View the Nominees
Margaret Wood
Short Bio/ Statement of Interest: The Health Literacy SIG has been a wonderful community within the APA to learn about health literacy and collaborate with colleagues. This SIG has been an essential place to develop as a scholar and educator. I am interested in serving as co-chair to help contribute to this group as a space to work together to improve how we communicate with patients and families, how we study that communication, and how we teach learners.
I work as an Academic General Pediatrician with my clinical practice in primary care supervising residents at their continuity clinic. I also spend time specifically dedicated to medical education and clinical research. In these areas I have seen how clear communication using health literacy principles is essential in how we teach learners and how we get the best medical care all the way to our patients.
Nicole Meyers
Short Bio/ Statement of Interest: My name is Nicole Meyers and I have been a member of the health literacy SIG throughout my time as a pediatrics resident and now chief resident at NYP-Columbia. My interest in health literacy has been longstanding and began with my work uder Dr. Shonna Yin as a medical student at NYU, where I first-authored a publication on health literacy-driven disparities in parents' use of and preferences related to technology for health management. Additionally, I spearheaded a literature review and assisted in the writing of a grant accepted by the NIH on a health literacy-informed intervention to reduce medication errors in the NICU as well as the drafting of a mscnuript on reducing pediatric medication errors among a limited health literacy parent population. As a now active member of the APA health literacy SIG group, I have recently been involved in several meetings and projects including an APPD survey on health literacy curricula in pediatric residency programs, for which we are now working on data analysis and drafting the manuscript. Given my passion for and career goals in the medical education realm, I have worked closely with Joy Solano (one of the current SIG co-chairs) to lead our most recent project on identifying prioritized competencies for a standardized pediatric resident health literacy curriculum. I would not only bring my passion for and committment to the field of health literacy and health equity to this role, but also my organization, research, education and problem-solving skills that I have honed during this year as chief resident. I have so enjoyed being a part of the SIG thus far as it has created a network for me of like-minded individuals who are passionate about health literacy, communication and social determinants of health, while also providing a number of scholarship opportunities in these areas. I seek to continue working with and hopefully co-leading this incredible network of health literacy advocates, while beneffiting from their robust knowledge and experience as I navigate my own academic path. As an upcoming pediatric hospitalist fellow, I specifically look forward to continuing to think about the intersection of health literacy and inpatient medicine, while developing unique projects in this space.
Sheela Gavvala
Short Bio/ Statement of Interest: I am a pediatric hospitalist at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. I serve as the co-director of the pediatric residency advocacy rotation and co-director of the advocacy leadership track at UTHealth. I am an active APA member and a part of the inaugural class of the APA Health Policy Scholars Program. Additionally, I am a nonresident fellow at the Center for Health and Biosciences in the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. In my role at the Baker Institute, I am working on creating a series of workshops for health professionals to learn and apply skills to translate their clinical work and expertise into public health policy. My ongoing research interests include language barriers in hospital medicine, optimizing interpreter and translator use in hospital settings, inpatient social determinants of health screening and improving advocacy training to pediatric residents. I would be honored to serve as the Health Literacy SIG co-chair and investigate new and more consistent ways to screen for health literacy in our patient population as well as promote awareness and education regarding health literacy amongst providers, especially our trainees.
Jill Kaar
Short Bio/ Statement of Interest: I am an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado, School of Medicine. I hold a dual appointment with the Department of Surgery where I am the Director of Research Outcomes for Children’s Surgery. Through this role, I oversee all patient-centered outcome research projects led by our surgical faculty. I am a Fellow of the American Heart Association and hold a coveted seat on the council of lifestyle and cardiometabolic health. As a maternal and child epidemiologist my research focuses on improving health disparities for racially and ethnically minoritized and low-income families for disease prevention that spans cardiovascular to metabolic health. I am a trained health literacy specialist and a social determinants of health researcher. My programs (i.e., randomized clinical trials) target health and mental health literacy in both clinical and community settings with the goal of improving physical and mental health outcomes for children and youth. Through my work I focus enrollment on racially and ethnically minoritized and low income families who are most often not adequately represented in clinical trials. I work hard to serve such underserved populations by using innovative technology approaches (i.e., apps) that have the ability to reach individuals and families through their native languages, with or without internet access, and provide materials that are at an appropriate level of literacy in order to be inclusive for all learners.
Marguerite (Maggie) Costich
Short Bio/ Statement of Interest: It would be an honor to be considered for a Co-Chair position with the Medical Student Education SIG. I have had an active interest in medical education throughout my training and career and have pursued opportunities both in educational leadership and direct teaching. Through these experiences, I have worked to develop and implement innovative curriculums and learner assessment tools. I hope to have the opportunity to collaborate and learn from others with similar interests in medical education if selected as Co-Chair of the Medical Student Education SIG.
I work with medical students at Columbia University VP&S throughout the longitudinal curriculum. I am the Associate Course Director of Foundations of Clinical Medicine-Tutorials (FCM), a three-semester course designed to teach and assess clinical skills to first- and second-year medical students. In this role, I oversee course organization, develop innovative curricula including a hybrid telemedicine curriculum that includes asynchronous interactive online modules and a formative skills workshop with standardized patients, and provide direct teaching to medical students both during bedside sessions and small group didactics. As Pediatric Clerkship Director, I oversee pediatric clinical and educational experiences during students’ Major Clinical Year. I manage clerkship sites, lead faculty and resident development sessions on student assessment and feedback, develop and facilitate active learning curricula on common topics in pediatric care, and provide direct student support. In this role, I have developed and implemented EPA-focused workplace-based assessments (WBAs) in multiple clinical settings to increase delivery of targeted, behavior-linked feedback following clinical encounters. During my first year as Pediatric Clerkship Director, I was selected by VP&S students of the Class of 2024 as the Major Clinical Year Outstanding Teacher. I was also recently selected to be a part of the Virginia Apgar Academy for Medical Educators, a community of educators at VP&S.
I hope to have the opportunity to contribute to the community of educators in the APA Medical Student Education SIG as Co-Chair and share the knowledge and experience that I have gained in my roles in UME. I am deeply committed to increasing opportunities for direct observation and targeted behavior-based feedback for medical students and I would like to work with others to advance this work within the SIG. I am also excited to share with others what I have learned from my experiences in curriculum development and would like to collaborate with other SIG members to think about how to incorporate active learning and technology-based approaches in other areas of the longitudinal medical school curriculum.
I have been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn from and be mentored by a community of educators, both locally at VP&S and as part of participation in national organizations and teaching programs, such as the APEX teaching program and APA Medical Education Journal Club. I would like to work with those in the Medical Student Education SIG to foster other such collaboratives and to support conversations around undergraduate medical education innovations and consider opportunities for projects in UME across institutions.
Thank you very much for your consideration.
Amalia Guardiola
Short Bio/ Statement of Interest: I would be delighted to have the opportunity to serve as a Co-leader of the Medical Student Education SIG. I am an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and the Pediatric Clerkship Director for the last 7 years at McGovern Medical Houston at UT Health in Houston. Medical Student Education is my passion and where I have dedicated my Academic Career. I am an active member of COMSEP. I am the Co-Leader for the Professional and Faculty Development Collaborative as well as upcoming Co-Leader of the DEI Committee. Although I work closely with the 3rd and 4th year medical students, in the last year I have been more involved with the Pre-Clerkship students at my institution. I believe that introducing the students early on to the joy of a pediatric career is important. I am interested in expanding my network of dynamic educators. Looking to collaborate with others regarding innovations in education, brainstorming ideas on how to continue to improve medical education and discussing challenges in medical education. Also, I would like to share the joy and opportunities that medical education brings to the academic careers with others. Thank you for your consideration.
Luci Berg
Short Bio/ Statement of Interest: Hello, I’m writing to express interest in the co-chair position of the Urgent Care Special Interest Group. I’ve had the pleasure of working as a pediatrician in the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Urgent Care Network for the past 16 years. During this time, I’ve had the opportunity to lead or assist with many initiatives, including development of a Pediatric UC Resident Elective, Pediatric UC Toolkit/Handbook for onboarding new providers, UC CME Lecture Series, development of dedicated UC Social Work Services, and a new Academic Pediatric Acute Care Fellowship. I’m also involved with our UC Quality Improvement Program and represent our group in several multi-institutional studies our hospital is involved with.
I’m very pleased & enthusiastic about the growth and evolving identity & influence of Pediatric Urgent Care nationally, especially as it pertains to pediatric education & training, advocacy, quality improvement, and faculty development. Urgent Care provides a valuable service for families, the medical community, and society, and is also a wonderful learning environment for new providers, fellows, residents, medical students, and other healthcare learners. If selected as an Urgent Care SIG co-chair, I’d be proud to support acute care pediatricians in their academic endeavors, facilitate collaboration among academic institutions and with professional organizations, and continue to advance the role of Pediatric Acute Care. Thank you!
Emily Montgomery
Short Bio/ Statement of Interest: I have been a practicing urgent care pediatrician for 10 years and a medical educator for several years. I have also been a member of the APA Urgent Care SIG since its inception. I have a Master of Health Professions Education which gives me a unique foundation in medical education that will aid me in promoting academic aspects of pediatric urgent care. My relationships with multiple urgent care physicians, practitioners, and educators across the country will be beneficial for planning and for promoting our mission and vision as well. Some of my current projects and collaborations include being a part of the Academic Urgent Care Educators Task Force and the Acute Care Pediatric Accreditation Committee, which is working to standardize fellowship accreditation in academic urgent care. I also plan bi-monthly webinars with the Society for Pediatric Urgent Care to provide education to urgent care faculty across the country. I am also working with the Digital Scholarship Working Group of the E-Learning SIG of the APA to define digital scholarship and create recommendations for its inclusion in promotion and tenure criteria. While not specifically urgent care, I have had the opportunity to promote pediatric urgent care as an academic specialty.
I hope for the opportunity to use my connections and expertise to serve the APA Urgent Care SIG.