Get to Know the Program
What makes our program special?
Residents share their experiences of the program while living in the city of Louisville.
Becca Hart, MD, MSc (she/her)
Program Director
Associate Professor, Pediatric Emergency Medicine
Becca is the Program Director for the Pediatric Residency Program at the University of Louisville. Originally from New Albany, Indiana, she completed her undergraduate degree at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana (Go Hoosiers!) before attending medical school at University of Louisville. She also completed her pediatric residency in 2015 and her Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship in 2018 at UofL. After fellowship, she joined faculty in the Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, and has remained heavily involved in medical education since that time. She served as Director of Scholarly Activity for the Pediatric Residency and Director of the Residency Distinction Track in Research from 2018-2026. She was an Associate Program Director from 2021-2026 before becoming Program Director. Becca has been involved in numerous medical education initiatives during her tenure, but her favorites have been her involvement in resident wellness activities, curriculum development, and mentoring. In addition to her ED clinical work, she is interested in public health, advocacy, and vaccinology research, with special interest in vaccination in non-traditional health settings. Becca enjoys spending time outdoors, running, traveling, reading, gymnastics, and most of all spending time with her husband, Daniel, and their twins, Rowan and Maren.
Adam Patterson, MD, MSc (he/him)
Associate Program Director
Associate Professor, Pediatric Emergency Medicine
Adam.Patterson@louisville.edu
Adam was born and raised in Louisville. He received his Bachelor of Science from Centre College in Danville, KY in 2006. He then returned home for his medical training: Medical School, Pediatric Residency, and Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship. Upon completion of Fellowship in 2017, he joined the faculty at the University of Louisville and Norton Children's Medical Group in the division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine and as an Associate Program Director for the Pediatric Residency. Adam has a background in athletics as a varsity basketball player for Centre College and an assistant coach for DuPont Manual High School in Louisville, which greatly influences his passion for coaching and mentorship in medical education. He enjoys creating innovative educational experiences for trainees and guiding residents to find their own passions by leading programs such as the Medical Student and Pediatric Residency Distinction in Medical Education Tracks. Outside of work he enjoys spending time with his wife, Marilyn, and their four sons, James, Alex, Quentin, and Oliver.
Jennifer Stiff, MD (she/her)
Associate Program Director
Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Division of General Pediatrics
Jennifer.Stiff@louisville.edu
Jennifer grew up in Owensboro, KY and left her small town to go to a small college in the big city, attending Bellarmine University for undergrad. After medical school at the University of Louisville, she completed her Pediatrics residency at the University of North Carolina. Jenn returned to Louisville in 2014 to join the General Pediatric faculty at UofL. She practices clinically at the Norton Children's Medical Group (NCMG) Stonestreet resident longitudinal site and is convinced that working with residents and medical students will make her stay forever young. Together with her husband, Patrick, she is raising three adorable kids - Henry, Caroline, and Elsie - and can fill you in on which restaurants are kid-friendly.
Lauren Swift, MD (she/her)
Associate Program Director
Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Hospital Medicine
Lauren grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She attended Kilgore College in Kilgore, Texas where she was a World Famous Kilgore College Rangerette, prior to transferring to the University of Oklahoma to complete her Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology in 2011. She earned her medical degree from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and moved to Louisville in 2015 for her pediatric residency. She was the Richard S. Wolf Chief Resident and Lecturer from 2018-2019 at UofL and Norton Children's Hospital. She joined the Division of Hospital Medicine at East Tennessee University in 2019 and served as their Pediatric Residency Program Director from 2021-2024. She moved back to Louisville in October 2024 as a pediatric hospitalist, joining many friends that trained her to be the physician that she is today, and she is very excited to join the OME team as an APD in July 2026. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband, Jake, and three dogs (Cabby, Pinot, and Langley), traveling with friends and family, going to concerts and listening to live music, working out, and reading almost all genres with her book club.
Erin Owen, MD (she/her)
Director of Pediatric Fellowships
Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Critical Care Medicine
Erin completed medical school at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. She completed residency, served a Chief year and completed a Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Fellowship at UofL. Erin is a pediatric intensivist in the PICU at Norton Children's Hospital. Erin is the program's Disney expert! After serving as an Associate Program Director for the pediatric residency program for seven years, Erin now serves as the Director of Pediatric Fellowships to help our residents prepare for their future careers in pursuing whichever fellowship subspecialty that may interests them.
Aaron Benge, MD (he/him)
Chief Resident
Aaron completed his undergraduate degree at Georgetown College, then attended medical school at the University of Louisville. He then completed residency at UofL and is now serving as one of our chief residents. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his family and friends, exploring new restaurants and breweries in Louisville. He also likes to travel and hike, and is always looking for vacation recommendations.
Katie Isch, DO, MS
Chief Resident
Katie completed her undergraduate degree at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. After that she attended Marian University College of Osteopathic Medicine to complete a masters degree followed by medical school. She then went on to match into pediatrics residency at University of Louisville where she is now serving as a pediatric chief resident. In her free time she enjoys going to her book clubs, going to the movies, and baking new recipes.
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Brittney Luckett, C-TAGME (she/her)
Program Manager
Brittney.Luckett@louisville.edu
Brittney is originally from Southern Indiana and lives across the river with her husband, Adam, and her two kids. Brittney graduated from Indiana University Southeast in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. Before medical education, Brittney was a news producer and won an Emmy for one of the stories she produced. She enjoys watching football and Netflix, crafting with her Cricut, and trying out craft beer and new recipes.
Whitney Gries, MA
Program Coordinator, Senior
Whitney is from Glasgow, Kentucky, and has been with the program since 2013. She earned a Bachelor's and Master's degree from Western Kentucky University. Whitney and her husband, Ben, and with their two kids flipped their family home. In her spare time she enjoys listening to True Crimes podcasts and discussing them with her peers.
Dakota Williams, C-TAGME (he/him)
Program Coordinator, Senior
Dakota.Williams@louisville.edu
Dakota is from Morgantown, West Virginia and has been with the program since 2021. He earned his Bachelor's degree in Graphic Design from Fairmont State University before moving to Louisville in 2020. In his free time, he enjoys playing Dungeons & Dragons, custom building gaming computers, and watching horror movies.
Jessica Smith (she/her)
Program Coordinator
Jessica.Smith.14@louisville.edu
Jessica Smith grew up in Indianapolis, IN and joined the program in 2025. She graduated from Butler University in 2010 with a teaching degree before marrying a Family Medicine doctor and traveling wherever the Army sent them for many years. They have two rowdy middle school-aged boys who keep them busy.
Sarah Needham (she/her)
Administrative Assistant
Sarah is from Louisville, Kentucky and has been with the program since 2025. She started her undergraduate degree at Jefferson Community &Technical College and has since transferred to the University of Louisville to pursue a Bachelor's degree in Social Work. In her spare time, she enjoys spending quality time with her husband, Jared, and their three cats.
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Sarah Korte, MD (she/her)
Medical Student Clerkship Director
Sarah grew up in Missouri but has called Louisville her home for over 10 years now. She attended UofL for residency and stayed on as a Chief after graduation. After spending two years as a Neonatal Hospitalist at Norton Children's, she joined the Pediatric Hospitalist Division in 2016 shortly before becoming the Clerkship Director. She is married to her best friend and has two young daughters that are the center of her universe. In her free time she enjoys reading, cooking, going to the movies and playing with her daughters.
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David L. Fichuo, M.Ed. (he/him)
Medical Student Clerkship Coordinator
David is originally from Greenville, NC and has been in Louisville since 2023. He earned his Bachelor's degree from East Carolina University (GO PIRATES!) and his Master's degree from North Carolina State University. He has been in higher education since 2012, having worked in financial aid, faculty development, and graduate medical education before finding his home with our team as our medical student clerkship coordinator. When he's not in the office, you can find him in the gym, spending time with family and friends, or playing endless amounts of Fortnite. A fun fact about him is that his middle name is "Little" because he was 4-lbs when he was born.
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