CURRICULUM VITAE
SIMULATION IN MEDICAL EDUCATION
​
Simulation training in medical education offers learners the opportunity to practice valuable clinical skills in communication, problem-solving and decision-making without compromising the ethical and legal rights of patients or jeopardizing patient safety. Areas of research in simulation include team communication and coordination during high-intensity and crisis situations, development of team training exercises to enhance team communication and coordination, and hands-on CME/GME training courses including simulations in difficult airways, Basic Life Support (BLS), Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS), Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS), and multidisciplinary team training during simulated high-stress crisis situations. From 2009-2016, I served as the exam proctor for the state of Oregon for the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS) Program, Fundamentals of Endoscopic Surgery (FES) Exam, The Fundamental use of Surgical Energy (FUSE) Exam, and participated in development of the beta-version of the GYN Surgery Exam. In 2016, I was the Co-PI on a grant which was funded by the Providence Medical Foundation for the creation of a simulation training laboratory and development of a inter-disciplinary simulation curriculum.
QUALITY IMPROVEMENT IN HEALTHCARE
​
Quality improvement (QI) consists of systematic and continuous actions that lead to a measurable improvement in healthcare delivery. Specific areas of work have included utilizing large databases including the ACS-National Quality Improvement Program, The National Cancer Data Base, and electronic health records in order to analyze trends in error reporting and adverse events, root cause analysis of "near misses" and risk reduction, with the goal of improving healthcare systems and patient outcomes. QI initiatives have included development of patient care pathways and hospital-wide initiatives to reduce inefficiencies in care, decrease length of hospital stay, improve patient outcomes and reduce adverse events.
MEDICAL DEVICE INNOVATION
Minimally invasive procedures encompass techniques that utilize small incisions. These techniques usually result in decreased wound leaning time, associated pain, risk of infection, as well as shorter hospital stays, or allow for treatment on an out-patient basis. Areas of research include medical device innovation in laparoscopy, natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES), per-oral endoscopic myotomy (POEM), robotically-assisted laparoscopic surgery, and endoscopy.
HUMAN FACTORS & ERGONOMICS ENGINEERING
Human factors research focuses on three main areas including, human performance, technology interface design and human-computer interaction. In medical applications, human factors helps to improve human performance and reduce the risks associated with user error. Human factors engineering is the science and the methods used to make devices easier and safer to use. When applied to medical devices, human factors engineering helps to improve human performance and reduce the risks associated with use. Developing an ergonomic user interface is one of the main challenges in the adoption of these technologies. Research projects have included human factors and ergonomics engineering for medical devices used in the operating room and endoscopy suite.
TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH
Translational research is the process of applying basic science knowledge to clinical trials with the aim to improve outcomes in healthcare. Recent interests include tumor immunology and how the immune system senses tumor cells and development of treatment strategies in immunotherapy. Clinical research studies worked on include both institutionally derived as well as national clinical trials in the area of liver, pancreas and biliary cancers.
NANOSCIENCE, NANOTECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING
Nanotechnology in medicine is a multidisciplinary scientific field which has applications in the modalities in diagnosis and treatment of disease, because a majority of biological processes occur at the nanoscale. Due to their small size, nanoscale materials are able to cross biological surfaces and membranes, where as particles of larger size cannot. Areas of research include utilizing these properties of nanoscale materials to design novel treatments and therapies, such as the use of carbon nanotubes as targeted drug delivery devices for small molecules.