Faculty & Staff
Program Leadership
- Everardo Cobos, MD
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Chair, Medicine & Oncology
Dr. Everardo Cobos is currently chair of the Integrated Service Unit in Medicine and Oncology at UTRGV School of Medicine. He leads the clinical, education, and research activities for the department of medicine. In this unit, the faculty from various internal medicine specialties provide care across the Rio Grande Valley and serve as one of the teaching sites for medical students and residents receiving medical education and training in the field of internal medicine.
In addition to the clinical and educational activities of his unit, Dr. Cobos also leads the Cancer Service Line which will be housed at our under-construction Cancer Center scheduled to be opened in February of 2025. This new Cancer Center will provide state of the art cancer care to our community. Integrated in this service unit under the supervision of Dr. Cobos is the South Texas Center of Excellence in Cancer Research, a team of nationally recognized basic science cancer researchers actively studying new treatments for cancer.
Dr. Cobos received his medical degree from the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio. He received his specialty training in internal medicine and subspecialty training in hematology and oncology at the Letterman Army Medical Center in San Francisco, California. He had prior academic appointments at both Texas Tech School of Medicine and at the UCLA-David Geffen School of Medicine before joining UTRGV in April of 2023.
Dr. Cobos has been recognized nationally for his expertise in clinical medicine, research, education, and administration. He has been recognized more than 20 consecutive years by his students, residents, and fellows for his teaching and educational excellence, but he is most proud of his continuous uninterrupted practice of medicine and caring for patients on a daily basis over a span of time that now exceeds 40 years.
- Fatimah Oluwakemi Bello MD, MPH
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Program Director, Internal Medicine / Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine
Dr. Fatimah (Kemi) Bello is a board-certified internal medicine specialist and is currently an assistant professor and the program director of the UTRGV-KMC Internal Medicine Residency Program. She has over 5 years of experience and specializes in adult medicine mainly in the inpatient setting. Dr. Bello is very passionate about health disparities, particularly relating to gender, race, and historically underserved communities.
Dr. Bello was born and raised in Nigeria. She obtained her medical degree from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile- Ife, Nigeria. After graduating from medical school, she went on to pursue a Master of Public Health degree at Harvard University, Boston, MA and is in the process of completing a Doctor of Public Health degree in Healthcare Organization and Policy at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
She completed her internal medicine residency at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley at Doctor’s Hospital at Renaissance where she was awarded the outstanding 2nd year in 2018 and she also served as the chief resident during her third year. She is also a fellow of the Texas Medical Association Leadership College. In her spare time, she enjoys travelling and spending time with her family.
- Daniela Hernandez, MD
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Associate Program Director, Internal Medicine / Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine
Dr. Daniela Hernandez is a board-certified internal medicine specialist and an assistant professor of internal medicine. She is one of the associate program directors of the UTRGV-KMC Internal Medicine Residency Program. She has over five years of experience and speaks English and Spanish. She specializes in adult primary and preventive care in the outpatient setting.
Dr. Hernandez works closely with residents and medical students. She is now also having her own clinic and loves taking care of her patients. She also works on research projects to bring better healthcare to the valley.
Dr. Hernandez was born in Houston, Tx but was raised in Monterrey, Mexico. She received her medical degree from the TEC de Monterrey. On her last year of medical school, she did a rotation at Johns Hopkins and had the opportunity to stay there during her Social Service year. During that time, she worked studying the bone marrow’s microenvironment and new therapy approaches for leukemia. She then stayed to work there as a postdoctoral fellow collaborating in the development of new targeted therapies for leukemia. Afterwards, she came to the Valley to do her internal medicine residency. She wanted to be closer to home and help the Latino community. During her third year she was a chief resident for her program. She then decided to join the UTRGV family to continue her medical career close to her family. While in the Rio Grande Valley her family has grown, and she now has 3 kids with whom she loves spending time with and going to the beach.
- Michelle Lopez, MD
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Associate Program Director, Internal Medicine / Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine
Dr. Michelle Lopez is a board-certified internal medicine specialist and an assistant professor of internal medicine. She is one of the associate program directors of UTRGV-KMC Internal Medicine Residency Program. She has over 6 years of experience, speaks English and Spanish. She specializes in the diagnosis and management of common illnesses that require hospitalization, such as heart failure, pneumonia, stroke, as well as critically ill patients in the intensive care unit. She performs common bedside procedures such as paracentesis, thoracentesis, central lines, and point of care ultrasound.
She has a special interest in patient safety, quality improvement, and point of care ultrasound (POCUS). She teaches a POCUS elective for residents and medical students and has led a POCUS workshop at Texas ACP. Additionally, she leads a physician wellness course for medical students, and leads a Patient Safety Workshop for incoming residents during their GME orientation.
Dr. Lopez completed her undergraduate education at Texas A&M University and graduated medical school from Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara. She completed a residency in internal medicine at University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
Faculty
- Brandon Cantazaro, MD
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Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine
Dr. Brandon Cantazaro is a board-certified internal medicine specialist with a focus in hospital medicine and is an assistant professor of internal medicine. He has over six years of hospital and teaching experience and speaks both English and Spanish. He specializes in adult medicine and is specially trained to manage severe long-term illnesses and to help patients with multiple, complex chronic conditions in both the inpatient and outpatient settings. He has a passion for providing comprehensive hospital patient care. Dr. Cantazaro is also dedicated to academic medicine and has worked with residents and medical students for over six years. Immediately following his residency training, Dr. Cantazaro served in the role of associate program director and currently as program director for our internal medicine residency programs. Dr. Cantazaro also serves in the role of division chief for the Department of Internal Medicine.
Dr. Cantazaro is originally from Scottsdale, Arizona. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Arizona and received his medical training from The Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara School of Medicine. Following medical school, he completed his pre-internship program with New York Medical College. Dr. Cantazaro completed his internal medicine residency training with UTRGV’s inaugural internal medicine program where he also served as chief resident during his third and final year of training.
Dr. Cantazaro is extremely proud of UTRGV’s strong social mission and is committed to creating future physician leaders of tomorrow through high quality, compassionate, patient-centered care for the people of South Texas and beyond.
- Chelsea Hook Chang, MD, FACP
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Associate Professor of Internal Medicine
Dr. Chelsea Hook Chang is a board-certified internal medicine physician and associate professor of internal medicine at UTRGV SOM/UT Health. She has over 8 years of experience and speaks English and Spanish. She specializes in adult complex and preventive care in the outpatient setting.
She also has special interests in research surrounding communication, graduate medical education, medical students, and serving our underserved area of the Rio Grande Valley. Her grant-funded awards have included the ACGME/NYAM Barondess Fellowship and AAMC Nurturing Experiences for Tomorrow’s Community Leaders (NEXT) Award. She is an active board member for Texas American College of Physicians and has presented at national meetings including ACGME and APDIM.
Dr. Chang earned her medical degree from Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine and completed her residency training in internal medicine at Scott & White in Temple Texas where her awards included Intern of the Year and Outstanding Teaching Attending in Internal Medicine. She grew up in McAllen Texas and has been enjoying practicing medicine, teaching, and spending time outdoors since joining UTRGV in 2018.
- Cesar Gutierrez MD
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Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine
Dr. Cesar Gutierrez is a board-certified internal medicine specialist in Weslaco and an assistant professor of internal medicine. Dr. Gutierrez has over 7 years of experience in his field. He is fluent both in English and Spanish. He specializes in the diagnosis and management of hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, cholesterol disease, infections, liver diseases, preventive care, etc.
Dr. Gutierrez also has a special interest in medical education. He is currently the internal medicine associate clerkship director for the UTRGV School of Medicine. He is also passionate about research. He is currently in the process of completing a Master of Science degree in Epidemiology through the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health. He was voted best inpatient attending at the UTRGV-KMC Internal Medicine Residency Program for the academic year 2022-2023.
Dr. Gutierrez attended the Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon School of Medicine and graduated in 2012. He completed his residency at the UTRGV-DHR Internal Medicine Residency Program in 2019. Subsequently, he served as chief resident of internal medicine from 2019-2020. Currently, he serves as faculty member for the UTRGV-KMC Internal Medicine Residency Program.
- Roque Mifuji, MD
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Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine
Dr. Roque Mifuji is a board-certified internal medicine specialist and assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He has over 4 years of experience. He currently serves as core faculty in the Knapp Medical Center Internal Medicine Residency Program. He speaks English and Spanish. He specializes in the diagnosis and management of diverse medical conditions in the inpatient setting.
He has a special interest in medical education. His passion for medical education led him to enroll and graduate from the UTRGV MedEd Teaching Certificate Program, class of 2023. He actively engages in the education of medical students as a facilitator in Problem-Based Learning Modules. He also emphasizes the importance of patient-centered, compassionate care as well as effective communication with patients and family members.
Dr. Mifuji graduated from medical school at Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon. He served as chief resident and completed his internal medicine residency training at University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, in Edinburg, Texas.
- Andres Suarez Parraga, MD
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Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine
Dr. Andres Suarez Parraga is a board-certified internal medicine specialist and an assistant professor of internal medicine. He has over five years of experience and speaks English and Spanish. He specializes in diagnosing and managing outpatient medicine conditions like hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and obesity and inpatient medicine conditions like heart failure, sepsis, and COPD exacerbations.
He is also particularly interested in critical care medicine, endocrinology, and obesity medicine. Clinical responsibilities include supervising third- and fourth-year medical students, interns, and senior residents in the inpatient rotation. Nonclinical duties include directing MS1 in Practice-Based Learning Sessions, dictating lectures for MS3 bimonthly, and guiding MS4 in Critical Appraisal of Medical Literature elective. Additional functions include mentoring residents, supervising QI projects, and presenting didactics for the UTRGV-KMC Internal Medicine Residency Program.
Dr. Suarez Parraga attended medical school at Universidad de Los Andes in Merida, Venezuela. He completed a residency in internal medicine with the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine at Doctors Hospital at Renaissance in Edinburg, TX, on which he served as chief resident in his third year.
- Aramide Tijani, MD
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Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine
Aramide Tijani is an assistant professor of internal medicine at the School of Medicine, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. His career goal is to practice inpatient medicine in an intellectually stimulating patient-centered facility in an underserved community, while also engaging in teaching the next generation of physicians and engaging in research activities aimed at improving patient outcomes.
He had his medical education at University of Ibadan, Nigeria with residency training, and thereafter practiced medicine at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels prior to relocating to the United States. He was part of the inaugural graduating class of the UTRGV-KMC Internal Medicine Residency Program.
He is excited at the opportunity to continue as a faculty member at a program where he had the privilege to be in the first class and from where his dreams of being an outstanding internist/hospitalist are coming through. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his family, watching/playing soccer, and enjoying everything the Rio Grande Valley (where he now calls home) has to offer.
Staff
- Cristina Hinojosa Cantu
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Program Coordinator
Cristina was born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley. She graduated from the University of Texas – Pan American (now known as UTRGV) where she received a Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in Business Administration. Throughout her collegiate years, Cristina worked at the university on a part time basis. A few years after graduation she secured a full time position with the Procurement Department and later with the Business Service Center before moving on to the School of Medicine. In June of 2017, Cristina joined the GME family as the Residency Program Coordinator for Preventive Medicine. She has since been a part of numerous programs, including Sports Medicine, Gastroenterology, Cardiology, Transitional Year, and now Internal Medicine.
Subspecialty Coordinators (SEC)
Subspecialty Coordinators (SEC)
| Faculty Name |
SEC |
| Eduardo Flores, MD |
Cardiology & Clinical Assistant Professor |
| Luis Rosas, MD |
Infectious Disease & Clinical Assistant Professor |
| Eduardo Luna, MD |
Endocrinology & Clinical Assistant Professor |
| Elvin Garcia, MD |
Rheumatology & Clinical Assistant Professor |
| Daniel Farray-Berges, MD |
Hematology/Oncology & Clinical Assistant Professor |
| Alfredo Arauco-Brown, MD |
Pulmonology & Clinical Assistant Professor |
| Ricardo Abreu, MD |
Critical Care Medicine & Clinical Assistant Professor |
| Roberto Manllo-Karim, MD |
Nephrology & Clinical Assistant Professor |
| Jean Cabrera, MD |
Geriatrics/ Clinical Assistant Professor |
| Valeska Balderas, MD |
Gastroenterology & Clinical Assistant Professor |
