UW School of Medicine Faculty Thrivecast

Dr. Tim Dellit (Dean, UW School of Medicine; CEO, UW Medicine) provides his advice on effective leadership during periods of uncertainty. Drawing on experiences from navigating the COVID-19 pandemic and changing federal policies, Dr. Dellit emphasizes the importance of anchoring decisions in organizational values, leveraging crises to break down silos, and maintaining transparent, system-wide comm...

Dr. Somnath Mookherjee (Director, CLIME; Medicine) walks through the 2025 UW School of Medicine Teaching Portfolio Guidelines for faculty. Designed to showcase educational accomplishments in a scholarly, impactful way, these guidelines replace the former Executive Summary of Teaching. By condensing the format into a maximum of six pages (a title page and up to five 1-page Focused Contribution Summ...

Dr. Janna Friedly (Chair, Rehabilitation Medicine) discusses her experience navigating leadership roles as an introvert. She shares research highlighting the unique strengths of introverted leaders, particularly when managing extroverted team members. Dr. Friedly encourages listeners to pursue leadership roles that align with their interests, even before they feel "ready," and emphasizes...

Dr. Jake Doll (Medicine, Cardiology; UW Medicine Medical Director of Learning) discusses the role of AI in clinical work. In addition to note writing, AI can also be used to synthesize large amounts of clinical data. Dr. Doll emphasizes the importance of using secure AI tools, and describes how to trust but verify the results provided by the tool. He walks through both the benefits and concerns of...

Diana Chiang Cooke (Associate University Ombud, UW School of Medicine) introduces herself and provides an overview of what the Office of the Ombud offers to faculty, staff, trainees, and students. They are thought-partners for anyone who feels unsure of next steps related to conflict with a colleague, work performance, team dynamics, and more. The Office of the Ombud helps with brainstorming ideas...

Dr. Chris Goss (Medicine, Pediatrics; Associate Dean for Clinical Research) discusses ways faculty can partner with industry to fund clinical research, serving their patients with cutting-edge science. Dr. Goss recommends working with your department and the UW Clinical Trials Office who can help with the entire study process including conversations with industry partners, IRB questions, and site-...

Dr. Sahar Rooholamini (Pediatrics; Assistant Dean for Faculty Recruitment and Retention) continues her discussion on recruitment by diving into applicant assessments. Start with a rubric that uses clear, uniform criteria in a handful of domains agreed upon by the search committee. Dr. Rooholamini delineates the differences between policies at UW and emphasizes compliance with Executive Order 81 (E...

Dr. Somnath Mookherjee (Medicine; Director, CLIME) and Melissa Deabler-Urben (Faculty Affairs Events and Education Specialist) combine their expertise to provide tips on how to create an excellent workshop. They recommend starting with your goals for the workshop, then dive into alternate approaches to creating learning objectives while keeping the needs of the learners paramount through the proce...

Matt Lund (Chief Contracting Officer, UW Medicine) walks us through the models behind how we get paid at UW Medicine. He delineates the CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) methodologies for determining reimbursement amounts for different hospitals, clinics, and providers. Factors considered include the amount of medical education conducted, the amount of uncompensated care provided, c...

Dr. Nancy Connolly (Medicine; Executive Director for Community Health and Well-Being, US Chamber of Connection) provides context around the current widespread issue of loneliness in the US and solutions to both prevent and alleviate it. A strong sense of belonging and social connectedness are the keys to immunization against chronic loneliness. Dr. Connolly walks us through the data-driven six poi...

Dr. Stefanie Simmons (Emergency Medicine Physician; CMO, Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes' Foundation) explains ways we can shift the mindset around licensing and support for mental health care. She commends UW Medicine for receiving the All In Credentialing Champions Challenge Award for removing stigmatizing language and adding support resources in credentialing applications related to mental health a...

Dr. Genevieve Pagalilauan (Medicine; Co-Lead for Service Learning; Lead, Interprofessional Service Learning) provides tips for getting involved in advocacy in whichever areas you work. She gives background on finding her current roles, and demonstrates how accessible it can be to engage on a local or national level, including strategies for success when advocating with your legislative representat...

Dr. Kimberly Ma (Obstetrics and Gynecology; Assistant Chief Clinical Information Officer for UW Medicine) shares tips for organizing and customizing your EPIC inbox to save you time. Start by understanding how you use your inbox and your most commonly accessed features, then focus on optimizing those sections. Reduce time in EPIC by setting daily email reminders to notify you of messages. Set up t...

Dr. Neha Deshpande (Medicine, General Internal Medicine) shares best practices for how to effectively teach in small group settings. She recommends setting the session up for success with enthusiasm, shared goals, and planned interactive components. She then provides examples of some of her favorite prompts and intentional strategies for elevating quieter voices, as well as approaches to avoid. Fi...

Drs. Mollie Grow (Pediatrics) and Stefan Wheat (Emergency Medicine) discuss how faculty can get involved in improving climate health. Climate change is the single greatest public health threat of the 21st century and US Healthcare accounts for 8.5% of total US greenhouse gas emissions. The UW School of Medicine offers collaborative opportunities from medical student-led curriculum changes to an an...

Dr. Nathan White (Emergency Medicine; Associate Dean for RGE at Harborview Medical Center; Director, Resuscitation Engineering Science Unit) explains how he brought an idea from his clinical practice to market. Dr. White developed Stasys, a medical device that diagnoses platelet health for trauma care. Start with identifying a need or gap in your clinical work. Then seek out experts across the Uni...

Fiona Wills (Associate Vice Provost for Innovation Development and Commercialization, UW) explains the resources available to research faculty, postdocs, and graduate students looking to commercialize an innovation through UW's CoMotion. She discusses all of the steps of the commercialization process, from training to startup, including different methods of protecting your intellectual proper...

Dr. Sahar Rooholamini (Pediatrics; Assistant Dean for Recruitment and Retention) walks us through the steps for recruiting faculty using equitable, mission-aligned best practices. Dr. Rooholamini shares strategies for active outreach to gather a diverse pool of applicants, delineates key qualities of an exemplary job ad, and explains the role of the search committee in leading and standardizing th...

Dr. Elia Tait Wojno (Immunology; Director, Mentor Education for UW School of Medicine) provides background on the CIMER (Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research) program and gives advice for anyone who wants to become a mentor in their career. She explains how to establish shared expectations and communicate with a sense of curiosity as you create a working platform for the...

Dr. David Morgenroth (Rehabilitation Medicine) walks through the entire process of creating a strategic plan. Learn about the steps involved from defining the scope and inviting the right mix of voices to the table, to analyzing data, assigning tactics and finally implementation. Dr. Morgenroth encourages folks to be realistic about the timeline, maintain some flexibility once the plan is created,...

Dr. Yaw Nyame (Urology) explains how his team has succeeded in engaging in community-based health equity research and provides guidance for those seeking to do this work. PCORI (Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute) has resources to help you find partners, but you can also work with advocacy organizations or through conversations with your patients. Recognize power differentials between th...

Dr. Jenny Mladenovic (President and CEO of the Center for Women in Academic Medicine and Science) shares her advice and perspective for stepping into a new leadership role. Whether at a new institution or your current one, learn strategies to set yourself up for success from the start. She provides guidance on recognizing your own biases and gaps in knowledge, seeking input from a diversity of sou...

Dr. Anne Browning (Chief Well-Being Officer, UW Medicine; Associate Dean for Well-Being, School of Medicine) discusses her new role as CWO and plans for the future of well-being at UW Medicine. She details some preliminary results from the first system-wide well-being survey and action plans, from systems-level interventions to local well-being grants. Dr. Browning also describes the infrastructur...

Dr. Estell Williams (Surgery; Executive Director, Center for Workforce Inclusion and Healthcare System Equity) highlights the work being done in the WIHSE program and provides advice for folks wanting to engage with community partners in educational spaces for STEM careers. Engage learners as early as third grade, understanding the diversity of their needs to ensure the best chance of long term su...

Keri Nasenbeny (CNO, Harborview Medical Center), joins us in this episode to provide advice on how to create high performing teams, especially in interdisciplinary spaces. Start by establishing trust and cohesion with your team, and learn strategies to set those foundations. Learn about how to create a team quickly when needed, and also what to do when a team isn't functioning as well as you...