May 7, 2021

The Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine® (ELAM) Program for Women at Drexel University College of Medicine is pleased to announce the selection of its 2021–2022 class of fellows.

ELAM® is the only longitudinal program in North America dedicated to preparing women for senior leadership roles in schools of medicine, dentistry, public health and pharmacy. The prestigious program is dedicated to developing the professional and personal skills required to lead and manage in today's complex health care environment, with special attention to the unique challenges facing women in leadership positions. The ELAM program has been specially developed for senior women faculty at the associate or full professor level who demonstrate the greatest potential for assuming executive leadership positions at academic health centers within the next five years.

The effectiveness of ELAM's distinctive approach to leadership preparation is broadly recognized within the academic health community. ELAM alumnae number over 1,100 and serve in leadership positions at 277 academic health centers around the world. ELAM carries on the legacy of advancing women in medicine begun by the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, the nation’s first women’s medical school and a predecessor of Drexel University College of Medicine, where ELAM is hosted.

“To accommodate a very strong pool of applicants, we have accepted 73 fellows into the 2021–22 class of ELAM, our largest class ever,” says Nancy D. Spector, MD, executive director of ELAM. “The women are exceptional leaders who are capable of making critical systemic change in their institutions. The need for the highest quality leaders in academic health care has never been greater, and we are doing everything we can to help meet that need by providing outstanding and innovative leadership training for women.” The COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on academic medicine and health care has become an opportunity for ELAM to provide real time crisis leadership instruction for its fellows. To that end, the program has added curriculum within our modules that will help address issues that the fellows and their institutions are currently facing.

In order to be accepted into the program, each fellow must be nominated and supported by the dean or other senior official of her institution. ELAM continues to cultivate strong partnerships with participating institutions throughout the yearlong fellowship. One aspect of this relationship is the curricular requirement to conduct an Institutional Action Project, developed in collaboration with the fellows’ dean or other senior official. These action projects are designed to address an institutional or departmental need or priority. “We are extremely excited to see the impact these women will have on their institutions as they work through the ELAM curriculum and develop their action projects,” explains Spector. “The projects the fellows conduct not only help them understand the challenges facing academic health centers and the skills a leader must possess to address these challenges, but also often result in concrete changes at their institutions.”

The work for this incoming class begins in May with online assignments and community-building activities that continue through the end of the program in April 2022.

2021–2022 ELAM Fellows

Leslie Appiah, MD
University of Colorado School of Medicine Anschutz Medical Campus

Kristen Atkins, MD
University of Virginia School of Medicine

Erika Banks, MD
Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Scarlett Bellamy, ScD
Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health

Cathy Bradley, PhD
Colorado School of Public Health

Amy Brooks-Kayal, MD
University of California, Davis, School of Medicine

Shobhina Chheda, MD, MPH
University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health

Carlee Clark, MD
Medical University of South Carolina

Cristin Colford, MD
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine

Takesha Cooper , MD, MS
University of California, Riverside School of Medicine

Cindy Crusto, PhD
Yale University School of Medicine

Katherine Deans, MD, MHSc
Nationwide Children's Hospital

Shirley  Delair, MD, MPH
University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Medicine

Kristina Duffin, MD, MS
University of Utah School of Medicine

Cynthia Emory, MD
Wake Forest University School of Medicine

Ihuoma Eneli, MD, MS
Nationwide Children's Hospital

Cathy Eng, MD
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine

Heide Ford, PhD
University of Colorado School of Medicine Anschutz Medical Campus

Maria Therese Galang-Boquiren, DMD, MS
University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry

Rahel Ghebre, MD, MPH
University of Minnesota Medical School

Nora Gimpel, MD
University of Texas Southwestern Medical School

Kristin Hahn-Cover, MD
University of Missouri- Columbia School of Medicine

Melinda Hamilton, MD, MS
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Jennifer Harvey, MD
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry

Memoona Hasnain, MD, MHPE, PhD
University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine

Erin Haynes, DrPH, MS
University of Kentucky College of Public Health

Holly Hedrick, MD
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Xuemei Huang, MD, PhD
Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine

Sara Jones, PhD
Wake Forest University School of Medicine

Maria Kelly, MD
University of Florida College of Medicine

Shabaana Khader, PhD
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

Tara Lagu, MD, MPH
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Clara Lee, MD, MPP
The Ohio State University College of Medicine

Jo Anna Leuck, MD
TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine

Merry Lindsey, PhD
University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Medicine

Margaret Maimone, PhD
SUNY Upstate Medical University

Judith McKenzie, MD, MPH
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Anne McKenzie-Brown, MD
Emory University School of Medicine

Deena McRae, MD
University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine

Dana McTigue, PhD
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

Madhusmita Misra, MD, MPH
Harvard Medical School

Leslie Morse, DO
University of Minnesota Medical School

Susanna Naggie, MD, MHS
Duke University School of Medicine

Mangala Narasimhan, DO
Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell

Alison Netski, MD
University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Medicine

Erika Newman, MD
University of Michigan Medical School

Teryl Nuckols, MD, MSHS
University of California, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Marcella Nunez-Smith, MD, MHS
Yale University School of Medicine

Mildred Olivier, MD
Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science

Lisa Prosser, PhD, MS
University of Michigan Medical School

Elizabeth Rebello, MD
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Karen Restifo, MD, JD
Drexel University College of Medicine

Marylyn Ritchie, PhD
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Jehni Robinson, MD, FAAFP
Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California

Michelle Roett, MD, MPH, FAAFP, CPE
Georgetown University School of Medicine

Rebecca Rogers, MD
Albany Medical Center

Sally Santen, MD, PhD
Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine

Irini Sereti, MD, MHS
National Institutes of Health

Julie Silver, MD
Harvard Medical School

Carolyn Smith, PhD
Baylor College of Medicine

Jessica  Snowden, MD, MS
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Medicine

Abby Spencer, MD, MS
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

Joan St. Onge, MD, MPH
University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine

Erica Sutton, MD
Morehouse School of Medicine

Erica Teixeira, DDS, MS, PhD
The University of Iowa College of Dentistry

Lindsay Thompson, MD, MS
University of Florida College of Medicine

Veronica Tom, PhD
Drexel University College of Medicine

Judy Tung, MD
New York -Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center

Audrey Tyrka, MD, PhD
Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University

Achala Vagal, MD, MS
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine

Renuga Vivekanandan, MD
Creighton University School of Medicine

Donna Washington, MD, MPH
University of California, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Carrie Wieneke, MD
University of Kansas School of Medicine