Macy Faculty Scholars

Sara Arter is an Assistant Professor at Miami University Department of Nursing. Her career focuses on mitigating effects of the opioid epidemic on children and families through policy and innovative education and research approaches. Her ability to address complex social issues using diverse strategies is reflected through her appointment as chair of the Ohio Registered Nurses Association Public Policy Committee and award nominations for development of a design thinking course. She is a Principal Investigator on a study funded by the Ohio Attorney General to use machine learning on a linked dataset to explore interactions between social determinants and health of children with prenatal opioid exposure.

As a Macy Faculty Scholar, Dr. Arter will create and test a novel educational intervention to support nursing students’ ability to examine the influence of personal values and development of ethical decision-making while providing care to mothers with substance use disorder and their children. 

Brooke Flinders, DNP, RN, APRN-CNM, Professor of Nursing and Interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Miami University College of Liberal Arts and Applied Sciences, serves as Dr. Arter’s mentor.

Andrew Dwyer is a board-certified family nurse practitioner and an Associate Professor of Nursing at Boston College, William F. Connell School of Nursing. He serves on the American Academy of Nursing’s Genomic Nursing & Health Care Expert Panel, the Global Genomic Nursing Alliance Steering Group, and the International Society of Nurses in Genetics Education Committee. Dr. Dwyer’s work addresses inequities in genomic healthcare.

Dr. Dwyer’s Macy Faculty Scholars project combines interdisciplinary perspectives to build critical nursing capacity to overcome disparities in the genomic era. He will develop, implement, and evaluate novel training experiences (simulations) to equip advanced practice nurses with genomic competencies needed to address genetic conditions as well as the ethical, legal, and social implications of genomic healthcare. In parallel, asynchronous faculty learning activities and resources will provide an exemplar for embedding genomic nursing competencies into nursing curricula.

Christopher Sean Lee, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN, FHFSA, Barry Family/Goldman Sachs Endowed Chair in Nursing and Professor at Boston College, William F. Connell School of Nursing, will serve as Dr. Dwyer’s mentor.

Olanrewaju (Lanre) Falusi is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences focused on the intersection of health equity, advocacy, and education. As Medical Director of Advocacy Education in the Child Health Advocacy Institute of Children’s National Hospital, Dr. Falusi develops community-based curricula for trainees and faculty and researches the health outcomes of governmental policies. She directs the Children's National LAUnCH Track, which trains pediatric residents to become leaders in advocacy and community healthcare delivery. She has held local and national leadership positions in the American Academy of Pediatrics and has spoken at conferences, in Congress, and in the media on topics including poverty, immigrant health, and antiracism. 

As a Macy Faculty Scholar, Dr. Falusi will convene a workgroup to create and implement a tool for patients and their families to provide feedback on how well trainees address social determinants of health and health equity in a clinical encounter, thereby guiding and improving curricula.

Aisha Barber, MD, MEd, FAAP, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Director, Pediatric Residency Program at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, will mentor Dr. Falusi.

Brenessa Lindeman is an Associate Professor of Surgery and Medical Education and Assistant Dean for Graduate Medical Education at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Heersink School of Medicine. At UAB, she also serves as the Section Chief and Fellowship Director for Endocrine Surgery and Co-Director of the Multi-Disciplinary Endocrine Tumor Clinic. Her research interests are in development and assessment of competency in surgical trainees and evaluation of the learning climate/physician wellbeing. 

As a Macy Faculty Scholar, Dr. Lindeman will use entrustable professional activities (EPAs) to define gaps in general surgery training. More specifically, she will identify entrustment levels of general surgery residents longitudinally across the first year of training; identify variables that predict entrustment in entering general surgery residents; and identify differences in EPA assessment scores based on gender, race, and ethnicity.

John Mellinger, MD, FACS, Vice President, American Board of Surgery and Professor Emeritus, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, will mentor Dr. Lindeman.

Geoff Stetson is an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine and Medical Education at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) College of Medicine. Until 2022, Dr. Stetson worked at the University of California San Francisco.

Through his role as Director of Clinical Faculty Development at UIC, Dr. Stetson works to optimize learning in clinical environments with an emphasis on diversity and inclusion. Additionally, he is an expert in technology-enhanced education.

Dr. Stetson’s Macy Faculty Scholars project investigates how master researchers in health professions education utilize theoretical frameworks and make them accessible to mentees. Lessons learned will inform the creation and study of an interactive website for novice scholars from diverse backgrounds, geographies, and institutions, to foster scholarship, mentorship, and community. You can find that website at: www.MedEdMENTOR.org. 

Alan Schwartz, PhD, the Michael Reese Endowed Professor of Medical Education in the Department of Medical Education at the UIC College of Medicine, serves as Dr. Stetson’s mentor.

Rahul Vanjani is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, as well as a physician at the Amos House, which serves the homeless, individuals struggling with substance use disorders, and those who are living in poverty. At Amos House, Dr. Vanjani runs an interprofessional clinic that integrates social care into the practice of medicine. His work focuses on interprofessional collaboration, such as the medical-criminal legal partnership, and implementation of practical, easy-to-use tools that empower health systems to address patients’ social challenges.

As a Macy Faculty Scholar, Dr. Vanjani will expand the existing Social Medicine elective, which he launched in 2021 at Brown University, to professions beyond medicine, including nursing, pharmacy, social work, and law. The Social Medicine elective asks learners to see the value in partnering, cooperating, and learning with patients to tackle seemingly insurmountable challenges, such as gaining access to housing, pursuing medical treatment in lieu of incarceration, and securing reliable transportation.

James Ryczek, MSW, LICSW, Director of the Rhode Island Collaborative for Interprofessional Education and Practice, serves as Dr. Vanjani’s primary mentor. He will also be mentored by Helena Hansen, MD, PhD, Interim Chair, Department of Psychiatry and Interim Director, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles. 

Jennifer Best is an Associate Professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine. She is Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education, overseeing accreditation and educational quality improvement for 120 residency and fellowship programs. She also serves as Associate Program Director for Professional Development and Well-Being for the Internal Medicine Residency Program. 

As a Macy Faculty Scholar, Dr. Best will implement the "social-belonging intervention" in the transition from undergraduate medical education to residency. Partnering with an interdisciplinary team to adapt its application for first-year residents across medical, surgical, and hospital-based specialties, she will study the longitudinal impacts of this psychological strategy on academic outcomes and engagement, and psychological and physical well-being, with a focus on underrepresented learners.     

Byron Joyner, MD, MPA, Professor of Urology and Vice Dean for Graduate Medical Education and Designated Institutional Official for the University of Washington School of Medicine, serves as Dr. Best's mentor. 

Jessica Devido is an Associate Professor at Duquesne University School of Nursing. Her career is focused on improving maternal-child health (MCH) outcomes among vulnerable populations, and she has built a community-engaged program of research that seeks clinical solutions for MCH equity. Her board membership with The Mid-Atlantic Mothers’ Milk Bank, Western Pennsylvania Lactation Consultant Association, National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, and Sigma Theta Tau reflects her position as an esteemed partner in the MCH community.

As a Macy Faculty Scholar, Dr. Devido will develop the MCH Equity Fellowship, a program designed for undergraduate pre-licensure nursing students to promote equity, cross-cultural sensitivity, and collaboration with community stakeholders. The Fellowship will strengthen students' understanding of health equity so their approach to care is different, with focus on accountability and individual response in order to: 1) initiate a fundamental shift in learning of MCH inequities; 2) facilitate interprofessional clinical MCH competencies; and 3) increase leadership capacity through enhanced critical thinking, community engagement, and communication.

Joan R. Bloch, PhD, CRNP, FAAN, Professor Emerita at Drexel University College of Nursing and Health Professions, serves as Dr. Devido's mentor.

David Diller is the Assistant Dean for Clinical Curriculum at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC). His overall career focus is improving medical education through theory-based innovation.

As a Macy Faculty Scholar, Dr. Diller will investigate how to improve inclusiveness in the learning environment through an asset-based approach, given existing discordances between student, faculty, and patient diversity. This model is intended to work alongside other long-term diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts and will be generalizable to medical schools nationwide.

Donna Elliott, MD, EdD, Vice Dean for Medical Education and Chair, Department of Medical Education at Keck School of Medicine of USC, serves as Dr. Diller's mentor.

Sunny G. Hallowell is an Assistant Professor and Pediatric Nurse Practitioner at Villanova University's M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing. 

Dr. Hallowell has been recognized for her innovative mixed-methods approach to reduce medication administration errors using a game-based, immersive virtual reality simulation. Her pioneering work with nursing students in the design of virtual gaming simulations has created clinical learning environments rooted in science and social justice. As a member of Aequitas, Villanova's Presidential Task Force on Race, she is committed to cultivating positive cultural change across the campus.

As a Macy Faculty Scholar, Dr. Hallowell will design, develop, and test Inclusive Clinical Advocacy - Responsible Education through a web-based virtual gaming simulation (ICARE-VGS) to support healthcare providers' development of clinical and communication skills to promote equity, diversity, and belonging in the communities they serve.  

Elizabeth Burgess Dowdell, PhD, RN, FAAN, Professor and Coordinator for Undergraduate Research at the M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing, serves as Dr. Hallowell's mentor. 

Matt Rustici is a Pediatrician and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Center. He works clinically at Denver Health Medical Center in the Pediatric Emergency Department and Urgent Care, and he is also the co-director of a Transition To Residency (TTR) course at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He works nationally to foster collaboration between TTR course directors and coordinators by co-leading an annual TTR symposium and a bimonthly TTR Grand Rounds. He is the Principal Investigator of a national Delphi study establishing a consensus-based set of learning objectives for TTR courses.

As a Macy Faculty Scholar, Dr. Rustici will create a curricular materials compendium for TTR courses, providing free and open access to TTR teaching materials. These resources will be curated and edited from existing TTR courses and provide a complete set of materials to run a new or existing TTR course.

Rita Lee, MD, Professor of Medicine and Director of Health Systems Science and Health Equity Education at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, serves as Dr. Rustici's mentor.