Ian Ferguson, MD
Pediatric Rheumatology
Medical Honoree 

Dr. Ian Ferguson obtained his medical degree from New Jersey Medical School (UMDNJ) and completed his residency in pediatrics at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children and pediatric rheumatology training at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. He joined the faculty at Yale in 2015. The priority at Yale Children’s Hospital Pediatric Rheumatology is providing excellent clinical care and using that experience to guide research endeavors. Dr. Ferguson is excited to be part of this event and honoree his patient, Ava, alongside him.

Dr. Kenoma Anighoro
Orthopaedics
Medical Honoree 

Dr. Kenoma Anighoro is a Yale and Dartmouth educated board-certified orthopaedic surgeon specializing in joint replacement surgery. He graduated from Yale University with a B.S. in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology. He attended Dartmouth, Geisel School of Medicine where he obtained his M.D. and the Tuck School of Business where, additionally, he obtained an MBA degree.

Dr. Anighoro completed his orthopaedic surgery residency at the Medical College of Wisconsin, a clinically-focused teaching institution. He did a Fellowship at Dell Seton Medical Center at the University of Texas at Austin where he completed additional training in complex hip and knee replacement. While there, Dr. Anighoro, was involved with the development and implementation of comprehensive, high-quality, musculoskeletal services, focused on maximizing measured patient outcomes in joint replacement.

Tessa Allison
Psoriatic Arthritis
Adult Honoree 

Tessa Allison is the Vice President of Culture and Employee Experience for award-winning advertising agency, Motive, a Career Coach, and host of the popular career podcast, The YES Pile. In 2021, as a mom to a toddler, Tessa started experiencing joint pain and swelling in her legs, knees and arms. At first, she wrote it off as “new mom pain” coupled with exhaustion. But after the situation grew more concerning and she found herself nearly immobilized from the pain and inflammation, Tessa sought care and was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis. Now managing her arthritis with a combination of medication, diet, exercise, and stress management, Tessa is passionate about raising awareness and funds for arthritis research and was our 2022 Jingle Bell Run top independent fundraiser!

Ava Salzano
Lupus
Youth Honoree 

Ava first got sick in 2018 when she was 13 years old. After being in and out of the hospital for 6 months, doctors were able to finally diagnose Ava with lupus. Even though the pain that comes with lupus may get in the way of things, Ava is still able to hang out with friends and family, play field hockey and lacrosse, plus go apple picking and to the beach. Ava loves everything purple because it is a part of the lupus awareness colors; she is in her senior year at North Haven High School. She is looking forward to spending the best year with friends, finding the right college and one day help other kids like her to live their best life despite their diagnosis.