John Aucar, MD, MSHI, FACS – General Surgery
John Aucar, MD, MSHI, FACS is board certified by the American Board of Surgery. At Carle Clinic – Urbana, he will focus on trauma care and research, the practice of general surgery and training the next generation of surgeons. Dr. Aucar is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia and the University of Kansas – School of Medicine. He completed his residency at Michigan State University and was professor and chairman at the University of Texas.

Jason Cash, MD – Family Medicine, Bloomington/Normal
Carle Clinic – Bloomington/Normal welcomes board certified family medicine physician Jason Cash, MD. Dr. Cash is a graduate of University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City, Utah. He also attended Allegheny University of the Health Sciences in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and California State University in Fresno, California. Dr. Cash finished his residency at Memorial Hospital Family Practice Residency Program in South Bend, Indiana, in 2005.

Sherfield Dawson, III, MD – Liver and Pancreas Surgery/Trauma Surgery
Carle Clinic Urbana welcomes board certified surgeon Sherfield Dawson, III, MD, to its medical staff. Dr. Dawson is a graduate of the University of Illinois Abraham Lincoln College of Medicine in Chicago. He completed his residency at LA County King Drew Medical Center as well as a research fellowship and surgical fellowship at Dumont-UCLA Transplant Center in Los Angeles, California. Dr. Dawson served as a transplant surgeon at Pinnacle Health-Harrisburg Hospital in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and at Baylor Regional Transplant Institute in Dallas, Texas. He is also an American College of Surgeons Fellow and a member of the American Society for the Study of Liver Diseases and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons.

Kristen Iniguez, DO – Pediatric Hospitalist
Kristen Iniguez, DO, will practice as a pediatric hospitalist at Carle Foundation Hospital. Dr. Iniguez finished her degree at the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine, Midwestern University, in Downers Grove, IL, in 2003. She also holds a masters degree in exercise physiology from the University of Illinois. She completed her pediatric residency at Advocate Christ/Hope Children’s Hospital, in Oak Lawn, Illinois in 2006. Her experience includes working as a Pediatric Hospitalist at St. Alexius Medical Center, in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, and an Exercise Physiologist at Edward Cardiovascular Institute, in Naperville, Illinois.

Muhammad Ishaque, MD, MBBS – Hospitalist/Nocturnist
Muhammad R. Ishaque, MD, MBBS, will practice as a hospitalist/nocturnist at Carle Foundation Hospital. Dr. Ishaque is a graduate of Punjab Medical College in Pakistan. He completed fellowships and a residency at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. He served as clinical instructor at the University of Illinois – College of Medicine and research associate with the University of Illinois Department of Kinesiology in Urbana, Illinois.

Chirag Patel, MD – Vitreo-Retinal Surgery
Vitreo-retinal surgeon Chirag Patel, MD, joins the staff at Carle Clinic – Urbana. Dr. Patel graduated from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey at New Jersey Medical School in 2001 after earning a biology degree from Stanford University. He completed his residency at Summa Health Systems in Akron, Ohio, and held fellowships at the University of Arizona in Tucson and Harvard Medical School – Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, Massachusetts. His extensive research experience includes: Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, Massachusetts; Summa Health Systems, Akron, Ohio.

Elizabeth Small, MD – Dermatology, Mahomet
Dermatologist Elizabeth Small, MD, will practice Dermatology at Carle Clinic – Mahomet. She completed her degree at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1977. As a board certified dermatologist, Dr. Small has worked in Springfield, Illinois at Associated Dermatologists, Ltd., since 1986. Before working in Springfield, Dr. Small operated her own dermatology practice in Zachary, Louisiana.

Tanu Thomas, MD – Vitreo Retinal Specialist
Vitreo Retinal Specialist Tanu Thomas, MD, will focus on diabetic retinopathy, wet macular degeneration and retinal detachments at Carle Clinic - Urbana. Board certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology, she completed her ophthalmology residency at Penn State University. She also completed an internship in internal medicine at the William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, and a surgical retinal fellowship at the University of Texas in San Antonio, Texas. Before joining Carle Clinic, Dr. Thomas was a retina specialist at the Kaiser Medical Center in Fontana, California, Marshfield Clinic in Marshfield, Wisconsin, and at Retina Consultants in Little Silver, New Jersey.

James Youn, MD – Family Medicine – Mattoon/Charleston
Carle Clinic – Mattoon/Charleston welcomes James Youn, MD, to its medical staff. Dr. Youn is board certified by the American Board of Family Medicine in Sports Medicine. He is a graduate of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and earned a medical degree from the University of Illinois Chicago. He finished his family practice residency at UCLA-Santa Monica, in 2006. He served as house physician at Temple Community Hospital in Los Angeles, California, and an urgent care physician at Bellflower Kaiser Permanente, Bellflower, California, and at Fontana Kaiser Permanente, in Fontana, California.