VHA SimLEARN
Congratulations to our 2020-2021 Interprofessional Advanced Clinical Simulation Fellows
By: Jason Chandrapal, MD, Advanced Clinical Simulation Fellow, Durham, North Carolina
On Thursday, June 17th SimLEARN held a virtual graduation ceremony for the 2020-2021 Interprofessional Advanced Clinical Simulation Fellows. This was a very special year given the COVID-19 pandemic in which all the fellowship events and conferences were held virtually for the first time. This year there were a total of 7 fellows from 5 different VA sites. The cohort was a diverse mixture of healthcare professionals consisting of physicians, nurses, and dentists. Apart from working in simulation activities at their local institutions and individual fellowship projects, the simulation fellows attended bimonthly SimLEARN meetings, a weeklong virtual SimLEARN Conference, and gave a national presentation to the simulation community of practice. We are very proud of this class for their resiliency and professionalism and look forward to all the great things they will accomplish. Below is a list of the fellows and where they are headed after graduation.
2020-2021 Advanced Interprofessional Clinical Simulation Fellows
Durham, NC (Directors: Mary Holtschneider and Chan Park)
- Charlotte Pham, DO – Physical medicine and rehabilitation physician at the VAMC in Wilmington, NC
- Jason Chandrapal, MD – Continuing the SimLEARN fellowship for another year
Dayton, OH (Directors: Julie Lee Dayton, Kateri Gabriele, and Ankur Gupta)
- Nicole Armitage PhD, APRN, Colonel (USAF, retired) – Women’s Veteran Program Manager at the VAMC in Dayton, OH.
- Jonathan Lafond, MD – Hospitalist physician at the VAMC in Dayton, OH
San Francisco, CA (Directors: Richard Fidler and Jan Hirsh)
- Lauren Anderson, DMS – Oral maxillary surgery fellowship at Boston University Medical Center
Pittsburgh, PA (Directors: Mary Ellen Elias and Lillian Emlet)
- Arshia Ashjaei, DDS - Continuing the SimLEARN fellowship for another year
Providence, RI (Director: Stacy Brady and Nick Carruthers)
- Baraa Tayeb, MD, MS.PREP, D.ABA – Anesthesiology physician and faculty of medicine position at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
As part of this fellowship class, we would like to personally thank SimLEARN for the opportunity to expand our simulation education and to promote our educational skills. We would like to thank the SimLEARN staff, especially Nelson Wong, Laura Kim, and LeAnn Schlamb for their dedication and hard work this past year.
