Michelle Ng Gong, M.D., M.S., has been named chief of the division of pulmonary medicine in the department of medicine at Einstein and Montefiore. Dr. Gong will also continue her roles as chief of the division of critical care medicine and leader of the unified Jay B. Langer Critical Care Network.
Dr. Gong completed a combined fellowship in her two specialties at Harvard Medical School and is board certified in both. Prior to joining Montefiore and Einstein, she worked in the pulmonary and critical care divisions at Massachusetts General Hospital and at Mount Sinai in New York.
As chief of critical care medicine, Dr. Gong expanded staffing and supervision while increasing revenue and cutting expenses and was instrumental in opening the Neuroscience Progressive Care Unit to support the Comprehensive Stroke Center.
As director of critical care research, Dr. Gong built a research program that generated more than $21 million in funding. She is co-leader of the Health Research Implementation and Informatics Core in the Harold and Muriel Block Institute for Clinical and Translational Research at Einstein and Montefiore.
Michelle Gong, M.D.
Dr. Tagoe Named Chief of Rheumatology
Clement Tagoe, M.D., Ph.D., has been named chief of the division of rheumatology in the department of medicine at Einstein and Montefiore. Dr. Tagoe joined Einstein and Montefiore in 2004 and previously served as a professor of medicine and director of clinical operations in the division.
Dr. Tagoe’s research focuses on autoimmune thyroid disease, which affects about 5% of the population. He is also the site principal investigator for the Consortium of Rheumatology Researchers of North America for rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis.
A native of Ghana, Dr. Tagoe earned his medical degree from the University of Ghana Medical School. He completed his Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom. In 1993, he came to the United States for his internal medicine residency at New York Hospital Medical Center in Queens, where he was chief resident. Dr. Tagoe completed his rheumatology fellowship and postdoctoral fellowship at New York University (NYU), where he became an attending rheumatologist in its Hospital for Joint Disorders.
Prior to his clinical career, he was a research associate at NYU and a senior research associate at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California.
Clement Tagoe, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Chambers to Direct Family Medicine Research
Earle Chambers, Ph.D., M.P.H., has been appointed director of the division of research in the department of family and social medicine at Einstein and Montefiore.
Dr. Chambers is an associate professor of family and social medicine and of epidemiology & population health and a member of the leadership team for the New York Regional Center for Diabetes Translation Research at Einstein.
“As a department, we continue to place health equity front and center, and it’s my goal to have our research agenda reflect that,” says Dr. Chambers, who began his career at Einstein and Montefiore in 2007. He says he wants to develop a health equity research lab to provide dedicated resources at Einstein to support interdisciplinary studies of the social determinants of health and the inequities that result in harmful outcomes for some people. He also would like to help build a diverse pipeline of investigators, including medical students, residents, and fellows.
Dr. Chambers earned his bachelor’s in biology from Duke University, his master’s in public health from the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, and his Ph.D. in epidemiology with a concentration on chronic disease from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.
Earle Chambers, Ph.D.
Dr. Cassese Named Education Associate Dean
Todd Cassese, M.D., has been named associate dean for medical education at Einstein. Dr. Cassese, an associate professor of medicine at Einstein and a hospitalist at Montefiore, came to Einstein in July 2018 as the inaugural assistant dean for clinical sciences education.
A recognized thought leader in medical education with particular strengths in assessment, basic and clinical science integration, gender equality, and curricular innovations, Dr. Cassese helped lead the task force that restructured students’ clinical experiences in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and streamlined the preclerkship and clerkship curricula.
Among the positions he has held are: returning scholar in the Harvard Macy Institute Program, Strategic Educators Enhancement Fund fellow with the National Board of Medical Examiners, former president of the Directors of Clinical Skills Courses, and member of the Northeast Group on Educational Affairs Steering Committee of the Association of American Medical Colleges.
Dr. Cassese earned his medical degree at the University of Chicago, where he continued his postgraduate training. He was an assistant professor at Yale University before being recruited to Quinnipiac University as director of its doctoring course.
Michelle Gong, M.D. 
Clement Tagoe, M.D., Ph.D. 
Earle Chambers, Ph.D. 
Todd Cassese, M.D. 
