Neurocritical care, NCI cancer prevention, skull base fellows join faculty

Medical Center leadership is proud to announce the following additions to its faculty and leadership staff.

Melinda M. Krakow, Ph.D.

Dr. Melinda M. Krakow, a recent cancer prevention fellow at the National Cancer Institute with expertise in the design and evaluation of persuasive messages targeting cancer-relevant behaviors, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an instructor in population health sciences.

After receiving her B.A. in sociology and legal studies from the University of California, Berkeley, Krakow earned her M.A. in broadcast and electronic communication arts at San Francisco State University and her Ph.D. in communication with an emphasis on health communication and quantitative methods at the University of Utah. She also earned her M.P.H. in epidemiology and biostatistics at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Krakow began her professional academic career as a teaching assistant from 2007-10 and as an adjunct instructor in 2011 in the Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts Department at San Francisco State University. She served as a graduate research and teaching fellow in the Department of Communication at the University of Utah from 2011-15 before joining the National Cancer Institute, where she was a cancer prevention fellow in the Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch, Behavioral Research Program, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, from 2015-19 and, most recently, a special research volunteer at NCI.

The author or coauthor of 37 articles in peer-reviewed journals, two book chapters and four other related publications, Krakow has given more than 50 invited conference presentations. She has been involved in 14 funded research projects, most recently as coinvestigator of a mixed methods eyetracking study, “Cancer Information in the Age of Social Media: The Role of Trust and Source Credibility.” An active member of the Society of Behavioral Medicine and the American Society for Preventive Oncology, among several other professional organizations, she serves as an ad hoc reviewer for 17 scientific publications.

Anand Mamdani, M.B.B.S.

Dr. Anand Mamdani, recently a neurocritical care fellow at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of neurology.

After receiving his M.B.B.S. in 2007 from the Swami Vikekanand Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Valia, India, where he interned in surgery, preventive and social medicine, and obstetrics and gynecology from 2007-08. Mamdani interned in medicine at New Civil Hospital, Surat, India, in 2008, and served as a government medical officer and hospitalist at the Community Health Center and Referral Hospital, Vapi, Gujarat, India, from 2009-10. He also was a resident medical officer, intensivist and hospitalist at Prince Aly Khan Hospital, Mumbai, India, from 2012-13. Mamdani had internal medicine residency training from 2015-18 at the University of Buffalo at Sisters of Charity Hospital, Catholic Health System, New York, and a neurocritical care fellowship at UT Southwestern, Dallas, from 2018-20.

The author or coauthor of three research posters presented at scientific meetings, Mamdani is principal investigator of two ongoing studies at UT Southwestern, “Pupillometry as a Predictor of the Outcome after Hemicraniectomy,” and “The Role of High Sensitivity Troponin in Diagnosing Acute Myocardial Infarction in Neuro ICU.”

Marcus A. Zachariah, M.D.

Dr. Marcus A. Zachariah, recently a skull base fellow at Ohio State University/James Cancer Center, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of neurosurgery.

After receiving his B.A. in molecular and cell biology with highest distinction from the University of California Berkeley in 2002, Zachariah earned his Ph.D. in 2010 and his M.D. in 2012 in the Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine. He completed neurosurgical residency training at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, in 2019 and the skull base fellowship at Ohio State in 2020.

An active resident/fellow member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, Zachariah is the author or coauthor of 12 articles in peer-reviewed professional publications and has given six invited presentations at scientific meetings in the U.S. and Japan.