Feinberg Ombudspersons
Ombudsperson Support for Fair and Equitable Treatment of Students, Residents and Fellows
All members of the Northwestern Medicine community are committed to treating others with dignity and respect. From time to time issues may arise that are not in keeping with this commitment. When these issues arise, students, residents and fellows may access the Feinberg School of Medicine Ombudsperson who has been appointed to serve as an impartial, neutral, and confidential facilitator for students, residents and fellows. The Ombudsperson is chosen because s/he is a neutral, third-party physician who is not otherwise involved with the academic promotion or evaluation of Feinberg students, residents and fellows and who is committed to ensuring that students, residents and fellows are treated fairly and equitably.
The Ombudsperson is available to serve as a nonjudgmental and objective sounding board for students, residents and fellows and to help resolve complaints of student, resident or fellow mistreatment. These incidents may occur in the classroom, clinical venues or other school-sponsored events and may involve other students, residents, fellows, faculty, or staff. The Ombudsmen will work with students, residents and fellows to describe available options to address the issue and, if desired, help resolve conflicts. Student, resident and fellow interactions with the ombudsperson are handled as discreetly as possible.
Meet the Feinberg Ombudsperson: Lisa A. Rone, MD
Dr. Lisa Rone, a Feinberg School of Medicine Ombudsperson, is clinical assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association (APA). She is a past president of the Illinois Psychiatric Society and current area representative to the APA.
She graduated medical school from the University of Tennessee in 1991 and completed a residency in psychiatry at the McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University in 1995.
Dr. Rone has supervised psychiatry residents in various settings since 1995. She has also taught medical students in a variety of classes: during their psychiatric rotation she taught the module on affective disorders; she has taught several years in the Patient, Physician and Society class; and most recently taught in the M2 Problem Based Learning curricula. She has been a lecturer in the Department of Genetics Counseling at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and taught obstetrics and gynecology residents clinical issues relating to perinatal loss.
Dr. Rone specializes in the treatment of anxiety and affective disorders, particularly during pregnancy and in the postpartum period, and in hormonal influences on psychiatric illness. She has a special interest in ethics, psychiatry and the law, and has conducted numerous forensic psychiatry consultations.
Meet the Feinberg Ombudsperson: Ike Okwuosa, MD
Dr. Ike Okwuosa is the newest Feinberg School of Medicine Ombudsperson. He is Assistant Dean of Medical Education and Assistant Professor of Medicine (Cardiology).
Dr. Okwuosa received his MD from Georgetown University in 2010 and completed his internal medicine residency at McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University in 2013 and fellowships in heart transplant and heart failure and cardiovascular disease at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 2017. The same year, he joined Feinberg’s faculty and also became a heart failure and transplant cardiologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. He is board certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease, and advanced heart failure and transplant cardiology.