2021年6月30日

When did you join UTHealth? What brought you here?
我于1998年10月加入UTHealth，担任临时合同雇员，到1998年12月，由教育计划帕特里夏·巴特勒（Patricia Butler）博士的教育计划办公室（OEP）担任支持专家，担任教育计划副院长的支持专家。我刚从高中毕业，希望找到自己的职业道路，同时又是一名兼职的夜间大学生。当时我不熟悉医学教育，看到学生，教职员工和工作人员的所有隐藏过程和辛勤工作真是太神奇了。

Tell me about your work history here.
Over the years in Educational Programs, I worked with a few different programs and countless faculty from all departments for those programs. I worked with the Summer Enrichment Program and the Pre-Entry Program, where dinners for the student participants and faculty at Dr. Butler’s home were always a highlight. I then moved to work with the Fundamentals of Clinical Medicine (FCM) and Problem Based Learning (PBL) course, where I worked closely with Dr. Stanley Schultz, former dean, and Dr. Donald Molony, professor in Renal Diseases and Hypertension. Many of these programs have evolved over the years, but the mission remains the same. In 2005, I went “across the street” to MD Anderson Cancer Center for an administrative role working with the rotating students, residents, and fellows in the Anesthesia and Critical Care programs from UTHealth. My time at MD Anderson allowed me to see the varied work cultures at the different healthcare education entities. After a year there, I missed the collaborative spirit that our faculty at McGovern Medical School exhibit daily. I found a new work home in the Department of Internal Medicine, in an Educational Programs Coordinator role, ironically enough, for the FCM course, which had now been formally separated from PBL and moved into Internal Medicine, as well as the Fourth-Year IM Required Ambulatory clerkship. It was great to be able to start my new job working with many of the faculty members that I had previously worked with while in Educational Programs. Dr. John Foringer, now vice-chair in the Department of Internal Medicine, was a junior faculty member at that time and had just taken over as course director for the FCM course. I have worked with Dr. Mark A. Farnie, student clerkship director for many years, and for anyone that knows him, he provides entertainment in every workday. I am glad that I still get to work with him today, albeit more so in one of his other roles as Program Director for the combined Internal Medicine and Pediatrics Residency program. I have been able to grow professionally in Internal Medicine over the years, moving through the track of educational program coordinator and program manager positions and into my current role as senior program manager for education for the entire Department of Internal Medicine. I work with a team of dedicated coordinators in our student, resident, and fellow educational programs. As previously mentioned, many of the faculty I worked with in my first position in the Office of Educational Programs, I have been able to work with in different capacities. I recall seeing Dr. Philip Orlander frequently in OEP since he was the departing Curriculum Committee chair when I started in 1998, and now in his role as vice-chair for education in Internal Medicine, I work with him daily on a spectrum of educational items for the Department of Internal Medicine.

What are you most proud of accomplishing?
我要说的是，我们整个内科部门的GME计划的10年ACGME认证现场访问。2018年3月，我们是McGovern医学院的第一家完成该部门范围内流程的第一家，并被ACGME视为巨型部门，因为我们同时审查了这么多计划。与所有17名计划董事和协调员以及研究生医学教育副院长Pamela Promecene博士紧密合作，现在我们的ACGME指定机构官员（DIO）为这项庞大的部门工作，是一项良好的经验，我很荣幸能说出自己很自豪地说。我们所有的计划都获得了全面的认证。

What do you enjoy most about your work?
I enjoy the collaborative spirit of our faculty who value everyone’s contributions to the mission. Additionally, working with trainees at various levels over the years, it has been very rewarding to see individuals who were medical students when I first started at UTHealth now as physician leaders in our institution, such as Dr. Mark Warner, program director of the Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship.

你为什么留下来？
The people. I have had the great fortune to always have the best administrative and faculty bosses at McGovern, and great colleagues throughout all departments. I have an amazing DMO, Sarah Peirce, who, when we were both in more junior roles in the department, we shared an office and have maintained a very positive and supportive relationship over the years. I stay in contact with multiple colleagues who have retired or moved to other institutions around the country. The friendships you build here definitely last. Beginning my career at UTHealth at the age of 19, I have literally grown up around these wonderful people.

When you are not at work, how do you spend your time?
Traveling. I always look forward to being on a beach or discovering a new place, so I am excited that we now have the COVID vaccine and travel is more accessible. I also enjoy relaxing and spending downtime with family and friends, whether it is at sushi happy hour, a backyard BBQ, or family game night.