LEADS Project: How to align goals of healthcare system and medical school with new merger of Atrium Health and Wake Health Systems

Advisor: Harry S. Strothers III, MD, MMM, CAQ-G, FAAFP

Bio: Dellyse Bright, MD, serves as the Program Director of Carolinas Medical Center Family Medicine Residency Program (CMC FMRP) and Vice Chair of Education/ Associate Professor. She has had the privilege of caring for rural and urban underserved patients, as well as those in private practice.   Within Family Medicine, her practice encompasses prenatal care, office procedures, and inpatient care of postpartum moms, newborns, children, and adults.  Her passions lie in obesity, and adolescent and women’s health.  

Originally from Baltimore, MD, Dr. Bright graduated from University of MD School of Medicine and completed residency at University of MD Family Medicine.  She worked in Columbia, SC, then Concord, NC before landing in Charlotte, NC. 

Dr. Bright is a wife and mother of 4.

LEADS Project: Building a Practice Based Research Network (PBRN) in Primary Care to Promote Integration Across Research, Education, and Clinical Care

Advisor: Val Gilchrist, MD

Bio: Jerica M. Berge, Ph.D., MPH, LMFT, CFLE is a tenured Professor and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Dr. Berge is both a researcher and behavioral medicine clinician. She is a licensed mental health therapist and supervisor who specializes in integrated care and community-based partnerships to address family health issues. Her NIH research agenda focuses broadly on child and family health promotion, with a particular focus on weight and weight-related health behaviors across the lifespan, women’s health, and integrated care. She conducts both childhood obesity prevention and treatment studies within primary care settings with the ultimate goal of decreasing childhood obesity disparities and increasing health and well-being in low-income and minority households. Dr. Berge is one of the most cited authors on family dynamics and childhood obesity with over 150 publications, 300 presentations, and 20 book chapters on related topics. She has an impressive funding trajectory including NIH K12, R21, R03, R56, and R01 grants funded across several different institutes including NHLBI, NIDDK, and NICHD. She is the director of the Healthy Eating and Activity across the Lifespan (HEAL) Center and is the Program Director for the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) K12 grant. Additionally, she is the director for the Center for Women in Medicine and Science (CWIMS) and the Co-director of the Community and Collaborations core in the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) at the University of Minnesota Medical School.

LEADS Project: Creating a coordinated strategy to support NIH Funded Research Faculty in a Family Medicine Department

Advisor: Kola Okuyemi, MD, MPH

Bio: Dr. Bennett is a physician scientist who has focused his scholarly and clinical career on the delivery of primary health services to vulnerable populations in the US and in developing countries. He is a family physician providing full spectrum primary care including obstetric, family planning, pediatric and general adult health care. Dr. Bennett has expertise in the use of health information and communications technologies to support the delivery of mental health care in the non-specialty mental health setting and has been funded by AHRQ to develop web applications for this purpose. He makes use of participatory design strategies to bring end-users into the process of agile technology development and reduce the risk of designs that are unacceptable to target users. He is the co-director of the Practice Transformation Resource Portal which utilizes agile design strategies for technology development. He is the PI of an NIH funded national randomized trial of the implementation of collaborative care for perinatal depression in health centers. He has also been funded by Grand Challenges Canada to study mHealth strategies to extend the reach of services for women from vulnerable populations in pregnancy in the US, Nigeria, and Peru.

LEADS Project: Measuring and Enabling Trust in Primary Care

Advisor: Richard Wender, MD

Bio: Dr. Tracey D. Conti is an Assistant Professor and Executive Vice Chair in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She also serves as the Program Director of the UPMC McKeesport Family Medicine Residency and Co- director of the University of Pittsburgh Family Medicine and Psychiatry Residency.

A native of Pittsburgh, Dr. Conti graduated from Woodland Hills Senior High School and attended the Benjamin Banneker Honors College at Prairie View A&M University (TX).   She is a graduate of Temple University School of Medicine and completed her Family Medicine residency at the University of Maryland where she served as chief resident.  Dr. Conti is fellowship trained in women’s health and faculty development.

Dr. Conti serves several roles at the hospital and system level including: Vice Chair of Family Medicine and eRecord Medical Director-UPMC McKeesport Hospital, UPMC McKeesport’s Medical Executive and Academic Leadership committee, Board Chair of the 9th Street Free Clinic, UPMC Health Plan Board member and Physician Lead-Primary Care,UPMC Health Disparities Committee. Dr. Conti is also nearing the end of her term as President of the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physician’s and will transition to the Board Chair position.

Her clinical and advocacy interests include health disparities and healthcare delivery to underserved communities, medical education and women’s health. She is a champion for patient empowerment through education and the development of strong patient-physician partnerships in order to optimize individual, family and community healthcare.

LEADS Project: Developing a Primary Care Network in Rural Middle Georgia

Advisor: Grant Greenberg, MD, MA

Bio: Dr. Yvette Monique Davis-Smith is a Program Director of the Atrium Health Navicent Family Medicine Residency Program and  Professor of Family Medicine at Mercer University School of Medicine in Macon, GA. Dr. Davis-Smith is an experienced academic clinician who has demonstrated noteworthy accomplishments as a researcher, medical practitioner, mentor, and educational administrator. She received her bachelor’s degree from Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia and her Doctor of Medicine Degree from Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan and completed her residency training at Southwest Georgia Family Medicine Residency in Albany, GA.

Dr. Davis-Smith is active with the Georgia Academy of Family Physicians, Society of Teacher of Family Medicine and the local medical community. Her presence and experience  is valued on multiple hospital, medical school and  community committees and boards.

She maintains a busy medical practice and enjoys teaching and supervising resident physicians and medical students.  Her areas of interest include diabetes prevention, women’s health, nutrition, point of care ultrasound and health literacy.  

Dr. Davis-Smith is an engaged member of the Girl Scouts, The Mentors Project and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

Spending time with her husband Dr. Jimmie H. Smith, Jr and their three adult children Elizabeth, Amelia, and Gordon keeps her grounded and whole.  

LEADS Project: Building the Office of Community Health into an Interprofessional Service Arm of the University of Wisconsin Department of Family Medicine and Community Health

Advisor: Colleen Fogarty, MD, MSc

Bio: Jennifer Edgoose completed her MD, MPH from Columbia University and her family medicine residency at the University of Washington.   She then practiced full-spectrum family medicine for over ten years at Community Health Care, a federally qualified health center in Tacoma, WA.  She is now an associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health (DFMCH) at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (UWSMPH) and focuses her attention on care of marginalized populations and strategies to promote health equity and community engagement. She serves as the Director of the DFMCH Office of Community Health; Chair of the DFMCH Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee; and Director of the UWSMPH Diversity and Inclusion Advocates program. She also served as a core member of the Health Equity Team for Family Medicine for America’s Health a national strategic planning body shaping the future of family medicine nationally.

LEADS Project: The Role of Specialty Disrespect on Medical Student Professional Identity Formation and Specialty Choice

Advisor: Dana Nguyen, MD

Bio: Kathryn M. Hart, M.D., FAAFP is an Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the Georgetown University School of Medicine where she is the Director of the Primary Care Leadership Track.  She earned her medical degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where she was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and received the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award. She completed her residency training in Family Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.  She teaches numerous medical school courses and supervises Family Medicine physicians in training, and has received multiple teaching awards over the course of her career.  Her academic interests include medical student advising, enhancing medical student recruitment into primary care specialties, humanism in medicine, cultural humility, and curriculum development.

LEADS Project: Identifying Barriers and Factors That Prevent Potentially Interested Students From Choosing a Career in Family Medicine

Advisor: Reid Blackwelder, MD

Bio: Dr. Heidelbaugh is a Clinical Professor in the Departments of Family Medicine and Urology and the Director of Medical Student Education and Clerkship Director in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He completed medical school at the Upstate Medical University and his residency training at the St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center, both in Syracuse, New York. He has served on the faculty of the University of Michigan Medical School since 1999, and while he practiced active obstetrics for the first 10 years of his career, he continues to practice nearly full scope family medicine including both outpatient and inpatient care, office-based procedures, and prenatal care. Dr. Heidelbaugh’s research interests include gastrointestinal disorders, men's health, primary care urology, and factors that influence medical student specialty choice. He co-authored guidelines with the American Gastroenterological Association (irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, and Lynch syndrome) and the American Urological Association (male sexual dysfunction, prostate cancer screening, Peyronie’s disease). He is the co-editor and co-author of ROME IV: Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders for Primary Care and Non-GI Clinicians, published through the Rome Foundation. He is the consulting editor of Primary Care: Clinics in Office Practice, and the current President of the American Society for Men's Health. He has authored over 70 peer reviewed manuscripts and a dozen textbooks, and remains active in scholarly interviews and webinars through Medscape and media affiliates.

LEADS Project: Developing a Primary Care Distinction Track

Advisor: Chelley Alexander, MD

Bio: Dr. Karyn Kolman is the Vice Chair for Education for the University of Arizona Department of Family & Community Medicine. She is originally from the East Coast, and moved to Arizona after completing her residency in York, PA. She graduated from the College of William and Mary and attended medical school at Cornell University Medical College in New York City. After residency, she moved to Phoenix, AZ where she completed a fellowship in Advanced Hospital Training for Family Physicians. During that time, she also completed the University of Arizona’s Faculty Development Fellowship.  Being trained in hospitalist medicine and operative obstetrics, and having a special interest in teaching, Dr. Kolman continued to work in family medicine education, first in serving as faculty and assistant director for the fellowship in Advanced Hospital Training for Family Physicians. Before joining the faculty of the University of Arizona Department of Family & Community Medicine in 2013, Dr. Kolman worked as part of the faculty of the St. Joseph’s family medicine residency in Phoenix and the University of New Mexico family medicine residency in Albuquerque. At the University of Arizona, Dr. Kolman served as Associate Program Director for the South Campus Family Medicine Residency Program before accepting the position of Vice Chair for Education. In addition to the education of residents and medical students, Dr. Kolman has an interest in patient safety and quality improvement, maternity care and hospital medicine.

LEADS Project: Development and Implementation of a Strategic Plan for Departmental Education and Recruitment for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Advisor: Elissa Palmer, MD, FAAFP

Bio: Laura McCray, MD MSCE is a Professor of Family Medicine and the Program Director of the University of Vermont (UVM) Family Medicine Residency. Dr. McCray completed medical school at Jefferson and residency training in Family Medicine at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. She completed a fellowship in research and faculty development at the University of Pennsylvania, where she obtained a masters in epidemiology.  Dr. McCray is a graduate of the National Institute for Program Director Development (NIPDD). Dr. McCray has a focus on educational research in burnout and wellness interventions for medical trainees, and was the recipient of two institutional Frymoyer grants to investigate wellness interventions in medical students, residents, and fellows. She co-wrote a workbook for patients with depression entitled “Breaking Free From Depression,” and has a clinical emphasis on mental health in primary care with several publications in the area of Cognitive Behavior Therapy. Dr. McCray is a co-chair of the UVM Department of Family Medicine Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. She is developing a racial justice curriculum and gender-affirming care curriculum with collaborators across the institution and region.

LEADS Project: Implementation of an Employee Health Clinic

Advisor: Peter Catinella, MD, MPH

Bio: Dr. Ehab Molokhia is a professor in the University of South Alabama Family Medicine department. A graduate of the University of Alexandria School of Medicine in Egypt, he went on to complete his residency training at the University of South Alabama (USA). Dr. Molokhia earned a Masters in Public Health from the University of Alabama in Birmingham. He served as the Medical Director of the Family Medicine Center from 2005-2010 before assuming a leadership role in the Family Medicine Residency Program for which he is currently the director and serves as the vice chair for the department. He continues to contribute to medical student education locally through the college of medicine and nationally through his contribution to the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME). Dr. Molokhia has assumed a number of leadership roles over the years within the institution and continues to contribute clinically and administratively at the USA College of Medicine, the USA Physicians’ Group and the USA Hospitals. His interest in population health and patient safety has led him to serve in leadership roles on a number of committees.

LEADS Project: Developing infrastructure to support a division for equity and community engagement in a Family Medicine department

Advisor: Elissa Palmer, MD, FAAFP

Bio: Dr. Ebony Parker-Featherstone is an Assistant Professor of Family Medicine and Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Michigan. She currently serves as the Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the department of Family Medicine and in her role provides leadership and oversight for their DEI efforts. She earned her Medical Degree from the University of Michigan Medical School and completed her residency training with the University of Michigan Department of Family Medicine, followed by a Women’s Health fellowship with the University of Michigan Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Dr. Parker-Featherstone also serves as medical director for the Ypsilanti Health Center where she provides full spectrum family medicine including obstetrics care. She also provides consultative gynecologic care at the University of Michigan Center for Vulvar Diseases and is a fellow of the International Society for the Study of Vulvovaginal Disease(ISSVD). Dr. Parker-Featherstone’s research interests include health equity, vulvar diseases and women’s health. A lifelong resident of Michigan, she currently resides in Ann Arbor with her husband and two children. Her personal interests include scrapbooking, travel and game nights with her immediate and large extended family. 

LEADS Project: Developing Vision and Purpose in a New Role

Advisor: Alison Dobbie, MD

Bio: Julie Phillips, MD, MPH, is Professor of Family Medicine and the Assistant Dean for Student Career and Professional Development at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. Dr. Phillips received her medical degree and a Masters of Public Health from the University of Michigan, and completed her residency training in Family Medicine at the same institution.

Dr. Phillips’ professional interests include student, resident, and faculty professional development; social mission-driven medical education; narrative medicine; women in Family Medicine; and development of the primary care physician workforce. Dr. Phillips is particularly known for her research on how students make career choices, and how this shapes the emerging primary care physician workforce. She has also published many narrative pieces and poems.

Dr. Phillips is a core faculty member at the Sparrow-MSU Family Medicine Residency Program in Lansing, where she practices full-spectrum Family Medicine, leads the Community Medicine curriculum, and serves as the program’s Research Director. She also serves as an Assistant Editor for Family Medicine, focused on narrative submissions; and as a founding Associate Editor for PRIMER. When she is not working, Dr. Phillips enjoys reading and writing poetry, biking, knitting, swimming, cooking, participating in her local church, and spending time with her family and friends.

LEADS Project: Growing Together with Future Leaders (GrowToLead)

Advisor: Jeff Quinlan, MD, FAAFP

Bio: Clinically, I am a family physician and a geriatrician with a special interest in skeletal health of older adults. Personally, I am a mom of two, a wife and a caregiver daughter to my mom who suffers from dementia. I am an advocate for adding caregivers in the health care plan for older adults with dementia. 

LEADS Project:Too Many Schedules! Eliminating Inter-Departmental Scheduling Barriers, Enhancing the Departmental Work Environment, and Improving Efficiencies by Breaking Down Existing Work Silos

Advisor: Philip Zazove, MD

Bio: Dr. Schultz is the University of Toledo Family Medicine Residency Program Director and Department Vice Chair. He graduated from the Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, MI and completed his residency at Providence Hospital in Southfield, MI. He has many years of experience as a family medicine residency core faculty as well as program director. Dr. Schultz is board certified in family medicine.

After completing residency, Dr. Schultz remained at Providence Hospital as a core faculty member and later as the medical director of one of the residency clinics. During this time, he focused on office transformation, EHR optimization, and quality improvement. From there he moved on to be the residency program director at St. Joseph Mercy Livingston in Brighton, MI, for both the allopathic and osteopathic residency programs.

Dr. Schultz has clinical interests in office procedures, primary prevention, and particularly the continuity of the physician-patient relationship. He also has strong interests in physician well-being and promoting the specialty of Family Medicine. He finds it deeply satisfying in fostering an environment of success and growth for all members of his the department. When not working, he enjoys the outdoors and spending family time with his wife, Caroline, their four children, and eight grandchildren.

LEADS Project: 

Advisor: Mack Ruffin, MD, MPH

Bio: I grew up in McLean, Virginia outside Washington D.C.  My mom was a schoolteacher and my dad was an electrical/aerospace engineer.  In fact, he was one of those geeks with the slide rule and pocket protector working at NASA as in the movie Apollo 13.  I got a degree in Chemical Engineering and worked as an engineer for 5 years before going to medical school at Medical College of Virginia (now part of VCU).  I did my Family Medicine residency at Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona and they asked me stay on as faculty upon graduation.  At Mayo, I grew as a leader in CME, residency education and clinic operations management.  Since then, I’ve had multiple leadership roles in both clinic operations as well as medical education.  Prior to my current role, I was the Chief Medical Officer within a Community Health Center (FQHC).  I currently work as the Vice Chair of Clinical Operations within the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University.  

As a CMO, I started studying at University of Colorado and later completed my MBA in Healthcare Administration.  I am a passionate advocate for family medicine but I’ve always been an unusual clinician with interest in operations and finance.  Interestingly, my studies for the MBA only strengthened my appreciation of the value of family medicine.  

Much of my work in leadership roles has been focused on transforming family medicine practices to thrive in current and future reimbursement models.  This work has consistently involved teaching, mentoring, and leading others in operational and financial changes.  The work can be challenging in the face of constrained resources, but I believe that strengthening primary care is the clear route for improving the health outcomes of our communities and nation.  Further, I believe that expanding primary care is the only mechanism for improving healthcare value (better outcomes at lower cost) and to eliminate healthcare disparities.  

LEADS Project: Learn more about the financing of academic family medicine departments and how they fit into larger healthcare systems

Advisor: Catherine Morrow, MD

Bio: Joanne Wilkinson, MD, MSc, is an Associate Professor of Family Medicine at Brown University/Alpert Medical School and the Medical Director of the Family Care Center at Brown’s family medicine residency. Dr. Wilkinson is a graduate of Brown University (AB, MD) and Boston University School of Public Health (MSc Epidemiology). She completed a faculty development fellowship at Boston University (BU) and had an academic/research faculty position at BU for twelve years; during that time she was the PI of several federal and foundation grants including a K07 career development award (her research focus was to improve primary care for adults with intellectual disabilities), and served as the department’s Research (and fellowship) Director, Associate Director of Medical Student Education, and Course Director of Essentials of Public Health, a required first-year course for medical students. She was also the Medical Director of BU’s PA Educational Program and served on its admissions committee.

In her role at Brown, she oversees the family medicine residents’ and attendings’ primary care clinic, an express care walk-in, and during the COVID pandemic, a respiratory triage unit for symptomatic patients. She teaches residents about practice management, health care finance and policy, clinical quality, and safety. She has served on several boards and advisory committees, including the Board of Directors of Integra, the largest ACO in Rhode Island. Her academic interests include health disparities (more specifically how to teach the concrete skills needed to provide high-quality care to underserved patients), the care of patients with communication disorders, and narrative medicine.