Program Director
Navitha Ramesh, MD
Dr. Navitha Ramesh is a board-certified Internal Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine physician at UPMC Central PA. Dr. Ramesh has been involved in clinical research and has published in her areas of interest which include sub-massive pulmonary embolism, severe asthma, sepsis and medical humanities in critical care medicine. She continues to mentor our Internal Medicine residents with their various research projects. She has received educational grants from CHEST/ATS and from SCCM/CDC. She has a special interest and competency in Point of care and Critical care Ultrasonography, and she holds testameur status in advanced critical care echocardiography with the National Board of Echocardiography. She is faculty at national societies such as American Thoracic Society and CHEST where she teaches POCUS, ICU procedures and overall care of critically ill patients. She is the President of the Pennsylvania Chapter of Society of Critical Care Medicine and has recently directed our inaugural fundamental critical care support (FCCS) course. Prior to joining UPMC in Central PA, Dr. Ramesh was the ICU medical director at UPMC Williamsport.
Division Chief
Matthew Zaccheo, DO
Dr. Zaccheo joined the UPMC Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Division in August 2021. Prior to joining, he practiced as a Medical Intensivist at Bronson Methodist Hospital and University of Michigan - West in Southwest Michigan where he acted as the Vice Chair of the Critical Care Medicine service line, Trauma Liaison, Co-director of the ICU Performance Improvement Committee, and Director of the ICU advanced practice provider program. During his tenure, he held faculty appointments as a Clinical Assistant Professor for the Western Michigan University Homer Stryker School of Medicine, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, and the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine.
During his time at UPMC, he continues to practice as a Medical Intensivist. He also serves as the Section Chief of Critical Care Medicine and Regional ICU Medical Director of the UPMC Cental Pennsylvania region. He works alongside a group of multidisciplinary trained Intensivists, acute care advanced practice providers, hospital administrators, and providers from medical and surgical service lines to coordinate and operationalize ICU evidence-based best practice across a seven-hospital network encompassing 120 licensed and operational ICU beds. His special interests include percutaneous tracheostomy in the ICU, bedside clinical education, and system practice-performance improvement initiatives.
Associate Program Director
Akshay Avula, MD
Prior to joining UPMC, Dr. Avula worked as a Pulmonary and Critical Care physician at St. Barnabas Health system in the Bronx, New York. He also held a faculty position as Clinical Assistant Professor at the City College of New York. During his time in New York, he was an academic Internal Medicine Hospitalist for three years prior to fellowship and trained numerous residents and medical students. At UPMC, he has been an active member of the Lung Cancer Screening, Severe Asthma, and Pulmonary Education Committees. His research interests include Critical Care illness in the elderly, Critical Care ultrasonography and Pulmonary Vascular Disorders.
Core Faculty
Hassan Amhaz, MD
Dr. Hassan Amhaz is an Anesthesiologist with further fellowship training in Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine from Duke University with additional board certification in Advanced Perioperative Transesophageal Echocardiography. Prior to joining the critical care department at UPMC Central PA, he was chief operating officer of a Critical Care and Tele-ICU company. Dr. Amhaz is passionate about resident education, airway management, shock states, ECMO, echocardiography, Fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) and medical/personal financial literacy.
Christopher Franz, MD
Before joining the division, Dr. Franz completed Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh where he did research in the ICU delirium and inflammatory subphenotyping in ARDS.Since joining UPMC in Central PA, Dr. Franz has been actively engaged in the educational mission of the division and given lectures covering point-of-care lung ultrasound, COPD, and spirometry. Dr. Franz’s academic interests include mechanical ventilation education, critical care ultrasound, and simulation/procedural training.
Kevin J. Misner, MD
Dr. Misner joined the UPMC Central PA Critical Care, Pulmonary and Sleep Division in August 2021. He previously completed his Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh where he performed research involving rare surfactant protein mutations in patients with familial Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. He has been involved in the education of medical students and residents for their rotations in the intensive care unit and in both outpatient and inpatient pulmonary rotations, as well as instruction in non-invasive ventilation, CPR, and ICU/Pulmonary procedures. Areas of interest include interstitial lung disease in the ICU, ARDS, and critical care communication.
Anil Nalla, MD
Dr. Anil Kumar Nalla joined the UPMC Critical Care Division in July 2020. He finished his Critical Care Fellowship at Montefiore Medical Center in New York. He is very enthusiastic about educating residents and medical students. In fact, he was associated with the SUNY School of Medicine, New York, NY during residency and played a key role in developing a core curriculum of clinical rotations for medical students and was core faculty of the simulation lab at Montefiore Medical Center in New York during his fellowship. During his stay at UPMC, he helped implement CRRT at the UPMC Memorial Campus. He is also the Site Director of the Critical Care Unit at UPMC Memorial. His areas of interest include CRRT, metabolic disorders in the critically ill, Critical Care Ultrasonography, and ECMO.