Program Leadership

Our program is lead by an incredible team of leaders and supported by numerous Med-Peds trained Faculty in the inpatient and ambulatory setting. These people are invaluable resources to our residents and the program graduates. They have created quite a legacy that we hope to continue to build!

Michael Contarino, MD

Residency Program Director

Dr. Mike Contarino graduated from Duke University in 1999 with a degree in Biomedical and Electrical Engineering. From there, he spent four years as an officer in the United States Navy with the Civil Engineers Corps traveling and gaining leadership experience. After his navy career, Dr. Contarino returned to North Carolina to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and also completed residency training in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at UNC. Following this, he joined the faculty at WakeMed as an internal medicine and pediatric hospitalist, focusing on resident and medical student education. Among other duties and volunteer activities, Dr. Contarino serves on the Hospital Ethics Committee, and chairs the Care Delivery Team for patient and family centered care. He has won several teaching awards throughout residency and his time as a hospitalist, including the Robert L Ney Award, Harvey J Hamrick Excellence in Teaching Award, and the WakeMed Faculty Teaching Award.

Raquel Reyes, MD

Residency Associate Program Director

Dr. Raquel Reyes is a hospitalist and clinician educator with a particular commitment to addressing disparities in health in resource-poor settings. She completed her combined residency training in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in June 2012.  Following residency, she lived in Uganda where she served as the first Site Director for MGH’s Global Medicine Residency.

Dr. Reyes earned a BA in English from Harvard College, an MD from Harvard Medical School, and a Masters in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She has served as a Volunteer In Service To America, advocating for access to health care for refugees and migrant farm workers in rural California. She has policy experience in Geneva and Washington, D.C and clinical experience in Ethiopia, Liberia, and Uganda. Her early public health work included studies of maternal health in Afghanistan and rural Mali.

Dr. Reyes currently serves as a hospitalist and clinician educator on the internal medicine wards, seminar facilitator for medical students, global health mentor for residents and medical students, and Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine and Pediatrics Residency Program.

Josh Berkowitz, MD

Residency Associate Program Director

Growing up in North Carolina, UNC has been the perfect fit for Dr. Berkowitz throughout his education and early career. He received his undergraduate degrees in Biology and Psychology from the College of Arts and Sciences, then after a year of bench research in the Cystic Fibrosis Center went on to earn his medical degree through the School of Medicine. He was thrilled to match at UNC Hospitals for Internal Medicine-Pediatrics residency training, subsequently serving as Chief Resident before completing a fellowship in Primary Care Sports Medicine through the Department of Family Medicine. He is currently appointed as an assistant professor of Orthopaedics, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics and serves as a Team Physician for UNC Sports Medicine in addition to his roles as Associate Program Director and Continuity Clinic Director for the Med-Peds residency program. His academic interests include medical education with a focus on teaching musculoskeletal medicine, as well as management of complex medical issues in athletes.

Erin Finn, MD

Current Chief Resident

Erin Finn is our current Chief Resident. Erin, originally from New Jersey and completed her undergraduate degree at Colgate University in upstate NY. Later she found herself back in NY for medical school at the University of Rochester after spending a few years doing genetics research in DC and Philadelphia. She now lives with her 2 cats, 2 dogs, 25 fish, a lizard, and her husband, George, who is an Army family medicine doctor and flight surgeon at Fort Bragg. She spends her free time running, biking, looking for places to play volleyball and/or soccer, watching Psych, and going on ghost tours in different cities (fun fact, Durham, Raleigh, and Hillsborough all have ghost tours, Chapel Hill is lagging behind). She is interested in medical education, specifically physical exam skills, point of care ultrasound (POCUS), and resident and medical student education. She created weekly Physical Exam Rounds to bring teaching back to the bedside and is now focusing on expanding POCUS teaching across all 3 residency programs. When she grows up, she will likely be a Med-Peds Hospitalist as she has continued to love everything broad, both in adults and kids. She is excited to continue to be a part of the UNC Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, and Med Peds residency programs as the Med Peds Chief this year.

Hillary Spangler, MD

Rising Chief Resident

Hillary, originally from Asheboro, NC did her undergraduate work in Nutrition and Biology at North Carolina State University earning honors of PBK and Valedictorian of her college class before entering medical school at UNC. While in medical school Hillary immersed herself in a variety of activities including most notable her work in the Code Sepsis Project within the UNC Health System where she earned national acclaim as a national Sepsis Hero in 2016. Hillary who is an author of several children’s books also enjoys bluegrass music, hiking / backpacking, gardening and spending time with family and friends.

Robin Howard

Residency Program Coordinator

Robin Howard was born and raised in Sanford, NC and is now completing her undergraduate degree part-time at the University at North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has worked at UNC-Chapel Hill for 15 years and loves working with the Internal Medicine and Pediatric Residency Programs. Her greatest joy is being able to see each resident push through life’s challenges while pursuing their career to serve to be able to serve others. Her niece and nephews are her hearts and are the very reasons she presses forward everyday. When Robin is not enjoying ministry, she loves taking in a movie, writing in her journal or relaxing at the beach or the mountains.

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