
Officers
President: Ronald Sobecks, MD

Ron is a Professor of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Sobecks has been a member of the faculty of the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center in the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology since 1999.
He received his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in 1993. He then completed his Internal Medicine Residency at University Hospitals of Cleveland in 1996 followed by his Hematology and Medical Oncology Fellowship at the University of Chicago Medical Center in 1999. His clinical practice and research have been focused on Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation. Dr. Sobecks is a member of the American Society of Hematology, American Society of Clinical Oncology, American Society for Transplant and Cellular Therapy, Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy and the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research. He also is a member of Healthcare Professionals for Divine Mercy which is an Apostolate of the Marians of the Immaculate Conception. He is the author of a book entitled, “Divine Mercy Triumph Over Cancer” (Marian Press). He has been a member of the National Catholic Medical Association as well as the President of the Cleveland Guild of Catholic Medical Association.
Vice President: Jesse Felts, MD

Jesse is a Hospitalist at the Cleveland VA Medical Center and an Assistant Professor at Case Western Reserve University Medical School. He is a member of the National Catholic Medical Association and the vice president of the Cleveland Catholic Medical Association Guild.
Dr. Felts received his B.S. Degree from St. Francis University and his MD from Penn State University. Dr. Felts has treated acutely sick, hospitalized patients for 6 years and has taught residents and medical students methods for maintaining resilience and effectively communicating to patients in challenging situations.
Secretary: Benjamin Burnham, MD
Treasurer : Joseph Rall, DO
Senior Bioethicist: Prof. Andrew Trew

Andrew is Adjunct Professor of Bioethics at John Carroll University, Ohio. He has taught Bioethics at University of Westminster London and at St Mary Seminary Cleveland Ohio and he provides bioethics consults to the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals of Cleveland, and local Hospices in the Cleveland, Ohio area.
He is a Member of the Catholic Medical Association and is a founder and Bioethicist of the Cleveland Catholic Medical Guild. He is a member of the Conflicts of Interest Committee University Hospitals Cleveland. He has taught Bioethics in the University of Westminster London and at St Mary Seminary Diocese of Cleveland Ohio. He was an International Bioethics Scholar and received his Bioethics Clinical Fellowship from the Cleveland Clinic, where he also Chaired the Clinic’s Regional Hospitals’ IRB. He has spoken at international Bioethics conferences and held a summer Fellowship at Mansfield College University of Oxford in Science and religion.
CMA Student Rep: Thomas Syphan
Guild Chaplain: Fr Joseph Brankatelli

Fr. Brankatelli serves as the chaplain to Catholic Medical Association of Cleveland. He earned his Master’s of Divinity from Saint Mary Graduate School and Seminary in Cleveland, OH and was subsequently ordained a priest in 2008.
He has served in many assignments over his 15 years including, as an Army Chaplain from 2012-2022. During his military tenure, he led dozens of discussions on moral leadership training and moral advisement to soldiers and his commanders. His efforts at Fort Riley, KS in particular led to his battalion from having the highest moral incident failure rates to the lowest. He is a full-time priest and Parochial Vicar assigned to Saint Clare Parish in Lyndhurst, Ohio.