Ayan Ali, MD
Ayan was born in Germany and moved to Toronto where she has spent most of her life. She studied Biomedical Sciences at York University and completed certification of Bilingual Studies in French, after studying the language for over 16 years. She went on to achieve her MD from Tulane University School of Medicine, where her outreach work in New Orleans galvanized her research interests in health equity and disparities in cardiovascular disease outcomes. She moved closer to home and has been enjoying everything Philadelphia has to offer, as well as having four seasons again. When outside of work, she is practicing yoga, propagating and purchasing new plants for her home and exploring the great eats the city has to offer. After her chief residency, she plans to pursue fellowship in cardiovascular diseases with interests in advanced heart failure and transplant cardiology.
Margaret Rowe, MD
Maggie grew up in West Hartford, CT and studied biochemistry at Brown University, where she also worked in a plant genetics lab and played trumpet in the jazz band. She attended University of Virginia School of Medicine and fell in love with the hiking and winery culture of Charlottesville. While in med school, she volunteered with UVA's Latino Health Initiative, the Charlottesville Free Clinic, and at COVID testing centers for vulnerable patients. She moved to Philly after couples matching at Penn with her husband Leon (now an EM chief resident). Maggie was in the global health track during residency and loved spending time at Puentes de Salud during her outpatient blocks. After chief year she is planning on a career in oncology working with underserved patients. She enjoys cooking, spending too much time on the New York Times crossword, and eating nachos with Leon at Los Camaradas in Grad Hospital.
Nichole A Smith, MD
Nichole is honored to serve as the ambulatory chief resident for the 2024-2025 academic year. She was born in Chicago, Illinois but spent most of her childhood in Atlanta, Georgia. She completed her undergraduate education at Vanderbilt University then made her way back to the snowy Midwest for medical school at the University of Chicago, where she developed a love for urban, underserved primary care. She was immediately drawn to the collegial environment and top-notch outpatient education at the Penn Center for Primary Care (which has truly become her clinical home over the past three years!) Nichole is thrilled to spend another year developing her ambulatory teaching skills and working with the incredible West Philly patient population. Her hobbies outside of work include reading, exploring the local arts scene, spending hours on puzzles, and of course eating her way through the city's many amazing restaurants with her partner Isaiah. She ultimately hopes to pursue a career combining outpatient general internal medicine, trainee mentorship, and health equity leadership.
Erik Tan, MD
Erik is excited to be serving as one of the chief residents for the 2024-2025 academic year. He grew up in the suburbs of Philly before leaving for 4 years to complete his undergraduate education in Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He came back to Philly just in time to see the Eagles win their first Super Bowl, returning to complete medical school at Penn. During medical school, he explored his interests in medical devices, health care innovation, and medical education, choosing a residency in Internal Medicine for its breadth and depth of knowledge. After his chief resident year, Erik plans to pursue a career in academic Hospital Medicine with focuses in admissions and curriculum design. Outside of the hospital, you can usually find Erik talking too much about Philly sports, eating out at all of the wonderful restaurants in the city, or planning his next vacation with his partner Casey.
Erin Tully, MD
Erin was born in Harrisburg, PA, and still makes frequent trips home to visit her family. She attended the University of Notre Dame for her undergraduate degree and moved to Philadelphia in 2016 for medical school at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She then completed her residency in Internal Medicine-Pediatrics at Penn/CHOP in 2024, and she is honored to be serving as Med-Peds chief resident at Penn/CHOP for 2024-2025. She hopes to pursue training in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine to care for adults with childhood onset pulmonary diseases, including Cystic Fibrosis, Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia, and chronic respiratory failure. When she is not spending time at Penn and CHOP, she loves to spend time with her friends and family in Philly and back home in Harrisburg. She also loves distance running, and more recently trail running, and has started to travel the world thanks to her fiancé, Andrew.
Edan Zitelny, MD
Edan is thrilled for the opportunity to serve as one of the chief residents for the 2024-2025 academic year. Edan was born and raised on Long Island, New York before heading to Brandeis University, where he completed a major in Biology and minor in Anthropology. After the cold was just too much, he went south to North Carolina and completed his medical degree at Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston-Salem before returning closer to home in Philadelphia. In Philly, Edan has loved surveying the top-notch food scene and running on Schuylkill River Trail. An avid traveler, his goal is to eventually visit every national park with his wife (and a couple beach vacations sprinkled in). Following chief year, Edan will pursue a career in Cardiology, with a focus on heart failure/critical care cardiology and medical education.