NEGEA 2018

Reena Karani, MD, MHPE, FACP, AGSF

Professor
Departments of Medical Education, Medicine and Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine

Senior Associate Dean
Undergraduate Medical Education and Curricular Affairs

Director, Institute for Medical Education
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Dr. Karani received a Bachelor of Science from Brown University and a Doctor of Medicine from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She completed her residency and chief residency in Internal Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and her fellowship, chief fellowship and medical education research fellowship in Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at Mount Sinai. She also received a Master of Health Professions Education from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Karani's research interests include clinical workplace-based learning, feedback and assessment and innovative ways to teach medical students and train their educators to be outstanding teachers.

Dr. Karani is deeply involved in educating learners at all levels.  Currently she oversees the education program leading up to the MD degree at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.  She serves as faculty and is on the steering committee of Harvard University's Macy Program for Educators in the Health Professions. In addition, she is a founding Co-Director of the Harvard Program for Postgraduate Trainees. She served as Chair of the Education Committee for the Society of General Internal Medicine and currently chairs the Medical Education Research Review Committee for the American Geriatrics Society. She is a member of the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) Executive Board, serves on the USMLE Management Committee, the NBME Finance & Audit Committee and Chairs the Step 2CS Test Materials Development Committee. In addition, Dr. Karani serves as a Deputy Editor in Medical Education for the Journal of General Internal Medicine. She serves as Chair of the Research in Medical Education (RIME) Committee for the Association of American Medical Colleges. Dr. Karani is the author of countless peer-reviewed publications focused on medical education and has served as a mentor to innumerable students, residents, fellows and faculty. Dr. Karani is a sought after speaker nationally and internationally and has served as Visiting Professor at several prestigious institutions.

Dr. Karani's honors include the Sigma Xi Scientific Honor Society, Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society, the Presidential Award in Medical Education from AGS, the John A. Hartford Center of Excellence Scholar, the Excellence in Teaching Award from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, National Award for Scholarship in Medical Education from SGIM and Master Educator from the Institute of Medical Education, Icahn School of Medicine Mount Sinai.

Maria Alejandro Blanca, EdD

Maria Alejandra Blanco, EdD, is the Associate Dean for Faculty Development at Tufts University School of Medicine and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry. She is responsible for designing, implementing and evaluating faculty development programs for teaching faculty across the four years of medical education (including resident- and student-as-teachers programs). Maria also supports the development of faculty from other institutional professional schools in the Health Sciences campus, such as, the School of Dental Medicine and the School of Nutrition. She is dedicated to scholarly activities and educational scholarship and to collaborating with faculty in creating educational programs and providing experience in new instructional methods and program evaluation, in addition to conducting research and mentoring in medical education. Maria is the principal investigator or Co-PI on numerous research projects, and received funding from the Schwartz Center and the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations for projects to advance training in compassionate care. Her most recent national research projects includes, Personality Compatibility Within Faculty Mentoring Dyads:  Can we predict career success? (sponsored by the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC)-Group on Educational Affairs (GEA) National Grant Program), The Learning Environment in Medical School;A Collaborative Study of the Innovative Strategies for Transforming the Education of Physicians (ISTEP) Study Group (sponsored by the American Medical Association), and A Survey Study of Evidence-Based Medicine Training in United States and Canadian Medical Schools; A Collaborative study of the AAHSL and GEA-MESRE Task Force. Her work has been presented at the Annual meetings of the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC), American Educational Research Association (AERA), the AAMC Northeast Group on Educational Affairs (NEGEA), the Generalists in Medical Education and the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE), and published in Medical Teacher, Medical Education, Teaching and Learning in Medicine and MedEdPortal. Maria is a peer reviewer for Academic Medicine, Medical Education, Teaching and Learning in Medicine, Advances in Health Sciences Education, the Journal of Graduate Medical Education and the Journal of Interprofessional Care. She is also a faculty mentor and associate editor for the MedEdPortal journal, and is the past-president of the Society of Directors in Medical Education Research (SDRME).

Maria received her Bachelor of Science in Psychopedagogy from the El Salvador University, School of Educational Psychology in Buenos Aires. She completed Fellowship training in Neuropsychopedagogy at the Dr. Garrahan National Children's Hospital. Maria has worked for five years as an Educational Consultant, Faculty Developer, and Educational Researcher for the Schools of Medicine and Nursing at the Austral University in Pilar, Argentina. In 2002, she was the recipient of a Fulbright/National Ministry of Education Grant and earned a Masters in Education Degree at Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE).  She came to the HGSE, where she earned a Doctorate of Education in Teaching and Learning in 2007 and simultaneously worked as an Educational Consultant and Researcher in Faculty Development in the Office of Educational Development at the Harvard Medical School.  She joined Tufts University School of Medicine in 2007. Medical Education has become Maria's professional passion, and she is committed to assist medical educators with advancing their educational efforts and scholarship as much as she can.

Maria is originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and has a wonderful family who supports her from the distance. She also loves exercising, field hockey, outdoors activities, traveling, reading, and appreciating nature and the arts.

Norma S. Saks, EdD

Norma S. Saks, EdD. is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, Assistant Dean for Educational Programs, and Director of the Cognitive Skills Program at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Dr. Saks has been counseling medical students regarding study and test taking strategies and time management, as well as specific preparation strategies for the USMLE for over 25 years. She also instructs medical residents on effective preparation strategies for intraining exams and certification boards. Dr. Saks is a member of the RWJMS Admissions, Curriculum, and Academic Standing Committees. She co-directed the Patient Centered Medicine course in the first and second years for many years, and currently is responsible for three medical education electives, including Experience in Art and Medicine in collaboration with the Rutgers University Zimmerli Art Museum. She initiated and currently directs the Distinction in Medical Education Program, a 4-year program for students interested in academic medicine, which culminates in the completion of a scholarly project. Dr. Saks served as Chair of the Northeast Group on Educational Affairs (NEGEA) between 2012 and 2015, and as a member of the GEA National Steering Committee during that time. She has served on the Board of the International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE) since 2012, and is chair of the IAMSE Grants Committee.  Dr. Saks received her BS degree from Skidmore College, a master's degree in reading instruction from Boston University, a Specialist in Education degree in learning disabilities, and her EdD. in Educational Psychology from Rutgers University. She is the author of journal articles, MedEd Portal submissions, and a book, How to Excel in Medical School, Ed. 3--and a founding member of the Medical Education Learning Specialists (MELS) group, which originated from a SIG at NEGEA Educational Retreats. Last April Dr. Saks was presented with the Meritorious Service Award by Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

Neha Patel, MD, MS

Neha Patel, MD, MS (project leader); Jennifer S. Myers, MD; Patrick J. Brennan, MD; Jeffrey Berns, MD; Jia Lapointe, MBA

The NEGEA supports and encourages innovation in medical education. An innovation can be the introduction or development of a new method, process, approach, or technological application that provides a solution to a problem in medical education. This year, Dr. Neha Patel and her colleagues, from the Perelman School of Medicine, won this award for their innovation: “Building a Pipeline of Future Quality and Safety Leaders While Accelerating Organizational Quality Improvement Efforts at Penn Medicine.”