Educational Leadership Immersion Training in ELDERcare (ELITE)

Presenter Biographies

Rizzo Conference Center

May 30–May 31, 2015

Bradley H. Collins, MD

Dr. Bradley Collins is an Associate Professor of Surgery at Duke University Medical Center in the Division of Abdominal Transplant Surgery. His clinical duties include kidney, pancreas, and liver transplantation as well as general surgery in transplant patients. He serves on the Admissions Committee for the School of Medicine, Duke's Animal Care and Use Committee, and the School of Medicine's Promotions Committee. Dr. Collins is a graduate of Duke University School of Medicine. His surgical residency was completed at Duke Medical Center, and his transplant training was obtained at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Sandhya A. Lagoo-Deenadayalan, MD, PhD

Dr. Lagoo-Deenadayalan is Associate Professor of Surgery with Tenure and Senior Fellow in the Center for Aging and Human Development. She was invited to join the Geriatrics Task Force of the American College of Surgeons in 2006. In 2007, these efforts led to the establishment of a Surgical Forum dedicated to geriatric surgery at the ACS Clinical Congress. Subsequently, she served on the Expert Panel for the “Developing Quality Indicators to Improve the Care in Elderly Patients” project. She received R-21 grant funding (2007-2010) from NIH/NIA that addressed aging and the immune response in sepsis. She received a Geriatrics for Specialty Residents Award along with Dr. Mitch Heflin and developed a Geriatrics curriculum for the general surgery residency program at Duke Hospital. This has led to several publications with surgery residents. She has also mentored Duke medical students and helped study predictors of complications in older surgical patients with comorbidities.

Diana B. McNeill, MD

Dr. McNeill oversees the development, implementation, and evaluation of all programs of Duke AHEAD (Academy for Health Professions Education and Academic Development). Dr. McNeill brings more than 27 years of teaching and clinical practice experience to this position. She is a graduate of Duke University and Duke University School of Medicine and completed an Endocrinology and Metabolism Fellowship at Duke. She joined the Duke faculty in 1989 and today is a Professor of Medicine and Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the School of Medicine. Dr. McNeill specializes in endocrinology with a clinical focus on Type 1 diabetes, diabetes in pregnancy, and thyroid disease.

In addition to her clinical work, Dr. McNeill was the program director of the Duke Internal Medicine Residency program from 2001-2011 and most recently serves as leader of Graduate Medical Education Oversight and Accreditation at Duke. She is currently the national secretary-treasurer of APDIM (Association of Program Directors of Internal Medicine) and is on the Alliance of Academic Medicine (AAIM) Innovation committee. She has won numerous teaching awards including the Golden Apple Award given by Duke Medical School students, the Stead Teaching Award given by medical residents, and the Outstanding Endocrinology Teaching Award given by endocrine fellows. She has also been named a Master Clinician Educator.

Shelley R. McDonald, D.O., Ph.D.

Dr. McDonald is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Geriatrics and senior fellow in the Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development Duke University School of Medicine. She was previously with the Texas A&M School of Medicine and Scott & White Health System. Dr. McDonald serves as a co-investigator and study physician for the center for Aging Nutrition Laboratory and is interested in identifying modifiable determinants of nutritional vulnerability, and using innovative dietary interventions in older adults to improve functional and health status, independence, and quality of life in the perioperative period.

Lisa C. Pickett, MD

Dr. Pickett currently serves as Chief Medical Officer at Duke University Hospital, the 938-bed flagship hospital in the Duke University Health System. Her primary focus is physician development and alignment in safety, quality, and patient satisfaction, as a part of the Duke University Hospital core value of caring for our patients, their loved ones, and each other.

She continues her practice in critical care in the Duke Surgical Intensive Care Unit. Prior to serving as Chief Medical Officer at Duke Hospital, Dr. Pickett served at Durham Regional Hospital as Chief Medical Officer (2009-2012). She received her undergraduate degree in Biology from UC Irvine, MD from Harvard Medical School, and completed a residency in General Surgery and a fellowship in Critical Care at Duke.

Kenneth E. Schmader, MD

Dr. Schmader is Professor of Medicine at Duke University School of Medicine, and Chief of the Division of Geriatrics, Department of Medicine and the Director of the Durham Veterans Administration Medical Center's Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center (GRECC) and the Associate Chief of Staff for Geriatrics and Extended Care. He earned his medical degree from Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, completed an internal medicine residency and Chief Residency at the University of Wisconsin, and Fellowship in Geriatric Medicine at Duke University and Durham VA Medical Centers.

Dr. Schmader's areas of research include herpes zoster, infections, and vaccines in older adults. He conducts pre-clinical, clinical trials and observational studies of herpes zoster, influenza, pneumococcal vaccines and other infections funded by grants from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), VA Office of Research and Development, Hartford Foundation and Industry sources. He is a lead investigator of the VA Cooperative Trial of the herpes zoster vaccine in older adults, known as the Shingles Prevention Study. He also conducts research on optimal medication use, adverse drug reactions and pharmacoepidemiology in older adults. Dr. Schmader has published over 150 journal articles and book chapters, including publications in The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, and Annals of Internal Medicine, among other journals.

Yvonne Spurney, RN, MSN

Yvonne Spurney is the Associate Chief Nurse for Medicine, Surgery, Critical Care, Psychiatry, Dialysis, Emergency Department and Life Flight. She has been at Duke since 1985 starting as a Pulmonary Clinical Specialist, to NM of MICU and progressively added units throughout the years.

Mellissa Ubbens, PharmD, BCPS

Dr. Ubbens is a Clinical Pharmacist at Duke University Hospital and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy's Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical Education. Dr. Ubbens received her Pharm.D. at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She currently works with the Surgery services at Duke, and serves as a preceptor for pharmacy residents and students. Her clinical interests are pain management and medication safety.

Kerri M. Wahl, MD,FRCP(C)

Dr. Wahl is a Professor of Anesthesiology in the Department of Anesthesiology at Duke University Medical Center. A graduate of the University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada, with a BSc in Biochemistry (1997), a doctorate in medicine (1980), and a subspecialty degree in anesthesiology (1986), she is also credentialed as a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and board certified with the American Board of Anesthesiology (1987). Dr. Wahl has published numerous manuscripts and book chapters focused on patient care issues related to living, DCD and cadaveric organ donation and liver transplantation in adult and pediatric patients. Her personal goal has been to provide a comprehensive educational guide and practical advice for anesthesiologists on the perioperative care of donors and patients with acute and chronic liver disease having transplant and non-transplant related surgery. In addition, the 3rd edition of Anesthesiology Pearls of Wisdom was published in December 2011. This is a board review textbook designed for residents preparing for the ABA examinations, faculty involved in a recertification process or students completing a subspecialty rotation. Her book has been popular with a distribution of 1300 copies being sold each year in the USA, Canada and Europe. Dr. Wahl’s dedication to education, teaching and mentoring is admirable, with outstanding didactic lectures for medical students, anesthesia and surgical residents on a variety of topics ranging from anesthesia and the lung, geriatric medicine, liver surgery, abdominal transplantation, vascular anatomy, coagulation and transfusion practices, new colloid solutions, and donor management.

Heidi K. White, MD, MHS, MEd

Dr. White is Associate Professor of Medicine with Tenure in the Division of Geriatrics and senior fellow in the Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development Duke University School of Medicine. She serves as the Vice-Chief for Clinical Affairs in the Division of Geriatrics. She is committed to teaching geriatrics and long-term care practice to medical students, internal medicine residents, and geriatric medicine fellows. She co-directs the Advanced Course in Long-Term Care for geriatric medicine fellows and directs the Reynolds funded Long-Term Care Education Mini-fellowship Program in curriculum development which occurs yearly and draws clinical faculty members from across the country. Her research interests include interventions for the prevention of cognitive and physical frailty in older adults.

Mamata Yanamadala, MBBS, MSc

Dr Mamata Yanamadala is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and the Associate Program Director of the geriatrics fellowship program. She went to medical school in India and completed her residency and chief residency in Michigan. She completed her geriatrics fellowship at Duke and continued to stay as faculty. She has led several faculty development workshops in the areas of clinical teaching skills and quality improvement and patient safety both nationally and internationally. Her clinical interests include comprehensive geriatric assessment and delirium.

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