Mini-Medical School

Dr. Verma is dual board-certified in internal medicine and rheumatology, graduating from the University of Pennsylvania before serving as an assistant professor of medicine and the associate program director for a rheumatology fellowship in West Virginia for three years before joining ChristianaCare in 2023. He is passionate about musculoskeletal ultrasound and community education and is also spearheading efforts to start Delaware’s first rheumatology training program at ChristianaCare. He enjoys spending time with his wife, visiting family in Canada and playing the piano and guitar in his free time.

After graduating from Northwestern University with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, Dr. Nam earned his medical degree at the University of Minnesota. He then moved to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota to complete his residency in general surgery, finishing as chief resident. Dr. Nam was a cardiothoracic surgery fellow and thoracic surgeon at the University of Wisconsin before joining the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center in 2012.

Dr. Nam is a clinical assistant professor of surgery at Thomas Jefferson University and a clinical member of the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia. His research projects and publications include the development of blood markers for lung cancer, research on the impact of decreasing hospital length of stay with the universal bed and the utility of robotic surgery in the American College of Surgery. He is also actively involved in lung cancer clinical trials at the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center. Dr. Nam has significant teaching experience and is involved with the general surgery residency program at ChristianaCare.

Understanding Addiction

Dr. Agarwal is an inpatient psychiatrist specializing in addiction psychiatry. He joined ChristianaCare from a nationally recognized behavioral health center where he worked with patients and care teams in the methadone program, buprenorphine and comorbid substance misuse clinic.

Dr. Agarwal earned his medical degree from Gauhati Medical College, completed his general psychiatry residency at the Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia and completed a fellowship in addiction psychiatry at the Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, New York. He is board-certified in psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Dr. Agarwal is a member of the American Psychiatry Association, Indo-American Psychiatric Association, American Society of Addiction Medicine, American Association of Addiction Psychiatry and American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology.

Understanding Anxiety/Depression

Matthew is a physician assistant within ChristianaCare’s Behavioral Health Department. He attended the ChristianaCare Mini-Medical School series when he was a high school junior at St. Mark’s High School which helped solidify his interest in health care. Matthew went on to complete his undergraduate studies at Philadelphia University in 2017 with a bachelor’s in health sciences and a minor in psychology. He then completed his master’s degree in physician assistant studies at Thomas Jefferson in 2019 and started his time at ChristianaCare that same year on the inpatient psychiatric unit.

Since then, Matthew has worked in the primary care setting with the Integrated Behavioral Health team and is currently working in the outpatient psychiatry clinic at Wilmington Hospital. In 2023, he received his Certification of Added Qualifications in Psychiatry from the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants. During his time at ChristianaCare, he has precepted physician assistant students and providers enrolled in the Psychiatric Advanced Practice Clinician Fellowship Program. He also provides psychiatric shadowing opportunities to interested 2nd and 4th-year Medical-Pediatrics Residents and Primary Care APC Fellows.

Dr. Donnelly is a faculty physician in internal medicine and pediatrics with a career in medical education. He has been appointed a Clinical Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University (part of the ChristianaCare network). In his role as Director of Medical Education for ChristianaCare’s Department of Medicine, Dr. Donnelly supports trainees, faculty and educational programs across the spectrum of education.

Dr. Donnelly earned his medical degree from Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine in East Lansing, MI. He completed his combined internal medicine-pediatrics residency at the Medical Center of Delaware/ChristianaCare Health System and the Nemours A.I. DuPont Hospital for Children. In his final year of training, Dr. Donnelly was the chief resident for Internal Medicine and Pediatrics and upon graduation, he was selected for the junior faculty position of Assistant Chief of Service for the Internal Medicine Residency at ChristianaCare.

For his commitment to medical education, Dr. Donnelly has been recognized with numerous awards and honors, including as Teaching Faculty of the Year and Internal Medicine Student Teacher of the Year at ChristianaCare. He has also been awarded the Leonard P. Lang Award by the American College of Physicians, Delaware Chapter.

Elizabeth Klingensmith is a 4^th year medical student at Sidney Kimmel Medical College in Philadelphia, PA. After graduation, she will begin a residency in Internal Medicine at ChristianaCare in July 2024.

Elizabeth Barchi, MD, is a sports medicine and dance medicine specialist. She has brought into her treatment process lessons learned from the physical trials of seven years as a professional ballet dancer. Dr. Barchi completed her Pediatrics residency at Penn State Children’s Hospital, and after four years of perfecting her craft in New York City as a fellow of Primary Care Sports Medicine and Assistant Professor at NYU Orthopedics, Dr. Barchi returned home to the Greater Philadelphia area to fulfill her dream of cultivating sports and dance medicine focused on care for the whole athlete.

As a faculty member in the NYU Department of Orthopedics, in addition to being Medical Director for Division 1 & 3 Universities, Dr. Barchi helped build the NYU Women’s Sports Center dedicated to the care of female athletes from adolescence to adulthood. She served on the Executive Committee of the world-renowned NYU Harkness Center for Dance Injuries and was a staff physician for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater COVID-19 Task Force. She was named a Rudin Fellowship Mentor at NYU and chosen to be a Hippocrates Lecturer at Penn State. Her sports and wellness interviews have appeared in Oprah Magazine, Prevention Magazine, Runners World, Bicycling Magazine and Self Magazine, in addition to Dance Medicine interviews for Dance Magazine, Pointe Magazine, The Washington Post and more.

Dr. Barchi’s work as an educator of dancers, dance educators and medical professionals is of particular importance to her. She has led wellness workshops for the American Ballet Theater School, Dance Theater of Harlem, Steps on Broadway and Mark Morris Dance Center. Sought out by dancers across the country, Dr. Barchi has cared for dancers from the major companies and schools of NYC, including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, The Julliard School, Martha Graham Dance Company, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Dance Theater of Harlem, American Ballet Theater School, School of American Ballet, Joffrey Ballet School and the Bolshoi Ballet Academy, as well as several Broadway shows, films and television series.

Arvind Sabesan, MD, FACS, is a surgical oncologist specializing in treating and managing patients with complex oncologic malignancies. He is extensively trained in advanced and innovative techniques to diagnose, stage and treat patients with advanced cancers. He employs a variety of strategies, including minimally invasive techniques (robotic surgery) and multidisciplinary cancer care, to personalize treatment for patients with a wide range of oncologic disorders.

Dr. Sabesan earned his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College and completed his residency in general surgery from ChristianaCare. He completed a prestigious surgical oncology research fellowship at the National Institute of Health, where he studied the use of immunotherapy for the treatment of advanced cancers. He then completed an NCI-designated Complex Surgical Oncology fellowship at Moffitt Cancer Center. He also holds a fellowship from the American College of Surgeons.

Dr. Sabesan is an active member of numerous national societies, including the American College of Surgeons, the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons, the Americas Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association and the Society of Surgical Oncology.

Dr. Sabesan serves on multiple national committees, including the SAGES Oncologic Task Force and the SSO GI Disease Site working group. Dr. Sabesan has published several peer-reviewed articles and has presented his research at multiple national and international meetings.