New hires bolster dermatology, medicine, pathology faculty

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

Amy E. Flischel, M.D.

Dr. Amy E. Flischel, an assistant professor of dermatology at the Uniformed Services University, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an associate professor of dermatology.

After receiving her B.A. in biology from Washington and Jefferson College in 2002, Flischel earned her M.D. at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in 2007. She had preliminary medicine internship training at Riverside Methodist Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, from 2007-08 before having dermatology residency training from 2008-11 at University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio, where she was chief resident in dermatology from 2010-11.

Flischel joined Uniformed Services University in 2012 as an assistant professor and served as an assistant program director in dermatology at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego from 2012-14 and as a clinical assistant professor of dermatology at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine from 2014-18.

An Alpha Omega Alpha inductee, Flischel is a fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology. She is the author or coauthor of 20 articles in peer-reviewed professional publications and has given 12 invited presentations nationally.

Zerelda Esquer Garrigos, M.D.

Dr. Zerelda Esquer Garrigos, recently a transplant infectious diseases fellow at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of medicine.

After receiving her M.D. from San Luis Potosi Medical School, Mexico, in 2010, Garrigos served as a research coordinator at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, conducting clinical studies on C. difficile infection, before having residency training in internal medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Jacobi Medical Center, Bronx, New York, from 2013-16. She then had an infectious diseases fellowship from 2016-19 and a transplant infectious diseases fellowship from 2019-20 at the Mayo Clinic, where she was an instructor in medicine and an associate chief fellow in infectious diseases and promoted to assistant professor of medicine as a fellow due to her academic achievements.

During her fellowship training at the Mayo Clinic, Garrigos received the Outstanding Infectious Diseases Research Award, several travel grant awards from the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the American Society of Microbiology, and three research grants, including one for $75,000. She was also recognized for excellence in patient care and received the Patient Safety Ward and prestigious Karis Award from the Mayo Clinic Values Council during her general infectious diseases training.

Garrigos has authored or coauthored 22 peer-reviewed articles and was invited to write an editorial for the European Heart Journal in infective endocarditis. She has published and presented more than 15 abstracts at scientific meetings. Her research interests include molecular diagnostic test development and cardiovascular infections, including infections in LVAD and heart transplant recipients.

Neha Varshney, M.B.B.S.

Dr. Neha Varshney, who recently finished her gastrointestinal and hepato-pancreatobiliary pathology fellowship at the University of Arizona, Tucson, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of pathology and section lead (GI and HPB pathology).

After finishing her medical school at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh, India, Varshney finished her anatomic and clinical pathology residency training at the University of Toledo Medical Center, Ohio. Subsequently, she did her surgical pathology fellowship at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, and a gastrointestinal and hepato-pancreatobiliary pathology fellowship at the University of Arizona.

The author or coauthor of 12 articles in peer-reviewed publications, eight book chapters and 40 abstracts and poster presentations, Varshney has given 12 invited presentations at scientific meetings nationally. She is the recipient of several research awards and serves as a reviewer or on the editorial boards of 15 scientific journals. She is an active member of several professional societies, including the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathologists, the College of American Pathologists and the American Society of Clinical Pathologists.