LIAM program bridges HSC and Belknap Campuses to cultivate faculty leaders

August 7, 2020

The third cohort of the Leadership and Innovation in Academic Medicine (LIAM) program completed an 11-month course to develop faculty leaders by presenting their projects designed to improve academic work or health care at the University of Louisville. LIAM is one of the most popular programs offered by the HSC Office of Faculty Development.

The 25 members of the class of 2019-2020, organized in five teams, outlined plans for improving faculty research productivity, patient access, employee recognition, communication and active learning in July. This was the first LIAM class to include faculty from the Belknap Campus.

The mission of the LIAM program is to develop the next generation of leaders at UofL by teaching them the skills needed first to lead themselves, then lead with others and finally, lead an organization. Faculty members enroll in an 11-month training program that includes regular discussions and the capstone team projects.

[caption id="attachment_50969" align="alignleft" width="640"] Gerard Rabalais, M.D., M.H.A.[/caption]

“Leadership is a set of skills that you can practice. It’s not something you are born with or not born with, but there is a set of definable skills, and with any skill, if you practice it, you get better at it,” said Gerard Rabalais, who developed and directs the LIAM program with Staci Saner.

LIAM originally was designed as a program for faculty in the School of Medicine, but has evolved quickly to include faculty members across the university.

“Our five-year goal is for 15% of the faculty at the Health Sciences Center campus to complete this program. Once you get to that tipping point, synergy is going to start to kick in,” Rabalais said. “That is the result of the cross-disciplinary relationships that develop, meet and work with people they would never have worked with before from different departments or across colleges. Now that we have increased interest from faculty on the Belknap Campus, with 16 people completing the program by July 2021, we likely will set the same target for Belknap Campus.”

During the event, the program’s fourth cohort of 40 faculty members was introduced. It is the largest class in the program’s history and includes 11 members from Belknap Campus and nine from Health Sciences Center schools other than the School of Medicine.

Projects and team members in the LIAM class of 2019-2020:

Improving Faculty Research Productivity: David Brown, Linda Fuselier, Brandon McCormack, Susan Ryan, Siobhan Smith-Jones

Patient Access at UofL Physicians: Jennifer Daily, Luz Huntington-Moskos, Marija Sasek, Maria Mendoza, Rodolfo Zamora

Employee Recognition: HimaBindu Dukka, Arpita Lakhotia, W. David Lohr, Suzanne McGee, Michael Sweeney

Communication: Brit Anderson, Tamer Mohamed, Kimberly Pate, William Tse

Driving Active Learning: Michael Egger, James Harrison, Chithra Ram, Jennifer Stiff, Tracy VanMeter, Beverly Williams-Coleman

LIAM program class of 2020-2021:

Jason Gainous Arts & Sciences
Kandi Walker Arts & Sciences
Regina Roebuck Arts & Sciences
Benjamin Mast Arts & Sciences
Kevin Gawley Arts & Sciences
Dawn Heinecken Arts & Sciences
Amy Flint Education and Human Development
Douglas Craddock Education and Human Development
Andrew McCart Education and Human Development
Ishwanzya Rivers Education and Human Development
Brigitte Burpo Education and Human Development
Jill Steinbach-Rankins Speed School of Engineering
Matthew Fox Medicine
Adam Ross Medicine
Ashley Iles Medicine
April Herrity Medicine
Beatrice Ugiliweneza Medicine
Timothy Ford Medicine
Siddharth Shah Medicine
Becca Hart Medicine
Kelly Jackson Medicine
Sunnye Mayes Medicine
Jeff Meyer Medicine
Courtney Smith Medicine
Joshua Sparks Medicine
Rebecca Starr Seal Medicine
Amanda LeBlanc Medicine
Leslie Sherwood Medicine
Samuel Carson Medicine
Clayton Tyler Ellis Medicine
Kellen Choi Medicine
Cynethia Bethel-Jaiteh Nursing
Muna Hammash Nursing
Imelda Wright Nursing
J'Aime Jennings Public Health and Information Sciences
Brian Marrillia Dentistry
Lavina Myers Dentistry
Juhi Bagaitkar Dentistry
Gill Diamond Dentistry
Ashley King-Tinsley Dentistry

Betty Coffman

Betty Coffman is a communications coordinator focused on research and innovation at UofL. A UofL alumna and Louisville native, she served as a writer and editor for local and national publications and as an account services coordinator and copywriter for marketing and design firms prior to joining UofL’s Office of Communications and Marketing.