Macy Faculty Scholars

Marissa D. Abram, PhD, PMHNP, CARN-AP, FIAAN, is an Assistant Professor at the Duke University School of Nursing (DUSON). She serves as Secretary for the International Nurses Society on Addictions, Global Board. Dr. Abram's career is centered on preparing the future interprofessional healthcare workforce to care for individuals with substance use disorder with evidence and compassion. 

As a Macy Faculty Scholar, Dr. Abram will focus on addressing the national addiction health epidemic. Her proposed project, Compassionate Addiction Recovery Education (CARE), aims to equip pre-licensure healthcare workers with essential knowledge and skills to overcome the stigma of drug use and provide compassionate, equitable care. By incorporating evidence-based harm reduction practices, Dr. Abram's work seeks to enhance the capacity of healthcare professionals to effectively prevent, screen, diagnose, and treat substance use disorders, ultimately improving public health outcomes. 

Dr. Abram will be mentored by Sharron Docherty, PhD, PNP, RN, FAAN, Associate Professor of Nursing and Vice Dean for Research at DUSON, and Kevin Mulvey, PhD, Executive Director of the International Consortium of Universities for Drug Demand Reduction.  

Nupur Agrawal, MD, MPH, is an Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. Her career focuses on providing comprehensive, compassionate, high-quality care to patients of all ages and mentoring learners across career stages. She cares deeply about empowering trainees with practical tools needed to address the myriad challenges providers face in delivering healthcare and improving outcomes for patients and communities. Dr. Agrawal serves as Co-Director of the Internal Medicine Health Equity and Advocacy Pathway and the Primary Care Medicine advocacy curriculum. She is an Educator for Excellence at the School of Medicine where she co-created and co-leads the advocacy education program for first-year medical students. 

As a Macy Faculty Scholar, Dr. Agrawal will use mixed-methods research methodology to delineate core competencies, training tools, and concepts in advocacy education. Research outcomes will guide the creation of a comprehensive, open-source, evidence-informed curriculum relevant to physicians across specialties and career paths.  

Alice Kuo, MD, PhD, MBA, Professor and Chief of Medicine-Pediatrics at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine and Professor of Health Policy and Management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, will mentor Dr. Agrawal. 

Leah Burt, PhD, APRN, ANP-BC, CHSE, FAANP, is a nurse practitioner (NP), Clinical Assistant Professor, and Director of the Adult-Gerontology Primary Care NP Program at University of Illinois Chicago College of Nursing, as well as the Director of Simulation Research at the College of Nursing's M. Christine Schwartz Experiential Learning & Simulation Laboratory.  A former Fellow in Diagnostic Excellence through Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine, Dr. Burt is an educator passionate about discovering evidence-based ways to enhance diagnostic competence through innovative simulation.  

Influenced by experiences as an NP providing healthcare in medically underserved areas of Chicago, Dr. Burt’s Macy Faculty Scholars project, Lead-Dx (Learning Equity, Addressing Disparities in Diagnosis), is an educational program whose overarching goal is to prepare future clinician leaders to address diagnostic inequality. Lead-Dx will develop, implement, and evaluate a simulation-based educational curriculum to teach health professional students to better understand and mitigate diagnostic disparities.   

Andrew Olson, MD, Professor of Medicine; Director, Division of Hospital Medicine; and Director, Medical Education Research and Innovation of the Medical Education Outcomes Center at the University of Minnesota Medical School will mentor Dr. Burt.  

Cornelius James, MD, FACP, is an Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, and Learning Health Sciences at the University of Michigan Medical School (UMMS), where he practices as a primary care physician. Dr. James is the Director of the UMMS Evidence-Based Medicine Curricular Thread which equips students with essential skills for lifelong learning and evidence-based clinical practice. Dr. James also leads the interdisciplinary Data Augmented Technology Assisted Medical Decision Making (DATA-MD) team, which has developed innovative curricula to prepare clinicians for the transformative impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the health system. 

Dr. James's career focuses on empowering clinicians to integrate digital health technologies, including AI, into their practice to augment decision-making and improve patient outcomes. For his Macy Faculty Scholars project, Dr. James will develop a novel web-based AI curriculum designed to prepare interprofessional team members, including patients, to be effective collaborators and vocal stakeholders in AI-driven clinical environments. This curriculum will serve as a foundation for more advanced interprofessional education activities, teaching learners to thrive on teams augmented by AI. 

Kimberly D. Lomis, MD, Vice President for Medical Education Innovation at the American Medical Association, will mentor Dr. James.  

Clare Whitney, PhD, MBE, RN, is an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing and affiliated faculty in the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics in the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University. Her career is focused on reducing burnout and improving professional well-being in healthcare professionals, and she has established an interdisciplinary program of research that seeks innovative ways to address pressing relational and ethical issues for the healthcare workforce. 

For her Macy Faculty Scholars project, Dr. Whitney will develop, implement, and evaluate the Alda Healthcare Experience for Nursing (AHE-N), an interprofessional communication skills training designed specifically for nurses. The AHE-N will leverage the innovative approach of applied medical improvisation to attend to nursing-specific, socio-organizational needs and dynamics critical to intra- and interdisciplinary interprofessional communication. The development, implementation, and evaluation of the AHE-N will help to advance sustainable solutions for burnout prevention and health promotion in ​student ​nurses through enhancing interprofessional collaboration.  

Susmita Pati MD, MPH, Chief Healthcare Program Advisory at the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science; Professor of Pediatrics; Division Chief, Primary Care Pediatrics; and Chair, Professionalism Committee at Stony Brook University and Stony Brook Children's Hospital will mentor Dr. Whitney. 

Learn more about Dr. Mantri's Macy Faculty Scholar project

Sneha Mantri, MD, MS, is an Associate Professor of Neurology and Director of Medical Humanities at Duke University, where she leads interprofessional programming in narrative medicine, arts, and well-being across the health system. Her academic interests include the imaginative and moral formation of health professional learners as they prepare to care for a diverse patient population.

In 2020–2021, Dr. Mantri initiated the Moral Movements in Medicine interprofessional elective for pre-clinical learners at Duke University Schools of Medicine and Nursing, which has grown into a four-year longitudinal track for medical students interested in health humanities and ethics as a force for health justice. As a Macy Faculty Scholar, Dr. Mantri proposes to expand this longitudinal track to include clinical-phase learners in advance practice nursing, physical and occupational therapy, and the physician assistant program, with an explicit focus on social justice and community-engaged practice. Drawing on collaborative resources across the professions, the project would give students the theoretical and practical skills needed to thrive in the modern healthcare environment. 

Dr. Mantri will be mentored by Rita Charon, MD, PhD, Bernard Schoenberg Professor of Social Medicine & Professor of Medicine and Chair of the Department of Medical Humanities and Ethics at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, and by Jeffrey P. Baker, MD, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics and the Practice of History and Director of the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities, and History of Medicine at Duke University School of Medicine.

Learn more about Dr. Martin's Macy Faculty Scholar project

Christopher (Chris) Martin serves as an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Auburn University College of Nursing (AUCON). His career focuses on developing professionalism in undergraduate nursing students while promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Dr. Martin serves as Chair of the AUCON Diversity and Inclusion Committee and oversaw the inaugural AUCON Diversity Day. He also acts as the AUCON representative to the Auburn University Senate and the Diversity Leader’s Roundtable. Dr. Martin serves in the uniformed services as an Assistant Nurse Officer in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps Reserves.

Dr. Martin’s Macy Faculty Scholars project, Active Community Engagement for Teaching Equity and Collaboration in Healthcare (ACE-TEACH), will develop a blueprint for the use of community engagement as a teaching strategy for advancing equity, diversity, and belonging; enhancing interprofessional education; and exposing underrepresented groups to the field of nursing as a viable career option. 

Linda Gibson-Young, PhD, ARNP, MBA, FAANP, Professor and Outreach Coordinator at Auburn University College of Nursing, will serve as Dr. Martin’s mentor. 

Learn more about Dr. Philipsborn's Macy Faculty Scholar project

Rebecca Philipsborn, MD, MPA, is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine where she cares for children from birth through adolescence. As Director of both the Pediatrics Clerkship and the Climate Change and Environmental Health Thread for medical students, she aspires to train future leaders to recognize environmental influences on health, embrace interprofessional solutions, and envision healthcare transformation towards enhanced disease prevention and greener care delivery.

As a Macy Faculty Scholar, Dr. Philipsborn will prepare learners to address the influences of climate change on human health and health equity. Her Macy Faculty Scholars project will develop, implement, and disseminate a longitudinal and interprofessional climate change and environmental health curriculum for the clinical years. The curriculum will be co-created with students and promote adaptive expertise, applying the climate crisis as a model paradigm through which to hone this skill. 

Linda Lewin, MD, Professor of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine and Clinical Professor of Nursing at Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, will mentor Dr. Philipsborn.

Learn more about Dr. Schiff-Elfalan's Macy Faculty Scholar project

Teresa Schiff-Elfalan, MD, is a Family Medicine physician and Assistant Professor in the Office of Medical Education at the University of Hawaiʻi John A. Burns School of Medicine. She serves as the inaugural Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Social Justice, and Underserved Care and is the Medical Director of the Hawaiʻi HOME Project, a student-led outreach clinic for individuals experiencing houselessness. Her work focuses on teaching skills for patient empowerment and promotion of health equity, which includes anti-racism training, trauma-informed care, and cultural humility.

As a Macy Faculty Scholar, Dr. Schiff-Elfalan will coordinate and create assessments for an integrated place-based health equity curriculum that invites self-compassion, builds connection, and provides skills for transformative change in critically conscious medicine. In developing graduates equipped with skills to be advocates for their patients and ready to challenge the status quo, she hopes this will be one step toward redefining culturally-grounded healthcare delivery. 

Richard T. Kasuya, MD, MSEd, FACP, Professor in the Office of Medical Education at the John A. Burns School of Medicine, will serve as Dr. Schiff-Elfalan’s mentor.

Learn more about Dr. Solomon's Macy Faculty Scholar project

Philip Solomon, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell—an internist and Geriatrics physician with education and leadership experience. He is currently Program Director for the Geriatrics Fellowship Program and Director of Geriatric Education and Clinical Integration at Northwell Health. Dr. Solomon also serves as President of the New York Metropolitan Area Geriatrics Society.

Dr. Solomon’s educational focus is expanding the field of Geriatrics through the lens of health system optimization and aligning care priorities with older adult patients. His Macy Faculty Scholars project aims to develop and implement Geriatrics curricula across the interprofessional clinical spectrum of a large health system. Overall project goals are to foster interprofessional education and collaborative clinical practice amongst learners to optimize care for older adults and drive interest towards the field of Geriatrics. 

Edith Burns, MD, Professor of Medicine and Director of Research in the Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, will serve as Dr. Solomon’s mentor.