The University of Louisville School of Medicine is training its future leaders.

Sixteen members of the UofL School of Medicine faculty began a 10-month training program on Sept. 21, aimed at developing future leaders for academic medical institutions. Leadership and Innovation in Academic Medicine (LIAM) is designed to develop innovative thinking skills in early to mid-career faculty who may be interested in pursuing leadership roles in the future.

“This program will equip the future leaders of the UofL School of Medicine with the foundational platform to build their leadership skills for the rest of their careers,” said Gerard Rabalais, M.D., M.H.A., associate dean of faculty development.

Participants will attend monthly three-hour meetings, work independently and prepare interdisciplinary projects designed to improve some aspect of the school. Leaders in the UofL School of Medicine, as well as faculty from the UofL College of Business, College of Education and Human Development and members of the business community, will lead the monthly meetings. The curriculum will address leading oneself, leading others and leading an organization, all focused on leadership challenges specific to academic medicine.

“I hope they gain an appreciation for the importance of emotional intelligence, and an understanding that the key role of the leader is to provide more than operational effectiveness, but to cast the vision and devise the innovation strategy that provides new and sustainable value to the academic medical center and the communities we serve,” Rabalais said.

The 2017-18 participants, below, were selected from 54 applicants. Rabalais and Staci Saner, M.Ed., program manager of faculty development, part of the Office of Faculty Affairs and Advancement, developed the curriculum.

“We anticipate that the innovative solutions they develop as part of their projects will be directly applicable to current challenges in the School,” Rabalais said.

The 2017 class of LIAM

Christine Brady, PhD                            Pediatrics

Elizabeth Cash, PhD                              Otolaryngology-HNS & Communicative Disorders

Jeremy Clark, MD                                 Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences

Luz Fernandez, MD                              Family Medicine

Brian Holland, MD                                Pediatric Cardiology

Adrienne Jordan, MD                          Pathology

Farid Kehdy, MD                                   Surgery

Kathrin LaFaver, MD                            Neurology

Sara Multerer, MD                               Pediatrics

Alexander V. Ovechkin, MD, PhD     Neurological Surgery

Sara Petruska, MD                                Ob/Gyn and Women's Health

Carolyn Roberson, PhD                       Microbiology and Immunology

Tyler Sharpe, MD                                  Internal Medicine

Hugh Shoff, MD                                     Department of Emergency Medicine

Leah J. Siskind, PhD                              Pharmacology and Toxicology

Laura Workman, MD                           Internal Medicine-Pediatrics