Leadership

The OHSU Internal Medicine Residency Program leadership is comprised of faculty from both the OHSU Hospital and the Portland VA Medical Center. 

Catherine L. "Terri" Hough, MD, MSc, ATS-F

2023-24 IM Hough, Terri (1)

Professor and Interim Chair, Department of Medicine
Edwards Professor of Pulmonary Medicine
Director, OCTRI KL2 Program

Dr. Hough is Professor and currently the Interim Chair of the Department of Medicine at the Oregon Health & Science University. She attended the University of California at Berkeley where she majored in Molecular and Cell Biology. After a year working in a structural biology laboratory, she attended the University of California at San Francisco and earned her MD. Dr. Hough headed east for internship and residency at the University of Pennsylvania, then returned to the west coast for fellowship in Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine at the University of Washington and chief residency at Harborview Medical Center. 

After completing clinical training, Dr. Hough earned a Masters in Epidemiology at UW and launched her research career, focused on understanding and improving outcomes of critically ill patients. Her clinical work was in the Medical and Trauma ICUs, where she particularly enjoyed the care of patients with the sepsis, respiratory failure, and the acute respiratory distress syndrome. Dr. Hough was the medical director of the Harborview MICU from 2011-2019, working with interprofessional teams to provide compassionate and evidence-based critical care. She was recruited to OHSU to head the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine in 2020, and, in 2023, transitioned to Interim Chair of Medicine. 

Since coming to OHSU, Dr. Hough has focused on surviving COVID-19, recruiting a diverse faculty, growing our clinical research program, and mentoring our next generation of clinicians and scientists. Outside of work, she loves spending time with her family, enjoying the beautiful Pacific Northwest, and watching soccer.

  • MSc (Epidemiology): University of Washington, 2003
  • MD: University of California at San Francisco, 1996
  • BA (Molecular and Cell Biology): University of California at Berkeley, 1991

  • Fellowship: Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine: University of Washington, 2003
  • Chief Residency: University of Washington/Haborview Medical Center, 2001
  • Residency: University of Pennsylvania, 1999
  • Internship: University of Pennsylvania, 1997

Research Interests

  • Improving outcomes after sepsis, pneumonia, and critical illness, with observational epidemiology, clinical trials, and implementation science

Clinical Interests

  • Critical care, focused on acute respiratory distress syndrome, pneumonia, sepsis, and chronic critical illness
  • Palliative Care

Zachary Jacobs, MD, FHM

2022-23 Jacobs, Zachary

Program Director, Hillsboro TY Residency
Associate Director, OHSU IM GH Track
Associate Professor of Medicine
Division of Hospital Medicine, OHSU

Dr. Zachary Jacobs graduated from the OHSU School of Medicine and did his internal medicine residency at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in the Global Health and Underserved Populations Track. He completed an Academic Hospital Medicine Fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco, expanding his skills as an educator and researcher. He is the Associate Director of Global Health at OHSU as well as the Program Director for the Transitional Year Residency at OHSU Hillsboro Medical Center.

Dr. Jacobs is a hospitalist in the Division of Hospital Medicine. His academic interests include global health, medical education, and narrative medicine. He has experience working with underserved populations both locally and abroad, including in the Navajo Nation and Malawi. He publishes on a variety of topics, including social determinants of health, medical education, and medical humanities (poetry, graphic arts), and has received awards for his commitment to the underserved as well as his teaching. As the Associate Director for Global Health, he helps to develop and deliver curricula, mentor residents, and maintain relationships with various clinical sites. 

  • MD: Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, 2009
  • BS: University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, 2009

  • Fellowship: University of California - San Francisco, CA, 2018
  • Residency: University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, 2017
  • Internship: University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, 2014

Sima S. Desai, MD, MACP, FRCP

Sima Desai 20 redo

Program Director
Vice Chair for Education
Professor of Medicine
Division of Hospital Medicine, OHSU

Dr. Sima Desai is currently the Program Director in Internal Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University, Vice Chair of Education in the Department of Medicine and Professor of Medicine.  She graduated from the University of New Mexico (UNM) receiving her BS and BA in Biology and Chemistry respectively.  She then graduated from UNM School of Medicine followed by Internal Medicine Residency and Chief Residency at Oregon Health & Science University.  She was recruited along with her co-chiefs to start the hospitalist program at OHSU and has enjoyed a career in caring for patients and teaching residents and students since that time.  

Her career path has ranged anywhere from being Section Chief of the Hospital Division to being an Associate Program Director before landing her dream job as a program director.  She is the past Chair of the ACGME Internal Medicine Review Committee. Sima’s most recent award is the ACGME Parker J. Palmer Courage To Teach Award. Her scholarly interests include residency and medical student education, diagnostic reasoning/cognitive bias and resiliency and well-being. Sima finds joy being with her family and friends, being outside, bike commuting and learning new things.

  • MD: University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, NM, 1994 
  • BA: University of New Mexico, Chemistry, Albuquerque, NM, 1990 
  • BS: University of New Mexico, Biology (With Distinction), Albuquerque, NM, 1989

  • Chief Residency: Oregon Health &Science University, Portland, OR, 1998
  • Residency: Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR 1997
  • Internship: Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR 1995

Research Interests

  • Medical Education
  • Diagnostic Reasoning
  • Cognitive Bias

Clinical Interests

  • Hospital Medicine
  • Communication
  • Palliative Care