Professional Background
I have been a practicing osteopathic physician in the Division of Geriatric Medicine in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center since 2005. I see patients over age 65 primarily at the Landon Center on Aging. My interests include older driving safety, climate change and health, and aging well. I use osteopathic manipulation in addition to traditional medicine tools for treatment.
I also enjoy teaching medical students, residents and fellows. My breadth of educational leadership includes creation of a campus-wide interprofessional course, co-directorship of a module, SOM Threadhead, PBL leader, Geriatrics Curriculum Director, co-creating the Geriatrics Interprofessional Teaching Clinic and being a Fulbright Senior Specialist.
I was the Interprofessional Education and Practice (IPEP) Threadhead for the SOM ACE Curriculum from 2018-2020. My role was to create, implement and evaluate the IPEP curriculum. With that work, all incoming medical students have seen IPE (interprofessional education) competencies threaded within their Year 1 and 2 modules and they see true IP collaboration in practice during Years 3 and 4. I strongly believe that improving healthcare and improving outcomes has to be accomplished by an interprofessional team.
I have been the Assistant Director of the ACE Delp Learning Community since 2017. I have continued my role as a PBL leader from the Legacy to the ACE curriculum; the change to more clinically oriented cases and frequent sessions changed my teaching style to provide more clinical insight and less direct answers for students to find the answers. I was on the KUSOM PBL Workgroup and served to review all the PBL cases, attend a PBL conference and provide faculty development training to the KUSOM PBL faculty here. I truly enjoy teaching, revising cases and providing faculty development in PBL. In addition, serving as a coach to 1st and 2nd year medical students (see below) for over a decade, through live and virtual interactions, has been a mutually rewarding experience.
In September of 2010, I received a 5-year Geriatric Academic Career Award (GACA) funded by HRSA (equivalent to an NIH K Award). With a core faculty team from the Schools of Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Social Welfare, we created a 24-month Team Based Learning course, the “Geriatrics Champions Program” to teach over 200 learners, and conduct faculty development sessions to over 30 interprofessional faculty annually.
Since then, I have received a 5 year grant from the Department of Transportation looking at exploring clinical tools to improve the on-the-road performance of commercial drivers. I continue to explore ways to collaborate with others.
- BS, Biochemistry and Cell Biology , University of California, San Diego
- DO, Oklahoma St. U.-Col. Osteo Med
- MPH, MPH, University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health
- Residency, Family Medicine , University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA
- Clinical Fellowship, Geriatric Medicine, University of Pittsburgh
- Certificate of Added Qualification in Geriatric Medicine, American Board of Family Medicine
- American Geriatrics Society, AGS Safe Driving Project, Member, 2018 - Present
- American Geriatrics Society, Public Education Committee, Member, 2013 - Present
- American Geriatrics Society, Member, 2012 - Present
