Dear Colleagues,
It is my pleasure to recognize our fellow professors, Dr. Laura Henderson-Kelley, Associate Dean for Community, Professional Proficiency and Student Success, and Dr. Laura Hesemann, chair of the Department of Pediatrics, for their acceptance into the prestigious Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program. It is especially gratifying to announce these achievements during Women’s History Month.
ELAM is a competitive, year-long fellowship run by the Drexel University College of Medicine and is dedicated to helping women leaders develop the professional and personal skills needed to lead and manage in the modern health care environment.
The program runs two fellowships: the ELAM track, which focuses on preparing for leadership roles in education and research, and the Executive Leadership in Health Care (ELH) track, which focuses on advancing in hospital leadership roles. Dr. Henderson-Kelley will join the ELAM track, and Dr. Hesemann will be in the ELH track.
They join a community of more than 1,500 accomplished women in a variety of leadership positions, including department chairs, research center directors, deans, college presidents and chief executives in health care and accrediting organizations.
Several of our own faculty members are already part of that community. Most recently, Dr. Jean Goodman, the chair of OB/GYN and Women’s Health, and Dr. Emily Fondahn, chief quality officer, hospitalist and associate professor of medicine will graduate from the program in April. They join Dr. Laine Young-Walker, chair of Psychiatry; Dr. Kristin Hahn-Cover, chair of Medicine; Dr. Elizabeth Parks, professor of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology; and Dr. Lee-Ann Allen, chair of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, as alumnae of the program.
Our medical students, residents and fellows deserve the best of the best, and so do our patients. Dr. Henderson-Kelley and Dr. Hesemann’s newfound knowledge and experience will be vital when creating decisions and policy changes in the future.
I am grateful to work with so many passionate leaders dedicated to working with integrity, joy and empathy. They are the reason our academic health system is successful, and I hope you will join me in congratulating Dr. Henderson-Kelley and Dr. Hesemann.
If you are interested or have a colleague you think would be an outstanding candidate for next year, please get in touch with my office.
Sincerely,
Rick Barohn, MD
Executive Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs and Hugh E. and Sarah D. Stephenson Dean, School of Medicine
rbarohn@health.missouri.edu
