UofL Leadership and Innovation in Academic Medicine Class of 2017
UofL Leadership and Innovation in Academic Medicine Class of 2017

The University of Louisville School of Medicine is training its future leaders.

Sixteen members of the UofL School of Medicine faculty began a 10-month training program on Sept. 21, aimed at developing future leaders for academic medical institutions. Leadership and Innovation in Academic Medicine (LIAM) is designed to develop innovative thinking skills in early to mid-career faculty who may be interested in pursuing leadership roles in the future.

“This program will equip the future leaders of the UofL School of Medicine with the foundational platform to build their leadership skills for the rest of their careers,” said Gerard Rabalais, MD, MHA, associate dean of faculty development.

Participants will attend monthly three-hour meetings, work independently and prepare interdisciplinary projects designed to improve some aspect of the school. Leaders in the UofL School of Medicine, as well as faculty from the UofL College of Business, College of Education and Human Development and members of the business community, will lead the monthly meetings. The curriculum will address leading oneself, leading others and leading an organization, all focused on leadership challenges specific to academic medicine.

“I hope they gain an appreciation for the importance of emotional intelligence, and an understanding that the key role of the leader is to provide more than operational effectiveness, but to cast the vision and devise the innovation strategy that provides new and sustainable value to the academic medical center and the communities we serve,” Rabalais said.

The 2017-18 participants, below, were selected from 54 applicants. Rabalais and Staci Saner, MEd, program manager of faculty development, part of the Office of Faculty Affairs and Advancement, developed the curriculum.

“We anticipate that the innovative solutions they develop as part of their projects will be directly applicable to current challenges in the School,” Rabalais said.

The 2017 class of LIAM

Christine Brady, PhD – Pediatrics
Elizabeth Cash, PhD – Otolaryngology-HNS & Communicative Disorders
Jeremy Clark, MD – Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences
Luz Fernandez, MD – Family Medicine
Brian Holland, MD – Pediatric Cardiology
Adrienne Jordan, MD – Pathology
Farid Kehdy, MD – Surgery
Kathrin LaFaver, MD – Neurology
Sara Multerer, MD – Pediatrics
Alexander V. Ovechkin, MD, PhD – Neurological Surgery
Sara Petruska, MD – Ob/Gyn and Women’s Health
Carolyn Roberson, PhD – Microbiology and Immunology
Tyler Sharpe, MD – Internal Medicine
Hugh Shoff, MD – Department of Emergency Medicine
Leah J. Siskind, PhD – Pharmacology and Toxicology
Laura Workman, MD – Internal Medicine-Pediatrics