Just days before Commencement 2015 at UMass Medical School, 18 junior faculty members also celebrated their graduation from a rigorous career development program designed to help facilitate their early success in academic medicine.
Launched by the Office of Faculty Affairs in 2010, the Junior Faculty Development Program is a year-long professional development course comprising weekly seminars and completion of an independent research project conducted with guidance from a senior faculty mentor. Developed by Robert Milner, PhD, associate vice provost for professional development and professor of neurology, and Luanne Thorndyke, MD, vice provost for faculty affairs and professor of medicine, the JFDP program has become a national model. In its first five years at UMMS, 110 junior faculty have participated in the program.
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| The Junior Faculty Development Class of 2015 is pictured here with Office of Faculty Affairs and UMass Medical School senior leadership at the graduation ceremony on May 21. |
Recognized alongside their mentors at a ceremony held May 21 in the presence of family and friends, the 2015 graduates are:
Mohammed Akhter, MD, assistant professor of medicine (mentor: Robert Goldberg, PhD, professor of medicine)
Alexander Berry, MD, assistant professor of urology (mentor: Jennifer Daly, MD, professor of medicine)
Leslie Bradford, MD, assistant professor of obstetrics & gynecology (mentor: Suzanne Cashman, PhD, professor of family medicine & community health)
Dawn Carpenter, DNP, assistant professor of nursing (mentor: David Hatem, MD, professor of medicine)
Siobhan Craige, PhD, instructor in medicine (mentor: Katherine Fitzgerald, PhD, professor of medicine)
Peter Gibson, MD, assistant professor of medicine (mentor: David Fairchild, MD, professor of medicine)
Masilo Grant, MD, assistant professor of anesthesiology (mentor: Sarah McGee, MD, clinical associate professor of medicine)
Fei Gu, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine (mentor: Giles Whalen, MD, professor of surgery)
Ameer Ibrahim, MD, assistant professor of emergency medicine (mentor: Max Rosen, MD, chair and professor of radiology)
Nahida Islam, MD, assistant professor of medicine (mentor: Hong Yu, PhD, professor of quantitative health sciences)
Adib Karam, MD, assistant professor of radiology (mentor: Dominic Nompleggi, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine)
Jennifer LaFemina, MD, assistant professor of surgery (mentor: JeanMarie Houghton, MD, PhD, professor of medicine)
Uyen-Sa Nguyen, DSc, assistant professor of orthopedics & physical rehabilitation (mentor: Kate Lapane, PhD, professor of quantitative health sciences and associate dean of clinical and population health research)
Abhay Patel, MD, assistant professor of orthopedics (mentor: Deborah DeMarco, MD, professor of medicine, senior associate dean for clinical affairs, and associate dean for graduate medical education )
Muhammed Ramzan, MD, assistant professor of neurology (mentor: Amy Rosen, PhD, professor of quantitative health sciences)
Jessica Simons, MD, assistant professor of surgery (mentor: Kathleen Mazor, EdD, professor of medicine)
Nancy Skehan, MD, assistant professor of medicine (mentor: Kate Burke, MD, clinical associate professor of emergency medicine)
Stacey Valentine, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics (mentor: Stephen Heard, MD, chair and professor of anesthesiology)
