Program Leadership

Richard Kopelman, MD, FACP  

Richard Kopelman, MD, is the Vice-Chairman for Education in the Department of Medicine. He is the Louisa C. Endicott Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. He began his academic career at Tufts as one of the first faculty members in the newly created Division of General Medicine in the early 1980s. He has been acting chief of that division on several occasions. He has been Director of the Medical House Staff Training Program since 1981, overseeing the growth of the house staff from 30 members to its current total of 72 interns and residents. He has been an active member of the Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine, being a past Council member and participant in numerous committees and task forces.

For the past several years he has been the leader of the Assembly of University Program Directors in that organization. His academic pursuits have been in the areas of hypertension and clinical problem solving. With Dr. Kassirer he was the co-editor of the Clinical Problem Solving series in Hospital Practice for many years and subsequently co-authored two editions of Learning Clinical Reasoning with Drs. Kassirer and Wong. In addition to his administrative responsibilities Dr. Kopelman maintains an active practice in general internal medicine and for the past several years has been regularly listed in the Best Doctors in America and by Boston Magazine in its lists of top physicians.

Dr. Kopelman received his undergraduate degree magna cum laude in economics from Harvard College in 1970 and his medical school degree from Duke University School of Medicine in 1974. He did his house staff training at Tufts- New England Medical Center followed by a fellowship in hypertension at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Carolyn D’Ambrosio, MD

Dr. D’Ambrosio is the Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program. She is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine Division at Tufts University School of Medicine and is the Director of The Center for Sleep Medicine at Tufts Medical Center. Prior to coming to Tufts in December 2000, she was an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine. She is an active member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, American Thoracic Society and American College of Chest Physicians. Previously she served as Chair of the Sleep-Related Breathing Disorders Section of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and currently is on the Board of Directors for the Massachusetts Sleep Society.

Her research interests focus on sleep in the critically ill patient and perioperative complications in patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea. She is first author on several papers in sleep medicine and has written textbook chapters and edited scientific books. Additionally she is the Chair of the Ethics Committee at Tufts Medical Center. She also has a very active practice in pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine. 

Dr. D’Ambrosio received her undergraduate degree in biological sciences from Cornell University in 1985 and her medical school degree with a masters degree in physiology and distinction in research from The George Washington University School of Medicine in 1991. She did her internship and residency at Strong Memorial Hospital University of Rochester and stayed on as chief resident for the year following her residency. She did her fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine.

Joseph Rencic, MD 

Dr. Joseph Rencic is an associate professor of medicine and an associate program director.  He did his residency at the University of Pennsylvania serving as chief resident in his final year. In addition, he completed a part-time faculty development/education fellowship at the University of North Carolina. Currently, he has a primary care practice in the division of general internal medicine and also serves as a clerkship site director for internal medicine at the Tufts Medical Center.  He has received the house staff teaching award in 2006 and the Special Faculty Recognition Award in from the senior medical school class in 2007. He is actively involved in the Clerkship Directors of Internal Medicine.

His research interest is in clinical reasoning and teaching resident to teach. He is currently involved in assessing residents' teaching skills through direct observation of work rounds and is co-director of a medical student course entitled "Introduction to clinical reasoning." 

Daniel Chandler, MD

Dr. Daniel Chandler is the Director of Ambulatory Education for the residency program.   He received his college education at Amherst College.  After receiving his MD from Tufts University School of Medicine, Dr. Chandler did an internship and residency in internal medicine at Tufts Medical Center.  He completed his chief residency year in 2007 and began practicing as a primary care physician in the Division of General Medicine at Tufts Medical Center.   In addition to managing his own clinic, Dr. Chandler also precepts residents in their continuity clinics.  His special interest is teaching residents how to teach and as part of this, he helps manage the Residents-as-Teachers curriculum and the Work Rounds Observation program.