Alexzandra Hollingworth Spotlight

Tell us about yourself

As a 4th generation native from New York City, I have traveled around the country to become a Trauma, Critical Care and General Surgeon. I am a full-time Trauma Surgeon in Phoenix, AZ who also teaches at our local medical school and works with our general surgery residency program. My passion is in medical education and women in surgery. I founded the Arizona Chapter of the Association of Women Surgeons in order to mentor other women in surgery and who are pursuing surgery. I have a wonderful husband, Nachum, and a 3-year old son, Idan! They help me stay balanced!

How is the program helping you professionally?

Since I began with the program at UC, my career has gone to the next level! I recently became the Chair of Surgery and Anesthesia at Midwestern University in Glendale, AZ! This is a huge accomplishment for me since the number of women Chairs of Surgery is very small. My education at UC has enabled me to help develop and run the faculty development program at our hospital system and to be active in my Associate Program Director and Clerkship Director positions, where I am developing curricula and chairing the Program Evaluation Committee. I am grateful for the amazing opportunities that I have been able to obtain in medical education as a result of the education I am receiving at UC. This program is very feasible even for a busy full-time surgeon with all of the academic positions I hold.

What are some research projects that you are working on?

I am involved in several research projects that are based in medical education. These research projects were started during the courses I have attended at UC. One project involves the use of self-directed learning contracts (SDLC) for medical students in their surgical clerkship. This project came to fruition when I was in the human learning course. The use of contracts for surgery medical students is not well described in the United States. Another project I am obtaining IRB approval for involves attitude change in 3rd year medical students entering their surgical clerkship. These projects are needed in the surgical education literature. I have always struggled with coming up with research ideas. During my education at UC, however, I am coming up with so many ideas for research projects!

What do you see as a challenge for medical education today?

The biggest challenge today is getting faculty on board with teaching the Millennials in a different way than we were taught. Understanding the Millennials and their needs is easy. Convincing older surgeons to teach differently is another. Surgery is changing. There are more women in surgery and the way we teach is changing for the better using the principles I am learning at UC. Furthermore, the apprenticeship model has disappeared and the proficiency model is being utilized. The problem lies in hour restrictions under the new model. It requires more time! So, we may need to increase surgery residency to 6 years. I am currently involved in the faculty development program development at my institution and am looking forward to educating the surgeons! My transition from the Certificate to the Master’s was a natural one because I saw the progress I was making with my career and with my students from the moment I started with UC.

Welcome Melanie Bauer

We'd like to welcome Melanie Bauer as an instructor for CI7083 Instructional Design and Technology in Medical Education class starting Spring 2017.

As a senior instructional designer at the UC College of Nursing, Melanie is responsible for partnering with faculty to design and develop courses in the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) and post-graduate certificate online programs.

As part of the college’s iPad Initiative, she also collaborates with faculty in the on-site Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) programs to redesign course content for delivery via iTunes U and multi-touch books developed with iBooks Author, as well as to plan app-based learning activities and assignments. She also works closely with the Center for Academic Technologies and Educational Resources (CATER) to provide faculty professional development on leveraging technology to integrate active learning in the classroom.

Melanie holds a Master of Education in curriculum and instruction with a focus in instructional design and technology, a Bachelor of Science in secondary education, a Bachelor of Arts in French, and a professional certificate in business French, all from the University of Cincinnati. In 2015, she was selected as an Apple Distinguished Educator and a UC eLearning Champion.

In addition to teaching in our program, Melanie teaches a course on instructional technology for learning-centered teaching in the Graduate Certificate in Nursing Education program. She is also pursing a second master’s degree in health education and promotion, with a focus in exercise and fitness.

Redesign of Pediatric Primary Care Curriculum Delivery

Denise Warrick
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

Microteaching in Medical Education: Evaluation of a Curriculum designed to Improve Lecture Delivery and Content

Taryn Taylor
Emory University School of Medicine

An Educational Needs Assessment for Primary Care Providers Regarding the Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID) Newborn Screen

Evan Shereck
Oregon Health Sciences University

Modifying anti-obesity bias among Pediatric residents with a formal Obesity Curriculum

Marielisa Rincon-Subtirelu
Children's Mercy - Wichita Specialty Clinic

Needs Assessment of a Quality Improvement Curriculum for Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Residents

Ashlee Jaffe
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Educational Added Value Unit: A Metric to Value Educational Activities

Amy Guiot
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

Referral Patterns to Pediatric Rheumatology as a Needs Assessment for Curriculum Development

Kyla Driest
Nationwide Children's Hospital

Asian Immigrant Doctors In Australia: Navigating the Wild Wood of Learning

Elizabeth Dodd
Coast City Country General Practice Training

Evaluation of a Faculty Development Program Aimed at Increasing Active Learning in Pediatric Grand Rounds Presentations

Alix Darden
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center

Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) to Formally Assess Outcomes in Medical Education

Bethany Auble
Children's Hospital of Wisconsin

Joe Real Spotlight

 

Tell us a little about yourself
I am second year General Pediatric Master Educator Fellow at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC). This fellowship provides protected time for me to obtain the Online Master’s Degree in Education (MEd) for healthcare professionals from the University of Cincinnati (UC). As long as I can remember, I have always been interested in education. I was a tutor for science courses at the University of Notre Dame where I completed my undergraduate studies in pre-professional science and Greek and Roman civilization. I attended Vanderbilt University School of Medicine where my interest in education continued through curricula development and evaluation of medical student burnout. Even as a pediatric resident at CCHMC, I continued to pursue education studies.

How is the program helping your professionally?
It was not until my experiences with the MEd program through UC that I began to understand the science behind adult learning and educational research. Through my course work, I have learned that there are step-wise approaches to curriculum development and standardized methods to evaluate testing strategies. Subjects that intimidated me before such as validation studies, qualitative research, and use of technology in education no longer seem unapproachable thanks to the MEd. My educational work is more thoughtful and meaningful as a result of my coursework.

What educational and research projects are you working on?
My fellowship research is focused on use of immersive virtual reality in medical education. Specifically, I have created a virtual reality simulation focused on teaching pediatric residents how to address vaccine hesitancy in the primary care setting. Thanks to what I have learned through the MEd, I have been able to assess this educational study rigorously and plan to disseminate my findings through peer-reviewed publications. I am looking forward to evaluating how emerging technologies such as virtual reality might change the face of medical education!   

Additionally, based on preliminary data obtained through the qualitative research course, I developed a curriculum for caregivers regarding asthma management that has received grant funding.  

What do you see as a challenge for medical education today?
Resident duty hour restrictions and high patient turnover make medical education challenging in the modern era. Consideration of effective and efficient educational modalities that appeals to millennial learners is critical. 

Congratulation Spring 2016 Graduates!

Congratulations to our Spring 2016 Graduates:

Certificate

• Shelly Ben Harush Negari - Shaare Zedek Medical Center
• Mackenzie Frost - University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
• Maria Gillam-Krakauer - Vanderbilt University
• Brook Hubner - The University of Alabama
• Allison Meiwald - Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry
• Alexandra Muccilli - University of Montreal
• Jaime Taylor - Indiana University School of Medicine

 

Masters

• Alice Chuang-Ivester - University of North Carolina
• Cathleen Cook - East Tennessee State University/St. Jude Tri-Cities Affiliate Clinic
• Alan Cooper - Willumstad School of Business, Adelphia University
• Mia Mallory - Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
• Matt Miles - Wake Forest School of Medicine
• Aarti Patel - Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
• Ajit Sarnaik - Children’s Hospital of Michigan/Detroit Medical Center
• Claire Stewart - Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
• Adam Vukovic - Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
• Stephen Warrick - Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

 

A Simulation Curriculum for Emergency Preparedness in General Pediatric Offices

Steve Warrick
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

Point of Care Ultrasound in Pediatric Emergency Medicine: Assessing Learner Outcomes with Bladder Ultrasound

Adam Vukovic
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

Code Team Training: Demonstrating Adherence to American Heart Association Resuscitation Guidelines

Claire Stewart
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

Journal Club Curriculum to Teach Evidence Based Medicine to Pediatric Residents

Ajit Sarnaik
Children’s Hospital of Michigan/Detroit Medical Center

A Quality Improvement Initiative to Modernize Teaching on Family-Centered Rounds

Aarti Patel
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

Test Anxiety in Medical Students: Relationship to Test Performance, Personality

Matthew Miles
Wake Forest School of Medicine

The Introduction of a Cultural Competence Curriculum in the First Year of Medical School

Mia Mallory
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

The Effect of Learning Styles and Educational Methodology on Undergraduate Nursing Student Satisfaction

Alan Cooper
Willumstad School of Business, Adelphia University

Needs assessment of quality improvement knowledge in pediatric hematology/oncology clinicians

Cathleen Cook
East Tennessee State University/St. Jude Tri-Cities Affiliate Clinic

Increasing Faculty Enthusiasm for Medical Student Teaching

Alice Chuang-Ivester
University of North Carolina

Nadine Gauthier is an assistant professor at the University of Ottawa and a clinical educator in the Department of Medicine at Ottawa Hospital, pursuing her interests in general cardiology, cardiac diagnostic imaging and medical education. She was a cardiac imaging fellow at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute when she started the Master of Education (MEd) program in 2009. She established her clinical practice in cardiology in 2012 at Ottawa Hospital and was blessed with a young family; she is currently expecting her third child. She graduated from the University of Cincinnati’s Master of Education program in 2015 and is now serving as the Director of Undergraduate Education in cardiology, leading the Anglophone and Francophone cardiology block. She is heavily involved in postgraduate teaching as the Resident Coordinator for the Division of Cardiology at General Hospital, and she participates in multiple CME activities educating family physicians and allied health professionals in vascular risk factors and cardiac stress testing in order to promote appropriate testing.

Nadine's final master's project looked at the ability of medical students to correctly perform a cardiac physical exam and give an accurate diagnosis after participating in a simulation-based bedside exam training. She is in the process of publishing her findings. Nadine notes that rapid access to cardiac testing and imaging and a paradigm shift in medical education has created multiple challenges for competency-based education of cardiac physical exam skills at the bedside, and training of competent physicians requires innovation in the way we teach cardiac physical exam skills. Her next research project is to develop and evaluate a simulation-based bedside physical exam curriculum for the ambulatory cardiology rotation to meet the needs of the internal medicine program as it moves towards competency-based education.

In collaboration with other universities in America, Nadine is also involved in testing the use of another innovative tool, the ventriculoscope, to teach cardiac auscultation. She has been invited to collaborate on different medical education projects, mostly in curriculum design and protocol writing, given her recently acquired skills. She has participated in multiple other local and national educational activities and was recently invited as Faculty member and teacher for the Canadian Cardiovascular Society’s Adult Cardiology Trainee Review Program in 2015.

Nadine believes the MEd program has given her the knowledge and confidence needed to shape her early career as a medical educator. She is grateful for the high-level educational experience as well as the mentorship and guidance the program provided. She now has the framework and skills to pursue innovative medical education research as well as to provide mentorship across the spectrum of medical trainees including medical students, residents and fellows.

Welcome Dr. Pam Dillion

We welcome Dr. Pam Dillion as a new instructor, teaching EDST8034 Measurement & Assessment, beginning Summer 2016.


Pam is the Director of Student Services at St. Ursula Villa where she consults with teachers and designs support programs to help students with learning differences to be successful in a rigorous curriculum. Her areas of research interest are learning differences, assessment and measurement, and alternative treatment options for ADHD.

She earned a BA in psychology and secondary education from Muskingum University, an MA in school psychology from Xavier University, and an Ed.D. in Special Education and Literacy from the University of Cincinnati. Her doctoral program included a 650 hour internship in an interdisciplinary training program in developmental disabilities at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. She holds both teaching and principal licenses from the state of Ohio. She has worked as an early intervention specialist for Hamilton County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, a behavior specialist for Cincinnati Public School District, and a learning disabilities teacher for Forest Hills School District.

Pam has taught a variety of courses at Notre Dame College in the TEEL Program over the last 12 years. TEEL was designed for individuals who held a degree in a field other than education but desired to earn a teaching license. Her experience in teaching adult learners in an online format makes this program a perfect fit with her experience.

Congratulations to Melissa Klein for 2016 APA Faculty Teaching Award!

Melissa Klein, MD, MEd,  co-director for the Online Medical Education programs for physicians and health care professionals, was awarded the 2016 Academic Pediatric Association Mid-Level Faculty Teaching Award. The award recognizes excellence in teaching among APA members.

In addition to serving as the medical director for our program, Melissa is also an Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and the Director of the General Pediatric Master Educator Fellowship at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

Receiving the award was based on the following:

Melissa’s passion for teaching began in grade school and she has consistently been recognized for her stellar teaching skills. She is a patient-centered teacher and actively pursues teachable moments with her learners. One of her trainees stated, "Whenever Dr. Klein is in clinic, I know the first thing she is going to ask when I come out of the room is what did we learn from the patient."  She has committed her scholarly career to educating others about the impact of the social determinants of health on children. Her passion for this topic continues at a national level as a part of her work on the APA’s task force on child poverty. At Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, she directs many of the educational activities for general pediatrics and has created one of the first General Pediatric Master Educator Fellowship training programs while also working as the co-director for the University of Cincinnati Masters of Education program. She was a graduate of the first cohort of faculty scholars from the APA Educational Scholars Program. She currently serves as an Associate Editor for Academic Pediatrics.

 

Welcome Dr. Megan Elam

We welcome Dr. Megan Elam as a new instructor, teaching EDST8034 Measurement & Assessment, beginning Summer 2016.



As a doctorally trained education specialist, researcher, and practitioner, Dr. Elam currently serves in dual roles as manager of Research and Outreach in the School Intervention Program at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in the Cancer and Blood Diseases Institute, and as an adjunct instructor at the University of Cincinnati (UC) in the College of Education.

Dr. Elam earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees from UC, including a bachelor's degree in Secondary Education (English/Language Arts), master's degree in Special Education, and doctoral degree in Special Education.

Dr. Elam is deeply impassioned about working with others for greater improvement. This passion, coupled with her expertise in pedagogy, education, and training, ensures that she is well-equipped to be an instrument for change. To date, Dr. Elam has invested much of her career in improving educational outcomes for students with a chronic medical condition. Due to vacancies in legislation relative to addressing the educational needs of these students, much of her work has focused on the examination of policies and legislation and advocacy for improved mandates to advance education in this area. Through this work, she has served in numerous national leadership roles, including holding Vice President, President Elect, and Chairperson roles in professional organizations. In a relatively short period of time, Dr. Elam has become a national expert in her field, making distinct and nationally recognized advances toward transforming the educational landscape for students with a chronic condition through national presentations, publications, the development of teacher training and certification programming, and innovative research.

As a lifelong learner who is committed to advancing her professional know-how, Elam has most recently committed to improving her expertise through the pursuit of MBA coursework through the Lindner College of Business at the University of Cincinnati. Each of these experiences has provided her critical opportunities to serve as an impassioned and effective leader, and to guide others to do the same.