Meet the Fellows

Ethan Stortz, MD
1st Year Fellow

Born and raised in Minnesota, I spent most of my life climbing trees, mowing lawn, and playing drums. I jumped the border for UW-Madison, where I majored in Biology and Philosophy and generally had an all-around good time. After careful (and at times circular) thought, I joined a non-profit in Camden, NJ, where I spent a year working at a local FQHC. I didn't have to move far for my medical education, joining only the second class to matriculate at Cooper Medical School, just down the street. After four amazing years of fun, frivolity, and friendship, I made my way back to the homeland for Internal Medicine residency at the University of Minnesota, where I proudly ordered more cortisol levels and stim tests than any other resident in the program. I stayed on for a chief resident year at the Minneapolis VA, which aged me in indescribable and amazing ways, before making my way westward.     

I am overjoyed and incredibly grateful to join the Endocrinology Fellowship at the University of Colorado! I love adrenal disease, and who doesn't appreciate a smattering of pituitary problems or diabetes? My other interests include addiction medicine, bioethics, medical education, and sodium problems. Since being in CO, I’ve enjoyed the plentiful sunshine and hiking in the mountains with my trusty dog Aldo (and yes, of course he’s named after the mineralocorticoid). I’m also into brewing kombucha, playing community sports, and finding mischief with my amazing co-fellows.

Rebecca Rosenberg, DO
1st Year Fellow

I was born outside of Portland, Oregon but moved to Denver after meeting my now-husband during undergraduate in Washington State. He was born in Colorado and couldn’t wait to come back so we moved here during my fourth year of medical school. We were delighted to match her for IM residency and now fellowship!   I was drawn to Denver initially by my husband’s rave reviews, but having now lived here for 5 years, I have fallen in love with the mountains and the people. The program at UCH is just as lovely and inviting as I found Colorado in general 5 years ago.   

I am so excited to continue my training here and to entrench my roots even deeper into Colorado!

Salwa Zahalka, MD
1st Year Fellow

I’m from West Virginia (go Mountaineers!) and found my way to Chicago for medical school and Wisconsin for residency. The Midwest is where I fell in love with endocrinology. My endocrine mentors were all so enthusiastic and curious about all things endo and exceptionally dedicated to their patients that I too wanted to join the specialty and found myself drawing negative feedback loops as doodles!

I chose to come to the University of Colorado for fellowship because the faculty and fellows here are kind, welcoming and of course nerd out about endocrine no matter how long they’ve been in practice and it makes for the best learning and work environment! I was also drawn to the breadth of subspecialties and volume of both rare and common presentations that are integral to our training here

Erin Finn, MD
2nd Year Med/Peds Fellow

I am a born and raised Coloradan, who has spent many years moving back and forth between Denver and Houston, Texas, where I attended college (Rice University) and did my residency (Internal Medicine-Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine).

I am thrilled to be back in Colorado to pioneer a dual fellowship track in pediatric and adult endocrinology. The highly collaborate nature of Colorado and the Anschutz Medical Campus lends perfectly to dual training across institutions. I look forward to taking advantage of the strong research and clinical experiences that the University, the VA, Denver Health, and the Children's Hospital of Colorado all have to offer. In my spare time, I hope to take advantage of the location to ski, hike, and camp.

Jill Wagoner, MD
2nd Year Fellow

I chose the University of Colorado for fellowship training for the mix of faculty and diverse training opportunities. When I went to different conferences, it always seemed that someone from the University of Colorado was presenting or wrote the paper on the topic. During my interview, it also felt like a place I could thrive and learn from some of the best experts in the field. 

My favorite part of the program is the ability to work with many different experts in each field all of which are very approachable to any question. The faculty is focused on teaching and want to make sure you learn as much as possible. 

Denver is a great mix of what I love in outdoor activities. You are close enough to almost anything on the weekend and get away yet have all the benefits of a large metropolitan area. Generally, people are nicer than I’m used to experiencing.

Rebecca Jeffers, MD
2nd Year Fellow

I decided to come to University of Colorado for my Endocrinology training because I was deeply impressed by the people and culture of this institution. Beyond participating in clinics dedicated to every sub-specialty within endocrinology, we will be training with world-renowned experts. I am also very excited by the sheer volume of research opportunities that are available. This was by far the best endocrinology program I interviewed for out of the lot. 

Denver is also a city I have been eager to live in as I look forward to all it has to offer, especially the beautiful scenery, new adventure opportunities, and the vast amount of green space for my four-legged fur babies!

Adnin Zaman, MD
5th Year Fellow

Having completed all of my undergraduate and medical training in Los Angeles, CA at the University of Southern California, I was interested in diversifying my experience. I selected the University of Colorado for my fellowship training given the breadth and depth of the experiences here. We see a variety of endocrine cases in varying stages of each disease, so the clinical experience is great. My favorite part of the program is by far the exemplary faculty we get to work with. Everyone is so knowledgeable about the field! Since we are a tertiary referral center, we see rare diseases as often as we see bread and butter endocrinology; it’s so amazing to learn from the experts. 

The research here is also robust with faculty doing projects in every imaginable subspecialty within endocrinology. My specific research interests are in women’s health, PCOS/infertility, and obesity. My main project is with Dr. Victoria Catenacci looking at how combined hormonal contraceptive use by pre-menopausal women might affect weight loss and weight loss maintenance within a behavioral weight loss program comparing intermittent fasting to daily caloric restriction. I had little to no experience in research before coming here, but the amount of support I have received from the Division has really been phenomenal. 

Finally, Colorado has been a wonderful place to live. Everyone in Colorado has been so friendly! It’s been nice to explore a city where you can enjoy all four seasons both indoors and outdoors (though I mostly stay indoors exploring restaurants and going to concerts).