Michael P. Koster, MD
Division Director
Penelope Dennehy, MD
Associate Fellowship Program Director
Tanya Rogo, MD
Fellowship Program Director
Sabina Holland, MD
Associate Chair for Diversity, Department of Pediatrics
Silvia Chiang, MD
Faculty
Rebecca Matuszek
Program Coordinator
Katrina Byrd, MD
Alumni '22
Eunji Jang, MD
Fellow
Osama Ibrahim, MD
Fellow
Sara Khalife, MD
Alumni '21
Kirsten d’Hemecourt, MD
Fellow
Michael P. Koster, MD
- Medical School: New York Medical College
- Residency: Schneider Children\’s Hospital, N.Y.
- Fellowship: Hasbro Children’s Hospital, Providence RI
Michael Koster, MD is director for the division of pediatric infectious diseases at Hasbro Children’s Hospital, and an associate professor of pediatrics (clinician educator) at Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Dr. Koster is also the associate medical director for the department of infection control and hospital epidemiology.
He earned his medical degree at New York Medical College, in conjunction with the Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital in Westchester. Dr. Koster completed his pediatric residency and chief residency at Cohen Children’s Medical Center, New Hyde Park, New York. He finalized his training her at Hasbro Children’s Hospital with a fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases.
Dr. Koster has a deep commitment to patient care, trainee education, and interdisciplinary team collaboration. Dr. Koster’s research interests include viral respiratory illnesses, osteoarticular infections, and utilizing improvement science for infection prevention. He is the Brown University lead for the bilateral exchange program with St. Damien Children’s Hospital in Haiti and is an active board member of the St Damien Collaborative which includes a dozen other academic medical centers.
Penelope Dennehy, MD
- Medical School: Tufts University School of Medicine
- Residency: Rhode Island Hospital
- Fellowship: Boston Children’s Hospital
Penelope Dennehy, MD is a Professor and Vice Chair of Pediatrics at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She is currently the Associate Director of the Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program at Hasbro Children’s Hospital and
Dr. Dennehy received her medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine and served her pediatric residency at Rhode Island Hospital. She completed a combined pediatric-medical infectious diseases fellowship at Children’s Hospital Medical Center-Beth Israel Hospital in Boston.
In 1982, she joined Rhode Island Hospital, where she founded and directed the diagnostic virology laboratory and was an attending physician on both the adult and pediatric infectious disease services. She was the Director of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases from 2014 to 2019.
Dr. Dennehy’s primary research interests include the study of viral gastroenteritis and viral respiratory diseases. She has been involved in clinical trials of vaccines against rotavirus, influenza, and varicella (chickenpox). She has also studied the epidemiology and prevention of rotavirus infections, clinical diagnostic testing for rotavirus, and the epidemiology and etiology of viral gastroenteritis in hospitalized children. She has been an active member of the Collaborative Antiviral Study Group, a National Institutes of Health-funded, multicenter clinical trials group.
She has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications, written book chapters, and presented many abstracts at national and international venues. Dr. Dennehy is a past president of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society and a past secretary of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. She served as a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases and was a founding editor of the AAP’s PREP:ID online self-assessment for infectious disease subspecialists.
In addition to her contributions to the scientific literature, Dr. Dennehy has received numerous accolades for her superior teaching skills, including five Dean’s Teaching Excellence Awards from the Alpert Medical School and a Lifetime Teaching Award from the Department of Pediatrics in 2019.
Tanya Rogo, MD
Dr. Tanya Rogo is the co-lead of antimicrobial stewardship at Hasbro Children’s Hospital, and the Global Health Educator in the Department of Pediatrics, as well as serving as the Program Director of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases fellowship.
After fellowship, Dr. Rogo spent 4 years in Rwanda developing the pediatric residency program at the University of Rwanda through the Human Resources for Health partnership with the Rwanda Ministry of Health. In 2017, Dr. Rogo was the first recipient of the Velji Young African Leader Award from the Consortium of Universities for Global Health.
After returning from Rwanda, Dr. Rogo moved to NYC where she served as the associate program director of the BronxCare Health System pediatric residency and the director of pediatric resident research. She also created their Curriculum in International Child Health. Dr. Rogo recently rejoined the faculty at Brown University, where she is the associate program director of the fellowship in Pediatric Infectious Diseases.
Dr. Rogo serves on several national committees of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, including the Nominations & awards committee, and the Inclusion, Diversity, Access and Equity Task Force. Dr. Rogo is also an active member of the National Medical Association (NMA), currently serving as the Chair of NMA Region 1 which covers New England, NY, NJ, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Dr. Rogo is also a member of the NMA COVID-19 Task Force, the Nominations Committee, and the Council on International Affairs. In 2021, Dr. Rogo received the Top Physician Under 40 award from the NMA.
Sabina Holland, MD
Sabina Holland earned her medical degree from Louisiana State University School of Medicine in Shreveport, Louisiana. She completed her pediatric residency and chief residency in Orlando, Florida at the University of Florida Pediatric Residency Program at Orlando Health. After residency, she moved her family to Rhode Island where she completed a fellowship in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Brown University/Hasbro Children’s Hospital. Following her fellowship, Sabina joined the faculty and the pediatric residency team where she is working on developing innovative ways to increase diversity in the residency program. She is now the Diversity Officer for the Department of Pediatrics and an active member of the Pediatric Leadership team.
Silvia Chiang, MD
Dr. Silvia Chiang grew up in Houston, TX, attended college at Stanford University, and studied medicine at Case Western Reserve University. She trained in general pediatrics at the Boston Combined Residency in Pediatrics (Boston Children’s Hospital/Boston Medical Center), and completed a fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases at Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children’s Hospital. She is currently completing a Masters in Clinical and Translational Research at the Brown School of Public Health. At Hasbro, Dr. Chiang sees patients in the Pediatric Tuberculosis Clinic and as an infectious disease specialist on the inpatient wards.
As a physician-scientist, Dr. Chiang conducts epidemiologic and clinical research to improve outcomes for TB-affected children and adolescents. Most of her research takes place in Lima, Peru, where she has worked since 2012 with Partners In Health-Peru, a non-governmental organization that aims to improve the health of vulnerable populations through healthcare delivery and research. In 2017, Dr. Chiang began collaborating on pediatric TB research in Ukraine with colleagues at Bogomolets National Medical University and the Public Health Center of the Ministry of Health in Kyiv.
Katrina Byrd, MD
Katrina Byrd completed her undergraduate studies in microbiology at Xavier University of Louisiana, and her medical degree at Meharry Medical College. She pursued residency training in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Following residency, Dr. Byrd moved to Rhode Island to pursue sub-specialty training in adult and pediatric infectious diseases at Brown University.
Throughout the course of her career, Dr. Byrd has been dedicated to addressing health disparities, particularly in communities of color. As a result, she participated as an infectious disease expert in numerous informational sessions throughout the US that were targeted towards providing education on COVID-19. Additionally, she helped coordinate medical volunteers for mass COVID-19 vaccination events in Rhode Island designed to increase vaccination rates in BIPOC communities around the state.
Outside of her advocacy work, she is dedicated to sharing her knowledge of infectious diseases on Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter where she is a proud tweetiatrician. Presently, Dr. Byrd is completing the pediatric portion of her infectious disease training where her research focuses on evaluating the impact of COVID-19 in adults living with HIV and engagement in healthcare for pregnant women living with HIV. She is a beloved educator, mentor, and is Co-President of the Brown Minority Housestaff Association for the 2020-2021 Academic year. In the future, she plans to use the skills and knowledge gained at Brown, to be an Infectious Disease Epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.