Stephanie Berger, MD
University of Alabama
I’m originally from North Carolina and did both my undergraduate and medical school at UNC-Chapel Hill. After graduation, I went to the University of Alabama at Birmingham for my pediatric residency. Post residency, I joined the faculty as a pediatric hospitalist. In 2015, I was named the Assistant Director of the Pediatric Clerkship as well as a lead mentor of one of our learning communities. In 2019, I assumed a co-director role of our Patient, Doctor and Society Module for MS1s. I also have a green belt in six sigma (QI methodology) as serve as a QI coach/mentor for the pediatric residency.
I love working in the academic community at UAB as it is inspiring to shape the careers of our residents and fellows, but my passion in medical education is strongest with the medical students. My first COMSEP annual meeting was in 2015 – the welcoming feeling of this organization was almost palpable, and I knew that COMSEP was the group that I would now call my academic home.
I believe COMSEP will continue to be a centralized resource for pediatric educators as the UME landscape continues to change and together we navigate a world of STEP 1 pass/fail and heightened focus on the clerkship grade as well as the possibility of continued virtual interviews post pandemic. I would be honored to serve on the executive committee and give back to COMSEP such that the organization can continue to flourish now and in the future.
Amy Creel, MD
LSU New Orleans
Hello! I am excited for the opportunity to run for a position on the COMSEP Executive Committee. I am an Associate Professor at LSU New Orleans. I practice clinically in pediatric critical care and I began my work in medical education when I was named clerkship director during my first year out of training, a position I continued for 10 years. Thankfully, my predecessor gently nudged that very overwhelmed me to COMSEP where I found myself inspired and supported by the most amazing and challenging group of mentors and friends I could have ever imagined. The COMSEP community quickly became a professional home and continues to provide inspiration and support for my growth as an educator. At my first COMSEP meeting I attended the Professional and Faculty Development Collaborative (PFDC - then called the Faculty Development Task Force) meeting. I quickly realized COMSEP is not just a conference you attend, membership offers a lifetime supply of resources, opportunity, hugs, challenges, mentors, and dancing!
Working with the PFDC group, and eventually serving as PFDC leader led directly to my current local position as Children's Hospital of New Orleans Faculty Development and Medical Education Research Community Leader. I've continue to serve COMSEP on the Annual Meeting Planning Committee, co-leading planning for the 2021 virtual Annual Meeting. During the meeting planning process I had the opportunity to work very closely with the Past-President and Degnon as well as many other COMSEP members. Over the past two years, I have also become active with the Research and Scholarship Collaborative (how cool that with zoom we can now attend more than one collaborative meeting!), and am working with other members of this group on several projects.
This wonderful COMSEP organization continues to grow and lead the way in medical student education. I cherish connection to COMSEP members and their work. A benefit of the digital age is the ability of COMSEP members to connect more frequently and to disseminate efforts and accomplishments more broadly and easily. If elected I will continue to work to implement COMSEP's Strategic goals with particular focus on expanding the ways in which COMSEP members connect with each other and the work. Thank you for your consideration!
Gabrina Dixon, MD
Children's Hospital National/George Washington Univeristy School of Medicine
I am excited to be nominated for the Executive Committee of COMSEP. I have been a member of COMSEP for 9 years. I am a pediatric hospital medicine attending and associate professor of pediatrics at Children’s National Hospital/George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington DC. Also, I am an associate medical education director at Children’s National Hospital, specifically working as inpatient pediatric director for the Howard University College of Medicine students rotating at the hospital.
As a member of COMSEP, I presented workshop and poster presentations on teaching and assessing medical students clinical reasoning. I am a contributor to the PedScripts application that was developed by the COMSEP Curriculum Task Force. It is a web base and mobile application that is available in the apple app store. I am the recipient of the 2015 COMSEP Richard T. Sarkin Foundation for Medical Education Grant. As a result of this award, I was able to publish two papers: 1) Factors that Influence the Choice of Academic Pediatrics by Underrepresented Minorities (URM), Pediatrics 2019 and 2) Factors that Influence Underrepresented in Medicine Medical Students to Pursue a Career in Academic Pediatrics, Journal of the National Medical Association 2021.
Presently, I am a member of the COMSEP Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) action team and working group. I would love the opportunity to continue to work with the great members of COMSEP by becoming a part of the Executive Committee.
Michele Long, MD
UC San Francisco
Hello fellow COMSEPers! I am excited to be nominated for a position on the COMSEP Executive Committee. I am currently the UC San Francisco Co-director of Pediatric Student Career Advising and the Director of UCSF EPAC, a longitudinal UME-to-GME pediatric pathway. I have been in COMSEP for over 10 years, during which time I have taught in multiple practice settings and held various education leadership roles; COMSEP members have been my supporters throughout.
Through my engagement as co-leader of the COMSEP Curriculum Committee and of the COMSEP Post-Clerkship Collaborative, I have worked to enhance the educational landscape at annual meetings and beyond. I have COMSEP to thank for numerous mentoring, scholarship, and workshop experiences that have shaped my identity as a medical educator, and I would be honored to engage as an Executive Committee member to support others in COMSEP through this position.
I love COMSEP… my greatest education leadership joys have come from collaboration with COMSEPers to create curricula, enact projects, and improve the educational environment. To the Executive Committee position I would bring my enthusiasm, my creative mind, my collaborative problem-solving skills, my passion for supporting learners and understanding their unique needs and perspectives, my dedication to excellence, and a genuine commitment to seek to understand and represent the needs of all in our diverse community who call COMSEP their academic and professional “home.”
Melissa Held
University of Connecticut
I am thrilled to be nominated for the COMSEP Executive Committee! I have been an active member of COMSEP since 2006 when I served as an assistant clerkship director. Over the years, I went on to become the Pediatric clerkship director and Director of Pediatric Medical Education at the University of CT School of Medicine and CT Children’s Medical Center for more than 13 years. A few years ago, I become the Associate Dean of Student Affairs at the school of medicine.
My roles in COMSEP have been varied but I have always made it a priority to be an active member. I have consistently been a part of the Curriculum Collaborative since 2006. Throughout my time in COMSEP, I have served on the Nominations and Awards committee (elected), have been a co-Task force leader (now called collaborative) for the Pre-clinical and Pre-clerkship subcommittee, and was an integral member of the COMSEP Curriculum Revision action team. Over the past few years, our action team worked hard to revise the COMSEP clerkship curriculum to become more streamlined, flexible and adaptable to these changing educational times.
If I were elected to the Executive Committee, I would continue to uphold all that COMSEP stands for but also help to move the organization forward in these challenging times. It is important to me to build strong relationships and have good communication in everything I do. COMSEP has been at the heart of my career as a pediatric medical educator and I would love to be able to serve and give back to the organization. I hope you will consider my candidacy.