Minimally Invasive Urology Institute
Delivering Excellence in Urologic Patient Care, Education & Research
Meet Our Team
Director, Minimally Invasive Urology Institute; Director, Genitourinary Oncology at The Miriam Hospital
Dragan Golijanin, MD, is a director of the Minimally Invasive Urology Institute and director of Genitourinary Oncology at The Miriam Hospital. He also serves as an associate professor of surgery (urology) at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. His areas of expertise include prostate cancer, kidney cancer, bladder cancer and testicular cancer. Golijanin is board certified in urology. He is the 2019 recipient of the Alan Podis MD Teaching Award.
Golijanin earned his medical degree at the University of Belgrade. He completed residencies at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, University Clinical Center in Belgrade and Hadassah Medical Center. He completed fellowships in urologic oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Cornell University and Hadassah Medical Center. He was the first to publish on near-infrared real-time imaging in open laparoscopic and robotic surgery.
Learn more about Dr. Golijanin’s research on www.Brown.edu »
Director of Minimally Invasive Urologic Surgery
Gyan Pareek, MD, FACS is a director of the Minimally Invasive Urology Institute and director of the Kidney Stone Center at The Miriam Hospital. He is also a professor of surgery (urology) at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Vice President of Operations at Brown Urology, Inc. His areas of expertise include kidney stones, prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia. Dr. Pareek is board certified in urology. Dr. Pareek is the 2019 recipient of the Riesman Family Excellence in Teaching Award.
Pareek earned his medical degree from St. George’s University School of Medicine and completed his residency at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. He also completed his laparoscopy and endourology fellowship at the University of Wisconsin. In 2006, Dr. Pareek was part of a team at The Miriam Hospital that performed the first robotic prostatectomy in southern New England. He has held a number of leadership roles at the New England American Urological Association and the Rhode Island Urological Association.
Urologist
Sammy Elsamra, MD, is a urologist specializing in urologic oncology. His areas of expertise include prostate cancer, kidney cancer, bladder cancer and testicular cancer. His interests include robotic urologic surgery, laparoscopic surgery, percutaneous renal surgery, and endourology, as well as resident, fellow and medical student education; clinical service line development; and improvement of service line delivery. Dr. Elsamra is board certified in urology.
Dr. Elsamra earned his medical degree at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (now Rutgers)—New Jersey Medical School. He completed residency at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and a two-year Endourology Society-accredited fellowship at the Smith Institute for Urology, part of the North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System, under the guidance of Arthur Smith, MD, an internationally recognized pioneer in endourology.
Dr. Elsamra previously served as clinical assistant professor and program director of the urology residency program at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and as director of robotic surgery at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.
Mary Lynch, RD, LDN
Registered Dietician
Mary Lynch, RD, LDN is a registered dietician in the Minimally Invasive Urology Institute and Kidney Stone Center. She received her bachelor of science in nutrition from Framingham State University. She completed the Leaders in Health Community Training Program within the Prevention Research Center on Nutrition and Physical Activity at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Lynch was awarded Simmons College Graduate Student Preceptor of the Year.
Lauren Pillsbury, MSN, ACNP-BC
Nurse Practitioner
Lauren Pillsbury, MSN, ACNP-BC, is a nurse practitioner for the Minimally Invasive Urology Institute at The Miriam Hospital. Pillsbury received her bachelor of science in nursing with honors from Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH and earned her master of science in nursing degree from University of Rhode Island, specializing as an acute care, adult gerontology nurse practitioner.
Pillsbury is board certified by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau, the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the Society of Urologic Nurses and Associates. She regularly serves as a preceptor for nurse practitioner students at Rhode Island College and University of Rhode Island. Her research interests include the role of patient education in reducing readmissions.
Urologist
David Watson Sobel, MD, is a urologist and minimally invasive endourology fellow at Rhode Island and The Miriam hospitals. He is also a clinical instructor (urology) at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
Dr. Sobel earned his undergraduate degree from Brown University, medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine and completed his residency at University of Vermont Medical Center. He is a member of Rhode Island One Disaster Medical Assistance Team (RI-1 DMAT) and founder of the Consortium for Ureteral Stent Pain (CUSP) and the Pan-New England Stone Society (PNESS). Dr. Sobel is the recipient of the 2018 University of Vermont Laurence H. Coffin Research Award.
Christopher Tucci, MS, RN-BC, CURN, NE-BC
Program Manager
Christopher Tucci, MS, RN-BC, CURN, NE-BC is the program manager for the Minimally Invasive Urology Institute and Kidney Stone Center at The Miriam Hospital. He also serves as a teaching associate in the department of surgery at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Tucci holds medical-surgical nursing, informatics nursing and nurse executive board certification through the American Nurses Credentialing Center. He is also board certified in urology by the Society of Urologic Nurses and Associates.
Tucci received his bachelor of science in nursing from Elmira College in New York, and earned his master of science degree in healthcare administration and management at Salve Regina University in Rhode Island. He regularly serves as preceptor for undergraduate nursing students at University of Rhode Island. He is a graduate of the Organization of Nurse Leaders Leadership Academy. Tucci serves as President of the New England Society of Urologic Nurses and Associates. His research interests include the impact of a standardized care pathway on outcomes of care and the role of nurse navigator on readmissions and patient experience.
Ashlee Viveiros, DNP, APRN, ACCNS-AG
Patient Navigator
Ashlee Viveiros, DNP, APRN, ACCNS-AG is a patient navigator for the Minimally Invasive Urology Institute at The Miriam Hospital. She received her bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in nursing in adult gerontology, with a focus in acute care and nursing leadership from Rhode Island College. Viveiros has served as adjunct faculty at Salve Regina University, Rhode Island College, and University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. She currently serves as faculty in simulation education for the college of nursing at the University of Rhode Island.
Viveiros is board certified by the American Association of Critical Care Nurses. She serves as the communications manager for Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. Her research interests include acute care nursing practice, translating evidence to professional practice, and improving quality of care..
Philip Caffery, PhD
Research Program Coordinator
Philip Caffery, PhD is the research program coordinator in the Minimally Invasive Urology Institute and Division of Urology at The Miriam Hospital. He earned a bachelor of arts in chemistry and English and American literature and a PhD in biology from Brown University. He previously worked for the Alzheimer Society of Ontario, where he implemented strategy and programmatic evaluation. His research interests include translational research.
Rebecca Ortiz
Research Assistant
Rebecca Ortiz is a research assistant in the Minimally Invasive Urology Institute at The Miriam Hospital. She earned a bachelor of arts in biology and minor in psychology from Mount Holyoke College. She previously served on the research teams at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and University of Massachusetts. Her research interests include urologic oncology and kidney stone disease.
Contact Us
For more information or to refer a patient, contact us at 401-793-5400 or email MIUItmh@lifespan.org.