Michael Ujiki, MD
Director, Surgical Simulation Program
Clinical Instructor*
Dr. Ujiki is a board-certified surgeon, specializing in surgical oncology, hernias and diseases of the esophagus. He was one of the first physicians in the United States to perform an innovative and incisionless procedure called Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES).
Ernest Wang, MD, FACEP
Director, Medical Simulation Program
Alvin H. Baum Family Fund Chair of Simulation and Innovation
Clinical Associate Professor*
Dr. Wang is a nationally recognized leader in medical simulation with over 40 peer-related publications in simulation, procedural training, and medical education. In August 2013 he was honored with an endowed chair, the highest tribute in medical education. He is a member of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare and the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Simulation Academy. He developed the Illinois College of Emergency Physicians' Emergent Procedures Simulation Course, the first of its kind in Illinois. He is the course director for the American College of Emergency Physician's National Emergent Simulation Training Course. He is an Item Writer and an Oral Examiner for the American Board of Emergency Medicine.
Morris Kharasch, MD, FACEP
Director, Physician Education
Clinical Associate Professor*
Dr. Kharasch is an active member of the NorthShore Professional Staff and is involved in multiple hospital committees at NorthShore. He has been an oral board examiner for the American Board of Emergency Medicine for the past 10 years.
Jin Zhao, MD
Director, Surgical Education
Clinical Associate Professor*
Dr. Zhao has been with the NorthShore Department of Neurosurgery for over 12 years and an established surgeon over 30 years. He practiced and served as Associate Professor, Vice Chairman of Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery in Tianjin Medical University General Hospital in China until 1993. Dr. Zhao served as member of International Advisory Editorial Board in the American Journal of Otology. At NorthShore he has organized nation-wide skull base surgery CME courses since 2000.
Pamela Aitchison, RN
Manager, Coordinator for Simulation
Pam has been the lead nurse facilitator since the inception of NorthShore's Medical Simulation Program. She began her career as a nurse specializing in emergency nursing and worked for 10 years clinically before joining GCSI. She is a member of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare. She has developed the "First 5 Minute Course" which is multidisciplinary teaching of critical thinking during the first five minutes of a patient crisis.
*All academic appointments with University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, a teaching affiliate of NorthShore University HealthSystem