Dr. Berkson joined the College of Medicine in 2006 as the program director of the Family Medicine Residency Program and an assistant professor in the Department of Family, Community and Preventive Medicine. He received his M.D. from Pennsylvania State University, then completed his Family Medicine residency at Abington Memorial Hospital and a Sports Medicine fellowship at the University of South Carolina, Palmetto-Richland Memorial Hospital in Columbia, S.C. Dr. Berkson is board certified in Family Medicine and Sports Medicine and is the chief medical officer of Pennsylvania Senior Games and the team physician for Monsignor Bonner High School in Upper Darby. Dr. Berkson received the Degree of Fellow from the American Academy of Family Physicians in 2005. He gives national presentations and, most recently, was awarded the Heroes of York County Award from the American Red Cross for helping save the life of a high-school athlete whose heart stopped.
Aletheia Donahue is a fourth-year medical student at Drexel University College of Medicine specializing in women’s health and health policy. She worked as a consultant on the proposed Fresh Food Tax Credit in the office of Philadelphia City Councilman Bill Green. Aletheia acted as a liaison between small grocers and city government to create policy that incentivizes healthy food sales. Her work included research on food access disparities and diet in Philadelphia and how these problems have been addressed in cities throughout the country.
Prior to starting medical school Aletheia was active in clinical medical research at Massachusetts General Hospital and The University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center. She earned a BA in astronomy and physics from Smith College.
Christine V. Soutendijk, M.D., is the assistant director of the Center for Women's Health, and has been an assistant professor of medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine since 1998. She is a graduate of Indiana University School of Medicine, where she received the John I. Nurnberger Award for Most Accomplished Student of Psychiatry in her graduating class.
Her interest in women's health began in medical school while writing a literature review on the psychosocial impact of breast cancer. She completed her internal medicine residency at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center/VAMC in Phoenix, Ariz., and has been certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine since 1997. She continues to be interested in the effect of disease on mental health and quality of life, and has special interests in osteoporosis, menopause and metabolic syndrome.
