Our Management Team

Louis B. Rice, MD is the Chairman of the Department of Medicine, Joukowsky Family Professor of Medicine, and Professor of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and the Physician-in-Chief of Medicine at Rhode Island Hospital and The Miriam Hospital in Providence, RI. He also serves as the Executive Physician-in-Chief of Medicine at the Providence Veterans Administration Medical Center and Women & Infants Hospital. Dr. Rice is also the President of Brown Medicine, Inc. a non-profit, academic, multi-specialty medical group with practice in Providence, RI and its surrounding communities.

Dr. Rice previously served as Professor of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio and as Chief of Medical Service at the Cleveland VA Medical Center as well as Vice Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University Hospitals of Cleveland. He is a member of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) and former Editor-in-Chief of the ASM journal, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy; the Infectious Disease Society of America, where he was formerly on the Board of Directors, chairing the research committee and the research on resistance working group; and is a fellow of the American College of Physicians. and a member of the Association of American Physicians.

Dr. Rice received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He completed his internship and residency in medicine at New York University Medical Center. He also completed clinical and research fellowships in infectious diseases at the former New England Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School.

He served as the Chair of the National Institutes of Health study section on drug discovery and mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance and for 10 years as associate editor of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy; was the Inpatient Teacher of the Year at University Hospitals and Cleveland VA Medical Center; received the Kaiser-Permanente Award for Teaching Excellence; served as the keynote speaker as the 46th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy and delivered the Maxwell Finland Lecture at the National Meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America in 2007.

Dr. Rice is an international authority on antimicrobial resistance in bacteria. His research interests include understanding the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in bacteria; preventing hospital infections; and developing antibiotic usage strategies that will minimize the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance.

Angela M. Caliendo, MD, PhD joined the faculty at Brown in 2013. Dr. Caliendo is the Warren Alpert Foundation Professor of Medicine and Executive Vice Chair of the Department of Medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Dr. Caliendo also serves as the Vice President of Brown Medicine and President of Brown Physicians, Inc. Dr. Caliendo is an Editor for the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, Secretary for the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and a Fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the American Academy of Microbiology.

Dr. Caliendo received a PhD (Biochemistry) and MD from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and completed an internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA and an Infectious Diseases fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA. After completing fellowship training, she joined the faculty at the MGH as an Assistant Director of Microbiology with responsibilities for the clinical virology and molecular diagnostics sections of the laboratory.

In 1999 she joined the faculty at Emory University School of Medicine, initially as the Medical Director of the Microbiology and Molecular Diagnostics Laboratories and later became the Director of Emory Medical Laboratories, and Professor and Vice Chair of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.

Michelle Anvar, MD, FACP is the Chief Medical Officer of Brown Medicine, Director of Primary and a practicing primary care physician for over 20 years. She is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine and an American College of Medicine Fellow. Dr. Anvar graduated from Lafayette College and subsequently received a medical degree from the MCP-Hahnemann School of Medicine in Philadelphia, PA. She did a residency in Internal Medicine and Primary Care at Brown and then completed a year as Chief Medical Resident. She began clinical practice in 2002 and expanded her academic and administrative work as the Medical Director for the Fain Medical Clinic based at the Miriam Hospital. In 2020, she became the Director of Primary Care for Brown Medicine.

Dana Palka is the Chief Operating Officer for Brown Medicine. Leveraging three decades of healthcare experience, she excels in bringing disparate groups together to align and meet desired outcomes. Prior to joining Brown Medicine in 2021, Dana oversaw ambulatory operations for Rhode Island Hospital. One of her most recognizable achievements occurred when the Rhode Island Governor addressed surge capacity at local hospitals asking for an alternative hospital site (AHS) at the Rhode Island Convention Center. Dana volunteered and was soon appointed the role of Operational Director for the Lifespan AHS – COVID field hospital. Dana expeditiously pulled together a core team that successfully built, equipped, and staffed a fully operational hospital within 60 days. Dana received her Master of Science in Nursing from Yale University, and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from University of Maryland-Baltimore. She is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE) and she is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ). Dana was the 2021 recipient of the Rhode Island Nurse Executive of the Year Award.

Tammy Lederer is the Chief Human Resources Officer of Brown Physicians, Inc. She is a graduate of University of Rhode Island (Kingston) and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. For the past 30 years, Tammy has worked in for-profit, academic and non-profit healthcare sectors with over 15 of those years in human resources leadership.

Prior to joining Brown Medicine in 2004, she served as a Human Resources Representative for Lifespan focusing on recruitment and employee and labor relations. Tammy has earned professional human resources certification from the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM) and is a member of the Medical Group Management Association, American Institute of Management, American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration, and Rhode Island SHRM. In her role at Brown Medicine, Tammy leads the Human Resources functions at Brown Medicine, a founding partner of Brown Physicians, Inc.

Ann Kashmanian, CPA, MBA, is the Chief Financial Officer for Brown Physicians, Inc. Ann assumes a larger role within BPI after several years as the Chief Executive Officer of Brown Medicine.

Ann is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross and received Masters’ degrees in Business Administration, and the Science of Accounting at Northeastern University. Her responsibilities at Brown Medicine as Chief Executive Officer include developing a strategic financial plan to allow Brown Medicine to thrive in a rapidly changing health care environment, exploring new business models to optimize our relationships with our health care partners and coordinating our internal financial management structure and practices. She is accountable for executing the strategic vision of the organization as defined by the physician leadership to support the organization’s tripartite mission of clinical care, teaching, and research.

She was Brown Medicine’s Chief Financial Officer prior to her promotion to Chief Executive Officer of the organization. She has been active in financial management in the health care sector of Rhode Island since 1987. She served in a number of executive roles for the Lifespan Corporation for over 16 years, including Senior Vice President of Financial Operations and Care Management for the Lifespan System, Vice President Finance for Rhode Island Hospital and The Miriam Hospital, and Treasurer and CFO of Newport Hospital.

David Melo is the Senior Director of Information Technology at Brown Physicians, Inc. He has over 25 years of experience in IT positions of progressive responsibility with 23 of those years in the healthcare industry. David designed, implemented, and managed the Brown Physicians network infrastructure and phone systems. He is focused on IT security to ensure best practices are in place across the enterprise. Prior to joining Brown Physicians in 2012, David worked for Gateway Healthcare for over 10 years. He is currently pursuing a BS in Business Administration with a concentration in Management Information Systems at Southern New Hampshire University.