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 2022-2023 class of fellows and the fellows for its new program, Executive Leadership in Health Care (ELH).

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 ELH program is designed for senior-level women leaders interested in advancing in hospitals and health care systems to positions such as CEO, CMO, CNO and CFO.

The effectiveness of ELAM’s distinctive approach to leadership preparation is broadly recognized within the academic health community. ELAM alumnae number over 1,200 and serve in leadership positions at 295 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 degree-granting 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 72 fellows into the 2022-23 class of ELAM,” says Nancy D. Spector, MD, executive director of ELAM. “The application pool for this class was the largest ever, with a 25% increase over 2021-2022,” she added. “We are also excited to pilot our Executive Leadership in Health Care program with 27 fellows from around the country.”

“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.”

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 fellow’s 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,” explained 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 June with online assignments and community-building activities that continue through the end of the program in April 2023.

2022 – 2023 ELAM Fellows

Anna Moore, PhD
Michigan State University College of Human Medicine

Tomi Akinyemiju, PhD, MS
Duke University School of Medicine

Laura Alonso, MD
Weill Cornell Medical College

Lisa Auerbach, MD, MS, HPEd.
CUNY School of Medicine

Leah Backhus, MD, MPH
Stanford University School of Medicine

Amber Barnato, MD, MPH, MS
Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth

Melissa Bauman, PhD 
University of California Davis Health System

Mara Becker, MD, MSCE
Duke University School of Medicine

Rinad Beidas, PhD
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Ghada Bourjeily, MD, MA 
Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University

Biykem Bozkurt, MD, PhD
Baylor College of Medicine

Diane Chico, PhD 
Texas A&M University College of Medicine

Heather Clauss, MD
Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University

Katherine Coyner, MD
University of Connecticut School of Medicine

Marie Crandall, MD, MPH
University of Florida College of Medicine, Jacksonville

Clara Curiel, MD
University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson

Suzanne Danhauer, PhD
Wake Forest University School of Medicine

Tracy de Peralta, DMD, PhD, MClinEd
University of Colorado Denver School of Dental Medicine

Louito Edje, MD, MHPE
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine

Felicity Enders, PhD, MPH
Mayo Clinic

Dana Farabaugh, MD  
Drexel University College of Medicine

Ruth Farrell, MD, MA
Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University

Rosemarie Fernandez, MD 
University of Florida College of Medicine

Dee Ford, MD 
Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine

Janna Friedly, MD, MPH
University of Washington

Karen Friedman, MD, MS
Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell

Meg Frizzola, DO
Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Jefferson University

Monika Goyal, MD, MSCE 
Children’s National Medical Center

Elizabeth Grubbs, MD 
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Chanita Halbert, PhD
Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California

April Hartman, MD 
Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University

Elizabeth Jackson, MD, MPH
University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine

Angela Jefferson, PhD
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine

Ruth Keri, PhD
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Srividya Kidambi, MD, MS
Medical College of Wisconsin

KMarie King, MD, MS, MBA
Albany Medical College

Colleen Kraft, MD
Emory University School of Medicine

Jennifer Kraschnewski, MD, MPH
Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine

Daniela Ladner, MD, MPH
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Kara Laing, MD
Memorial University of Newfoundland Faculty of Medicine

Anne Larkin, MD
UMass Chan Medical School

Kelsey Logan, MD, MPH
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

Nathalie May, MD
Drexel University College of Medicine

Kathryn McQueen, MD, MPH
University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health

Laxmi Mehta, MD
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

Tracey Milligan, MD 
New York Medical College

Nikita Mirajkar, PhD 
Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine- Georgia Campus

Jeanette Morrison, MD
Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science

Radha Nandagopal, MD 
Washington State University Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine

Flavia Nobay, MD
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry

Sung-Yun Pai, MD
National Institutes of Health

Pari Pandharipande, MD, MPH
The Ohio State University College of Medicine

Nancy Pandhi, MD, MPH, PhD 
University of New Mexico Health Science Center

Sara Pasquali, MD, MHS
University of Michigan Medical School

Priscilla Pemu, MD 
Morehouse School of Medicine

Flavia Pirih, DDS, PhD
University of California, Los Angeles

Kristen Plastino, PharmD, MD
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine

Erin Pukenas, MD
Cooper Medical School of Rowan University

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

Heather Reisinger, PhD
The University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine

Christine Riedy Murphy, PhD, MPH
Harvard School of Dental Medicine

Cynthia Rogers, MD
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

Tamara Rozental, MD 
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Lauren Sansing, MD, MS
Yale University School of Medicine

Yael Schenker, MD, MAS 
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Irini Sereti, MD, MHS
National Institutes of Health

Maria Sheakley, PhD
Western Michigan University Homer Stryker MD School of Medicine

Vassiliki Tsikitis, MD, MBA
Oregon Health and Science University

Haimanot Wasse, MD, MPH 
Rush University Medical Center

Stephanie White, MD 
University of Kentucky College of Medicine

Rebecca Wilcox, MD
University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine

Ashley Wysong, MD, MS
University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Medicine