ZANA NIKOLLA MD – Dr. Zana Nikolla is a board-certified gastroenterologist with over two decades of clinical, academic, and leadership experience in the field of gastroenterology. She currently practices at Northwell Health – Vassar Brothers Medical Center and is actively involved in medical education at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. Dr. Nikolla received her medical degree from the University of Tirana, Albania. She finished a fellowship in Gastrohepatology before moving to U.S.A. She completed her Internal Medicine residency at Jacobi Medical Center / Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where she also served as Chief Resident. She went on to complete a Gastroenterology Fellowship at Bridgeport Hospital / Yale New Haven School of Medicine, followed by advanced training in GI Motility and Neurogastroenterology at Temple University. She is board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Gastroenterology. Her clinical and academic interests include:
· Colorectal cancer prevention and screening
· Inflammatory bowel disease
· Esophageal disorders and GERD
· Gastrointestinal motility disorders
· Functional gastrointestinal diseases
· General gastroenterology
Dr. Nikolla is heavily involved in teaching residents at Vassar Brothers medical center where she serves as Subspecialty Education Coordinator. Dr. Nikolla serves as GI teaching day co- director at Vassar Brothers medical Center and is involved in multiple committees at the hospital aiming to Improve the quality of Gastrointestinal Care in Hudson Valley. Dr. Nikolla is the Founder and President of the Albanian American Gastrointestinal Association (AAGA), a professional organization dedicated to advancing scientific collaboration, medical education, mentorship, and community health awareness among Albanian physicians in the United States, Albania, and Kosovo. She is deeply engaged in organizing educational webinars, professional conferences, mentoring medical trainees, and leading public health awareness initiatives. With a strong commitment to patient-centered care, education, and community outreach, Dr. Zana Nikolla continues to be a respected leader and advocate in gastroenterology and public health.
LIDIA SPAHO, MD – Was born in Korçë, Albania, and emigrated with her family to Chicago in 1998. Throughout her journey, she has maintained strong personal and cultural ties to her home country. Dr. Spaho completed her undergraduate studies at Northwestern University, earning a degree in Biological Sciences, before pursuing her medical education at RUSH Medical College in Chicago. She went on to train at the University of Massachusetts, where she completed both her Internal Medicine residency and her Gastroenterology fellowship. Dr. Spaho now serves as a gastroenterologist at Northwestern Medicine, where she is dedicated to delivering compassionate care to her patients.
DR. MANOL JOVANI – Has international experience in the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases, having trained and conducted research in Italy (University of Bologna and University of Milan) and in the United States (Harvard University and Johns Hopkins University). Dr. Jovani has clinical and research interests in therapeutic endoscopy, including biliopancreatic endoscopy, bariatric endoscopy, and third space endoscopy. He is passionate about patient care and strives to provide the latest and best available treatment options to his patients, personalizing them according to the specific needs of each individual. Dr. Jovani strongly believes that research is key to improving patient care and is therefore significantly involved in clinical research. He has authored or co-authored over 70 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, including two international guidelines, and has presented his research at leading national and international professional meetings. Dr. Jovani is part of the Standards of Practice Committee of the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE), the most important scientific society in the world for the field of therapeutic endoscopy. In this role, he helps develop guidelines that influence the clinical practice of providers not only in the U.S. but globally. Dr. Jovani is also a member of the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) Quality Improvement Committee, which aims to provide objective criteria to improve the quality of endoscopic procedures worldwide. In addition, Dr. Jovani serves as an award-winning peer reviewer for the most important professional journals in the field of gastroenterology and endoscopy. This allows him to remain at the forefront of scientific knowledge regarding gastrointestinal diseases and treatments, particularly in the area of therapeutic endoscopy.
ELONA SHEHI, MD – Is a board-certified gastroenterologist practicing at BronxCare Health System in New York. Originally from Tirana, Albania, Dr. Shehi graduated with honors from the University of Tirana Faculty of Medicine. She relocated to the United States, where she completed her Internal Medicine residency at BronxCare Health System, serving an additional year as Chief Resident. She remained at BronxCare to complete her fellowship in Gastroenterology. Dr. Shehi is deeply committed to patient-centered care and medical education. In addition to her clinical practice, she actively teaches and mentors internal medicine residents and gastroenterology fellows at BronxCare, where she plays an integral role in training the next generation of physicians.
DR.XHENI DEDA – Is a Gastroenterology and Hepatology fellow at the University of Missouri, where she previously completed a clinical hepatology fellowship caring for complex liver and pancreatobiliary diseases. She completed her Internal Medicine residency and served as Chief Resident at Saint Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx. Before moving to the United States, Dr. Deda completed a four-year Gastroenterology and Hepatology fellowship at Mother Teresa University Hospital in Albania and advanced training at Ankara University Hospital in Turkey. She is also an experienced educator, mentoring medical students and residents at both the University of Missouri and CUNY School of Medicine. Her interests include clinical hepatology, general gastroenterology, and medical education.
Dr. Erinda Stefi – Was born in Tirana, Albania, and developed an early passion for science and community that led her to a career in medicine. She completed her medical degree at the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine in Virginia, followed by internal medicine residency and gastroenterology fellowship training in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She then advanced her specialization with a transplant hepatology fellowship at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Stefi is now a transplant hepatologist at Tampa General Hospital and resides in Tampa, Florida. Her life and training across Albania and the United States give her a distinctive perspective, blending rigorous clinical expertise with a deep appreciation for patient stories and resilience. She remains dedicated to advancing international medical collaboration and delivering cutting-edge care, while her Albanian roots continue to inspire the determination and warmth she brings to her work.
RIFAT LATIFI, MD, FACS, FICS, FKCS – Dr. Rifat Latifi is trauma, surgical critical care and general surgeon. He is research professor of surgery at the University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, and a former Chairman and tenured Professor of Surgery at New York Medical College, School of Medicine and Director of the Department of Surgery at Westchester Medical Center Health Network in Valhalla, New York. He is Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (ACS), Fellow of International College of Surgeons (ICS), and of a Fellow Kosova College of Surgeons (KCS). In 2018, Dr. Latifi became the Founding President, and as of this September he is President Emeritus of the Kosova College of Surgeons. Most recently he has become a director of the Kosova’s Center for Research, Simulation, and Advanced Training at the University of Prishtina, established by Kosova College of Surgeons and University of Prishtina.
Dr. Latifi is the embodiment of the academic surgeon, surgical mentor, an avid researcher, and surgical educator with international and global interest, who was promoted to full professor of surgery only five years after he finished his Surgery Residency at Yale University in 1999. He has a broad and comprehensive clinical and research interests, including reoperative surgery, complex trauma and general surgery, surgical critical care, surgical decision making and geriatric surgery, telemedicine, and nutrition support of surgery and critically ill patients and rebuilding departments and healthcare system. Following graduation from the Medical Faculty of the University of Prishtina, Kosova, Dr. Latifi worked for 3 years at orthopedic clinic of University Clinical Center of Kosova in Prishtina, Kosova and subsequently moved to the USA in 1985. From 1987-1993 he was s a research fellow at the University of Texas and Pennsylvania hospital studying nutritional support and re-operative surgery with Prof. Stanley J Dudrick (1935-2019). During 1993/1994, he finished a categorical Internship in General Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio, and then at the invitation of Chairman of and Professor of Surgery Ronald C. Merrell of Yale University, he transferred to New Haven, Connecticut (1994-1999), where under the leadership of Dr. Merrell he completed the residency in General Surgery. He also completed the Surgical Critical Care Fellowship at Lincoln Hospital, affiliated with New York Medical College in the Bronx, New York, under mentorship of Professor Rao Ivatury. In July of 1999, he became an Assistant Professor of Surgery at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, in its Department of Trauma, Critical Care, and Emergency Surgery working with Prof. Rao Ivatury. In January 2003, Dr. Latifi moved to the University of Arizona in Tucson, an Associate Professor of Surgery and Director of Surgical Critical Care where he created the Southern Teletrauma and Telepresence (SATT). In May 2005, he was promoted to full Professor of Clinical Surgery at the University of Arizona.
From 2007-2010 he served as the Vice-Chairman of Department of Surgery for International Affairs, while in 2007, he served as Interim Director of Trauma and Critical Section at the Department of Surgery at the UA. From January 2011 to January 2014, he was the Director of Trauma Center at Hamad General Hospital in Doha, Qatar, the only Level I trauma center in Qatar, which under his leadership it became the premier Trauma Center and gained national, regional, and international reputation for significantly reducing mortality and morbidity and for spearheading trauma research. As such, the Trauma Center in Doha became an example of the most successful trauma center, widely respected in the Middle East and beyond. Dr. Latifi oversaw a faculty of 32 surgeons, anesthesiologists, and critical care specialists. In January 2014-2016 returned to the University of Arizona and continued his international telemedicine and trauma work in the Balkans and in Africa and Asia and co-directed the establishing a trauma research institute.
In January 2016 Dr. Latifi became the Director of the Department of Surgery at Westchester Medical Center Health Network in Valhalla, NY and Vice-Chairman and tenured Professor of Surgery at New York Medical College, School of Medicine and subsequently in 2018, he took over as Chairman of the Department of Surgery. In addition, he was a Chief of General Surgery at Westchester Medical Center and served as Director of Trauma, Emergency Surgery and Critical Care. He also served as Director of Surgical Critical Care Fellowship between 2016- 2019, and while rebuilding the Department of Surgery, served as interim Chief of Pediatric Surgery (2017). During his tenure at the Westchester Medical Center, he was responsible for major reforms and rebuilding the department of surgery into an outstanding academic and world renowned clinical and research department and by adding great number of new specialties and increasing clinical contents and increasing surgical volume. He also played a major role in overall institution and served on major committees, including Chairman of Quality & Safety Council – Chairman Committee for WMC network (2019-2021), and Chair of Committee for Recruiting Director and Chairman of Medicine Department.
Between November 2021 and October 2022, he was invited to serve as Minister of Health of the Republic of Kosova where he created a model of healthcare transformation. As minister of Health of the Republic of Kosova, he identified seven major pillars including of transformation: 1) Digitalization of healthcare services, including health insurance; 2) Brain gain and reducing brain drain; 3) Advanced clinical programs; 4) Advancing and reforming residency and training programs with international accreditation; 5) Advanced Research Programs; 6) Increasing quality of healthcare services: and 7) Decentralization of the hospital system and reorganization of University Clinical center (UCCK), with empowering regional hospital and local health system. Based on these pillars, Latifi has initiated creation of 14 clinical centers and programs that include: 1)Trauma system and trauma program/centers; 2) Burn and Wound Care Center; 3) Breast Health Center; 4)Integrated Advanced Oncology Program- Cancer center; 5) Endovascular Surgery; 6) Neuro Science Center; 7) Heart Center; 8) Minimally invasive (laparoscopic, thoracoscopic and arthroscopic) programs in general, urologic, gynecologic, pediatric, thoracic, and orthopedic surgery; 9) Kidney and Tissue Transplant Services; 10) Expansion of Telemedicine from all regional hospitals to Family Medicine Centers, Mental Centers and Prisons Health System; 12) Kosova’s Center for Research, Simulation, and Advanced Training 13) Center Autism, Down Syndrome, and other rare diseases); and 14) The Center for addiction and rehabilitation and adults and youth. Dr. Latifi has initiated 22 advance clinical fellowships (ACF), that will train around 100 physicians and surgeons in international centers of excellence (ICE).
Dr. Latifi is recognized as one of the authorities in telemedicine and telehealth. Moreover, he is passionately dedicated to global surgery and international telemedicine as tools of rebuilding healthcare systems in the developing world and post-conflict countries. He has created three national telemedicine programs in Europe (Kosova 2002, and Albania 2007) and Cabo Verde Africa, 2012 for which he has received the 2015 American College of Surgeons (ACS)/Pfizer International Surgical Volunteerism award. Furthermore, Dr. Latifi established the first teletrauma and telepresence program in Arizona, the Southern Arizona Telemedicine and Telepresence (SATT) in 2004, and the second teletrauma program which served residents along the U.S.-Mexico border. Dr. Latifi has also received “The 21st Century Achievement Award for Health” from the Computerworld Honors Program and the “International Award for Health Promotion” from the Utilization Review Accreditation Commission (URAC). In 2017, he was awarded the Westchester County Doctors of Distinction “No Land Too Far Award” by the Westchester Business Journal in Westchester, New York, and Top Doctors in 2020, and 2021. In addition, he was awarded the Certificate of Appreciation by NATO HQ, Brussels for Dedication and Excellent Work for the Multinational Telemedicine System. He has participated as a volunteer surgeon in the Philippines since 2006 and serves on ACS Committee on Global Engagement. Currently serve as Vice-president at the International College of Surgeons, US Chapter, and delegate from NY State.
In 2020, he received the inaugural Dean’s Faculty Research Award from New York Medical College, of Touro University, Valhalla, New York, for his work at Department of Surgery Clinical Research Unit (DSCRU) where mentored hundreds of general surgery residents, surgical critical fellows, and medical students of NYMC. The Westchester County Board of Legislators declared November 13, 2021, as Dr. Rifat Latifi Day in honor of Rifat Latifi, M.D., FACS, FICS, FKCS, in celebration of Albanian Heritage Month and in honor of his commitment to the health and well-being of the people of Westchester County and the world. Dr. Latifi is being honored for his commitment to the health and well-being of the people of Westchester County and throughout the world, as he oversees national telemedicine programs in his native Kosovo, Albania, as well as, Cape Verde, Africa. In addition to his surgical skills, he was recognized for his efforts in helping to establish trauma and telehealth systems in rural areas and underdeveloped countries. In 2022 he received a special award from the University of Graz, Austria for contribution to telemedicine, acute care surgery and teaching surgery in Austria.
He is the author or co-author of more than 500 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. In addition, he has authored/ edited 21 books, and currently working on three more books, and serves on the editorial boards of many international surgical peer-review journals, as well as an and Editor-in-Chief of Kosova Journal of Surgery and editor of Surgical Technology International . He is a member of a few multiple states, national, and international surgical organizations, including the American Surgical Association and European Surgical Association the most prestigious surgical societies in the world. He is an honorary member of the Argentinian Academy of Surgeons, and honorary member of the Brazilian College of Surgeons. This year he was elected a member of European Surgical Association. This year he was selected as ASA-ESA
exchange fellow. Dr. Rifat Latifi’s clinical interests span a wide range of areas within surgery and healthcare, as evidenced by the diverse range of books he has written and edited. His publications reflect a deep expertise in trauma, acute care surgery, nutrition, and telemedicine. Recently he co-edited edited volumes on Prophylactic Surgery, Emergency General Surgery in Geriatrics, and edited Surgical Decision Making in Geriatrics highlight his interest in providing specialized care for elderly patients. Additionally, his works on Surgical Decision Making, Technological Advances in Surgery, Trauma, and Critical Care, and two editions of Surgery of Complex Abdominal Wall Defects demonstrate his commitment to advancing surgical techniques and critical care practices. Dr. Latifi’s contributions to telemedicine and telehealth, as seen in the books Telemedicine, Telehealth, and Telepresence, and Telemedicine for Trauma, Emergencies, and Disaster Management, showcase his dedication to leveraging technology to improve patient care and outcomes. His significant body of work in the realm of nutrition support, as seen in books such as Nutrition Support in Cancer and Transplant Patients and Current Surgical Nutrition, reflects his interest in ensuring holistic care for patients undergoing complex medical treatments. Dr. Latifi’s publications underscore his multifaceted clinical interests and his commitment to enhancing surgical practice, patient-centered care, and healthcare innovation. In addition to his extensive body of published works, Dr. Rifat Latifi is currently immersed in the development of three forthcoming books that promise to make significant contributions to the fields of surgery, healthcare, and medical diplomacy. The second edition of “Surgical Decision Making – Beyond Evidence-Based,” published by Springer Nature, Switzerland just recently, builds upon the success of the first edition and aims to provide updated insights on the complex nuances of surgical decision-making processes. This book was selected the best publications for 2025 by Kosova College of Surgeons.