Internal Medicine Residency Program

Leadership

Joseph E. Parrillo, M.D.
Chief, Department of Medicine

Joseph E. Parrillo, M.D. is a Professor of Medicine at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School; Chief, Department of Medicine; Edward D. Viner MD Chair, Department of Medicine; and Director, Cooper Heart Institute at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, New Jersey.

Dr. Parrillo is board certified in internal medicine, allergy and immunology, cardiovascular disease, and critical care medicine. He has authored more than 900 manuscripts, chapters, reviews, editorials, books, and abstracts. Dr. Parrillo is a past president of the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) and is presently editor- in-chief of Critical Care Medicine, the premier journal devoted to the discipline of critical care. He is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, American College of Chest Physicians, and the American College of Critical Care Medicine, and a member of the Association of American Physicians (AAP) and the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI).

In 2005, Dr. Parrillo was the recipient of the American College of Critical Care Medicine’s Distinguished Investigator Award, which represents the College’s highest recognition for “scientific and educational contributions...(that)...demonstrate career commitment and excellence.” His major interests have been cardiac function in sepsis; cardiovascular performance in shock; pathogenesis and treatment of severe dilated cardiomyopathy; myocarditis; and the critically ill cardiovascular patient.

R. Phillip Dellinger, M.D.
Deputy Chief, Education and Research

R. Phillip Dellinger, M.D. is a Professor of Medicine at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. He is Head, Division of Critical Care Medicine; Director, Medical/Surgical ICU; and Program Director of the Critical Care Medicine Fellowship training program at Cooper University Hospital, Camden, New Jersey.

He received his medical degree from the Medical University of South Carolina and completed his internal medicine residency and pulmonary fellowship at Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center. He is a fellow of the American College of Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Dellinger was president of the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) from 1998-1999. He is currently a senior editor for the SCCM’s journal, Critical Care Medicine. He is the creator of the SCCM Fundamental Critical Care Support (FCCS) course, which is now taught in over 30 countries and translated into 7 languages.

Dr. Dellinger has authored over 250 journal articles, films and book chapters in the field of critical care medicine, featuring both laboratory and clinical research. He has edited over a dozen books and journal issues with emphasis on sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome. He co-edits the annual publication of the Yearbook of Critical Care Medicine and co-edited the second and the upcoming third edition of the major critical care textbook, Critical Care Medicine (Elsevier/Mosby). He co-chaired the committee that created the 11 organization sponsored International Guidelines on the Management of Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock and is heading the first revision of these guidelines.

He has received numerous awards and honors, including induction into the Baylor College of Medicine Teaching Hall of Fame and the SCCM’s Distinguished Service Award.

Vijay Rajput, M.D., FACP
Program Director

Vijay Rajput, MD, FACP is an Associate Professor of Medicine at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the Program Director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, New Jersey. Dr. Rajput is currently a member and has served on several committees for the American College of Physicians (ACP), Association for Program Directors in Internal Medicine (APDIM), and the Society for Hospital Medicine (SHM). He currently serves on the Medical Education committee for SHM and Clinical Skills Committee for ACP. He is the chair of the Ethics Committee at Cooper University Hospital.

Dr. Rajput has authored more than thirty papers and abstracts. He has presented many innovative workshops, seminars and abstracts related to medical education, ethics and professionalism at national meetings. Dr. Rajput has received more than fifteen excellence in teaching awards from students and residents in the last ten years. He received the prestigious Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2006. He was also inducted into UMDNJ’s Master Educator Guild in 2005. Dr. Rajput received an Excellence in Teaching Award from the Society of Hospital Medicine in 2004, given every year to one faculty at their Annual meeting.

In 2003, he received the UMDNJ Foundation Award for Excellence in Teaching of Medical Students. His main areas of interest are bedside teaching, real time Evidence Based Medicine, innovative medical curricula, professionalism, ethics and humanism in medicine, as well as problem-based learning and curriculum development. He developed a core ethics curriculum for the Society of Hospital Medicine.

Antoinette Spevetz, M.D.
Associate Program Director

Antoinette Spevetz, M.D. is a graduate of Hahnemann University Medical School. She trained as an intern and resident at Abington Memorial Hospital, where she was selected to be a Chief Resident. She then completed a fellowship in Critical Care Medicine followed by a fellowship in Pulmonary Medicine, both at Cooper University Hospital. After her fellowships, Dr. Spevetz became an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Florida at Jacksonville, where she was the Director of the Intermediate Care Unit and became actively involved in residency education. After 4 years in Florida, Dr. Spevetz took a position as Director of Critical Care for the Upper Chesapeake Health System in Maryland, where she also served as Chief of Pulmonary Medicine, Chair of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee and a member of the Medical Executive Committee. During this time Dr. Spevetz also provided consultant service to Sterling Health Services, setting up critical care units throughout the country.

Dr. Spevetz is very involved in national Critical Care organizations, including the Society of Critical Care Medicine, where she is the upcoming Chancellor of the Board of Regents. She is also active in graduate and continuing medical education, serving as a member of the Liaison Committee to the American Board of Internal Medicine as well as several guideline committees. Dr. Spevetz was also a former President of the Internal Medicine Section of the SCCM and Chair of the ABIM Critical Care Medicine review courses.

Dr. Spevetz returned to Cooper University Hospital in December of 2005. She is Director of the Intermediate Care Unit as well as Director of Operations for the Intensive Care Unit. Dr. Spevetz was the 2007 recipient of the Critical Care Teaching Award. In June of 2007, she became Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program and is responsible for directing the medicine fellowship programs.

Anna Headly, M.D., MFA
Associate Program Director

Anna Headly, M.D., M.F.A., graduated cum laude from Harvard College and went on to receive an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan, where she also received her MD with honors. She trained as an intern and resident at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and remained there for a fellowship in General Internal Medicine with an emphasis on medical education.

At Cooper University Hospital, Dr. Headly is Associate Program Director of the Internal Medicine Residency Training Program and directs the outpatient continuity care experience for the residency program. She also serves as a Director of Undergraduate Medical Education, in which capacity she oversees the third-year medical student clerkship in Internal Medicine. She is a board-certified general internist in the Division of General Internal Medicine.

Dr. Headly is very active in national organizations related to medical education, including the Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine, Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine, the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, and the Society for General Internal Medicine; she has served on committees for those organizations as well as presented multiple workshops at national meetings. She has special interests in communication skills, humanism in medicine, evidence-based medicine, and trainee well-being, and has published articles on those topics in peer-reviewed journals. She oversaw the development of the Evidence-Based Medicine curriculum for medical students and residents at Cooper, is a key participant in the Resident as Teacher curriculum, and was instrumental in the development of the Internal Medicine resident program in Literature and Medicine, for which she serves as a co-facilitator.

CLICK HERE to view and print the complete Internal Medicine residency brochure

Contact Information

Director: Vijay Rajput, M.D., FACP
Associate Program Directors: Anna Headly, M.D., MFA and Antoinette Spevetz, M.D.
Contact: Laura Chropka or Emily Hartsough, Medical Education Coordinators
Phone: 856 -757-7842
Fax: 856 - 968- 9587
Email: Cooper-med-residency@umdnj.edu
Address: Cooper University Hospital, UMDNJ– Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Camden, 401 Haddon Avenue, E&R Building, 3rd Floor, Camden, NJ 08103