments at Stony Brook Medicine.
Bradley Minter, MD is the Program Director of the Transitional Year Residency Program. He also serves as a core faculty member in the Department of Medicine. Dr. Minter completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. He subsequently completed his Fellowship in Geriatric Medicine at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. He is board certified in both Internal Medicine and Geriatric Medicine. In his spare time, Dr. Minter is a father to three children and for fun enjoys his time gardening, doing yoga, and grilling by the pool when the weather permits.
Mohamad Abouzeid, MD is an Associate Program Director of the Transitional Year Residency Program. Dr. Abouzeid is a board-certified general surgeon whose practice encompasses the spectrum of general surgical conditions with a focus on minimally invasive and robotic surgery. He completed his medical education at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts, and completed his surgical training at NYU School of Medicine in New York. Dr. Abouzeid joined Mather Hospital/ Northwell Health in February of 2020 coming from NYU Langone Medical Center, where he was on faculty at NYU School of Medicine. Dr. Abouzeid holds multiple medical staff and hospital leadership positions including on the medical staff counsel and the Director of the Surgical Advanced Care Practitioners Program. Dr. Abouzeid is on faculty at the Zucker School of Medicine and the Mather Hospital Gastroenterology Fellowship Program. He is also involved in clinical research with multiple national society presentations. In his free time, Dr. Abouzeid loves to spend time outdoors, hiking, playing basketball, and spending time with his family.
Asma Iftikhar, MD is an Associate Program Director of the Transitional Year Residency Program and serves as a core faculty member of the Residency Program. Dr. Iftikhar graduated from Rajshahi Medical University in Bangladesh. She completed her Internal Medicine residency at Northwell Health Forest Hill Hospital, Forest Hill, NY. She subsequently completed a fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at New York -Presbyterian Queens, Flushing, NY and is board certified in Internal Medicine, Critical Care Medicine, and Pulmonary Medicine. Dr. Iftikhar attends inpatient pulmonary, critical care, as well as the pulmonary outpatient practice in Harbor View, Port Jefferson, NY. Dr. Iftikhar interests focus on medical student and resident education, especially teaching critical care procedures, such as central lines, arterial lines. Her research interests include Pulmonary Hypertension, and interstitial lung disease. In her free time, she loves traveling, hiking, biking, landscape photography and enjoys spending time with her family.
Robert Giacobbe, DO, FACP, is the Program Director for the Mather Hospital Internal Medicine Residency as well as the Site Director for Academic Affairs. A native of the tri-state area, Dr. Giacobbe received his undergraduate education at Colgate University before attending the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine where he earned his medical degree in 1990. After completing a one-year rotating internship at Peninsula Hospital in Queens, NY, he performed his Internal Medicine residency at NYU Langone Hospital-Long Island (formerly Winthrop University Hospital). After 20 years in private practice as a primary care physician in Port Jefferson, Dr. Giacobbe joined the program in 2014 as the Associate Program Director, and Medical Director of the Residency Continuity Clinic. He has a particular interest in medical ethics, the development of professionalism and the art and science of giving and receiving feedback.
Joseph Ng, MD is currently the Medical Director of Mather Hospital and serves as a core faculty member in the Department of Medicine. He was previously the Chief Medical Information Officer (CMIO) for 12 years as well as the founding Program Director for the Transitional Year Residency Program until 2022. After receiving his medical degree from Ponce School of Medicine, Dr. Ng went on to complete his residency at St. Vincent Catholic Medical Center where he served as Co-Chief Resident and then Chief Resident. He subsequently completed a fellowship in Critical Care Medicine with the Department of Surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center, where he served as the Chief Administrative Fellow. Dr. Ng is a practicing Critical Care Intensivist working in Mather’s ICU and CCU. He is board certified in both Internal Medicine, Critical Care Medicine, and Medical Informatics. Raised in Puerto Rico, he is fluent in Spanish and Cantonese and has a working knowledge of Mandarin and French. He is a diplomate of The American Board of Internal Medicine and The American Board of Preventative Medicine. He is Vice President of the Board for the 501c3 non-profit organization Sights on Health, an organization committed to providing quality, compassionate care for those who’s geographical and/or social status limits their access to medical care. In his spare time, he loves to travel and cook and is particularly well-informed about restaurants and wines.
Maritza Groth, MD, FCCM, FCCP is the Medical Director of Critical Care at Mather Hospital, a clinical faculty member in the Department of Medicine and serves as a core faculty member of the Residency Program. Having graduated from New York University School of Medicine in 1983, Dr. Groth went on to do her residency and subsequent fellowships at Stony Brook University Hospital, and is board certified in Internal Medicine, Critical Care Medicine, Pulmonary Medicine and Sleep Medicine. A fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians, American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Society of Critical Care Medicine, Dr. Groth served as the Director of the MICU, Director of Critical Care and Assistant Director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Winthrop-University Hospital before joining Mather in 2009. Dr. Groth has been an active teacher for over 20 years and has presented her research findings at conferences around the world.
Anas Sawas, MD is the Chief Medical Information Officer, working seamlessly with diverse team members from clinicians to IT staff on many critical projects. Dr. Anas Sawas has served many roles at Mather Hospital over the past several years. He joined our staff as an Emergency Medicine physician in 2017. Since that time, he has held the role of Assistant Medical Director and EMS Director for the Emergency Department. He worked tirelessly during our most severe COVID surges, helping us provide Critical Care coverage during the worst days of the pandemic. Most recently, Dr. Sawas became a core faculty member with the Transitional Year Residency Program and continues his leadership role with our Medical Informatics rotation.
Michael Tofano, MD, is an Associate Program Director in the Internal Medicine Residency program and former Program Director. Dr. Tofano completed his residency at St. Vincent’s Hospital and Medical Center in New York in 1985. He served as Chief Resident for the academic year 1985 – 1986, and then completed a cardiology fellowship at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in New Jersey. After many years as a practicing cardiologist, Dr. Tofano transitioned to hospital medicine in 2007, at the UMASS Memorial Health Care System in Worcester, Massachusetts. In 2009, he was appointed the Associate Chief of Hospital Medicine for UMASS Memorial Health Care System, and the Director of Hospital Medicine at Marlboro and Clinton Hospitals, members of the UMASS Memorial System, developing quality initiatives in cardiology that led to Marlboro Hospital achieving a number two ranking state-wide for AMI survival. Dr. Tofano joined Mather in 2012 as Hospitalist Director and joined the Residency Program in 2013. In his free time, Dr. Tofano enjoys spending time with his family, playing golf and baseball with his two sons, and frequenting the many fine restaurants in the Port Jefferson area.
Halyna Chykyda, MD is the Director, Department of Hospital Medicine and an Associate Program Director of Internal Medicine Residency program. Dr. Chykyda is a graduate from Ternopil National Medical University in the Ukraine. She completed her post-graduate specialty training in the United Kingdom and started her medical career as an OB-GYN physician in London. After immigrating to the US in 2015, she attended our internal medicine residency program at Mather Hospital and is board certified. She also served as Chief Resident in our program and upon graduation joined our Hospitalist Medicine Department. She has been an active member of the Medical Staff at Mather Hospital since 2018.
Adam Wos, MD serves as both a core faculty member of the Transitional Year Residency Program and as the Medical Director of Emergency Medicine. He is board certified in Emergency Medicine and is a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians. He joined the Emergency Medicine Department at Mather Hospital in 2009 as an Attending Physician and served as the Interim Medical Director from 2014 to 2016.
Denise Anderson is the Program Training Administrator for the Transitional Year Residency Program. She joins us with previous Graduate Medical Education experience working closely with Mather Hospital’s GME Leadership and the Internal Medicine Residency program.