After graduating from medical school, Bilal Abaid, M.D., pursued research in infectious diseases at the University of Louisville. He then completed his residency training at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Mississippi, where he gained broad clinical experience in primary care while serving diverse patient populations.

Dr. Paul Abbott is the founder of Advanced Endodontics and is a second-generation dentist from Louisville, Kentucky. He attended St. Xavier High School and the University of Kentucky for his undergraduate studies. He then attended the University of Louisville for dental school on a Navy scholarship. After graduation in 1998, he completed a one-year postgraduate residency, an AEGD (Advanced Education in General Dentistry) with the Navy. He served six years as an officer in the U.S. Navy, as a general dentist, where his interest in the specialty of endodontics flourished. He returned to his hometown upon acceptance to the University of Louisville Graduate Endodontic Program and after graduation in the summer of 2006, opened Advanced Endodontics.

Josh Abecassis, M.D. is the Director of Cerebrovascular Surgery for UofL Health.

Dr. Abecassis grew up in Chicago and completed both his undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering and medical degree at Northwestern University. He completed a residency in neurological surgery at the University of Washington in Seattle, with an enfolded fellowship in skull base/open cerebrovascular neurosurgery. He then went on to the University of Miami to complete a CAST-accredited fellowship in endovascular neurosurgery. He is passionate about expanding the stroke program’s footprint in the community here at the University of Louisville and is dedicated to delivering top-notch open microsurgical and endovascular care. 

Dr. Abell is the Arthur M Schoen MD Chair in Gastroenterology at the University of Louisville, where he has been since 2012. Originally trained in Internal Medicine and Primary Care, Dr. Abell is also trained in Gastroenterology, GI Motility, and several related areas.  Dr Abell has been instrumental in setting up GI Motility Clinics for over 30 years at universities in the in the Mid-South (Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi) and now at the University of Louisville, Kentucky.

While interested in all types of GI motility disorders, a special emphasis has been on the gastroparesis syndromes, as an original member of the NIH Gastroparesis Clinical Research Consortium. His team in Memphis pioneered the current technique used for GI Neuromodulation of the upper GI tract. The use of temporary gastric electric stimulation has been a focus in Louisville, which currently implants about 10% of the world’s permanent GI Bio-Electric devices. Dr Abell has a long interest in GI manifestations of neurologic disease including spinal cord injury for which he is involved with several related NIH studies. Dr Abell’s newest NIH work involves high resolution gastric electrical/body surface mapping as a diagnostic tool for GI motility disorders.

Primary Areas of Training and Expertise:

Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology, Gastrointestinal Motility, Neuromodulation, Behavioral Medicine, Transplantation Medicine, Autonomic Medicine, Nutritional Medicine

Secondary Areas of Training and Expertise:

Family Medicine, Urogynecology, Geriatrics, Emergency Medicine, Hospitalist Medicine, Pediatric Gastroenterology, Developmental Disabilities 

Abolins' lab studies the physiology and ecology of birds that inhabit urban areas. We are particularly interested in how urban birds respond to hazards such as chemical pollution, light pollution, heat, and disturbance. We collaborate with environmental health scientists to understand how avian response to urban hazards parallels that of humans and how birds can be used to inform environmental health challenges. To find out more about what  we do, go to our lab's website https://mikusabolins.weebly.com.

Dr. Said Abusalem joined the University of Louisville in 2017 as an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing. He currently serves as the Director of the Leadership Master’s Degree Program, where he oversees curriculum development and student success.

Dr. Abusalem earned his PhD in Nursing from the University of Kentucky in 2006. His research interests include health services research, quality of care assessment, patient safety, infection control, and health outcomes evaluation. He has published numerous articles on patient safety in nursing homes, care errors in home health, and strategies to improve healthcare quality.

Dr. Abusalem conducts extensive research on patient safety, quality of care, and healthcare communication, with a focus on hospitals, nursing homes, and home health care settings. His work has significantly contributed to advancements in assessing patient safety cultures and reducing care errors.

In addition to his research, Dr. Abusalem has extensive experience in teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He has been actively involved in nursing program development, curriculum development, and program evaluation. His dedication to education and innovation in teaching methods ensures that students are well-prepared for their professional roles in nursing.

Matthew Adamkin, M.D. is a physiatrist with UofL Health and the Medical Director of UofL Health - Frazier Rehabilitation - Brownsboro.

Dr. Adamkin is originally from Louisville, Kentucky, and completed medical school at the University of Louisville. He completed his internship at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia before finishing his residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Carolinas Rehabilitation in Charlotte, North Carolina. Currently, Dr. Adamkin serves as an Associate Professor for the PM&R division at UofL.

His clinical interests include medically complex inpatient rehabilitation, amputee care, musculoskeletal medicine, and stroke. He is also interested in adults with intellectual disabilities and spasticity management. He enjoys volunteering for Special Olympics and has served as a Clinical Director for MedFest since 2015.

Dr. Adamkin was named as one of Louisville Magazine's Commitment to Compassion 2019 Honorees for his work volunteering with the Special Olympics.

V. Joshua Adams is a poet, translator, critic, and scholar of comparative literature. His research and teaching encompass poetry and poetics, literature and philosophy, literary theory, ideas of the self, American literature since about 1850, and Fairy Tales. 

Adams is the author of two books: Past Lives: Poems (JackLeg Press, 2024), and Skepticism and Impersonality in Modern Poetry: Literary Experiments with Philosophical Problems (Bloomsbury, 2025). Work of his has appeared or is forthcoming in Modern Language Quarterly, The Brooklyn Rail, Bennington Review, Posit, Chicago Review, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Literary Imagination, and elsewhere. 

Dr. Adelstein's research focuses on improving psychosocial well-being and reducing distress in the young adult oncology population, including their primary caregivers. Using both qualitative and quantitative research methods, her long-term research goal is to develop age-appropriate interventions to meet the needs of young adults with cancer throughout the cancer trajectory, from diagnosis through end of life, or survivorship, as well as their caregivers. She has an ongoing focus on technology-based research methodology as well as technology-based intervention development. Her dissertation research examined the effects of an online gratitude journaling intervention for young adults with advanced-stage cancer. Her postdoctoral training focused on creating digital legacy-making products for parents with babies in the NICU.

In addition to her research, Dr. Adelstein has extensive clinical experience working with young adults and in oncology. Prior to pursuing her doctoral degree, she worked as an oncology nurse practitioner at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, MA with a focus on the malignant hematology and bone marrow transplant populations. Most recently she worked as a psychiatric nurse practitioner at the Norton Cancer Institute in Louisville, KY providing psychiatric and supportive care to a variety of patients in the cancer center and their caregivers.

Donna Aden graduated from the University of Louisville with an Associate’s Degree in Dental Hygiene, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Science.  She also received her Master’s in Education from the University of Louisville. Ms. Aden has over 28 years of private practice experience.

Dr. Afsharpad is board certified in Pathology. She received her medical degree from Tehran University of Medical Science in Tehran, Iran. Dr. Afsharpad worked as a family doctor for six years and then completed a residency at the University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine in Alberta, Canada and a Hematopathology Fellowship from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri.

Dr. Afsharpad served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology and Immunology at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada.

Xi Ai is an Assistant Professor with research interests in auditing, financial reporting, and international accounting. Her research has been published in AUDITING: A Journal of Practice & Theory and Contemporary Accounting Research.

Sergei Airapetov, D.O., is an interventional cardiologist with a clinical focus on coronary artery disease prevention and management. He completed his internal medicine, general cardiology and interventional cardiology training at VCU Health in Richmond.

Dr. Al-Dallal is board certified in Anatomical Pathology, Clinical Pathology, and Cytopathology. She received her medical degree from the University of Al-Mustansiriyah College of Medicine in Baghdad, Iraq. Dr. Al-Dallal is a residency graduate of the University of Louisville School of Medicine and completed her Cytopathology Fellowship at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky.

Dr. Al-Dallal served as a visiting pathologist with the University of Louisville before joining as a permanent faculty member.

Nadia Al-Dajani, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Louisville. Previously, Dr. Al-Dajani was Assistant Professor of Psychology at Miami University in Ohio. Dr Al-Dajani's research focuses on the identification of near-term risk factors of suicidal thoughts and behaviors, in order to better understand momentary suicide risk and to develop novel prevention/intervention methods.