Student Stories

Mary Lynn McPherson, PharmD, MA, MDE, FAAHPM (She/Her)
Health Professions Education PhD Student  

Lynn completed her Doctor of Pharmacy degree in 1986, and in more recent years earned a Master of Arts from UMBC in Instructional Systems Development, and a second masters degree from UMUG in Distance Education and e-Learning. After graduating in 1986 from the School of Pharmacy, Dr. McPherson accepted a position as a clinical pharmacy specialist at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore. After four years, she returned to the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, as a faculty member. She has served in several capacities in education since joining the faculty including Director, Nontraditional Doctor of Pharmacy Program, Vice Chair for Academic Affairs/Education, and Executive Director of Advanced Post-Graduate Education in Palliative Care. She also serves as Executive Director of the Online Graduate Studies in Palliative Care (5 graduate certificates, a Master of Science in Palliative Care, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Palliative Care). Lynn has practiced, taught, and conducted research in hospice and palliative care her entire career. She also served as Director of Pharmacotherapy in a UMMC primary care clinic. Lynn is focused on the Online Graduate Studies in Palliative Care (graduate certificates, MS, PhD) and would like to continue her efforts in educational research in this program. She is also interested in best practices to educate pharmacy students, hospice and palliative care providers, and informal caregivers in hospice care.

Why did you decide to apply to this particular graduate program? What made it stand out to you?

"I figured if I'm going to run a PhD program, it seemed obvious that I should go through the process myself, earning a PhD. It was a happy coincidence that UMB developed and offered a PhD in Health Professions Education, just when I decided to pursue additional training, and I'm delighted to be in the inaugural class! The interprofessional nature of both faculty and students is a bonus!"

Mark Macek, DDS, DrPH (He/Him)
Health Professions Education MS Student

Mark earned his dental degree from The University of Nebraska Medical Center in 1989, and completed two additional years of a hospital-based general dentistry residency in Chicago. He went on to earn a master's degree in public health from The University of Illinois at Chicago and a doctoral degree in public health from The University of Michigan. In addition to serving as a faculty member in The University of Maryland School of Dentistry, Mark provides consulting services to the Division of Oral Health, CDC. Mark is a board-certified specialist in dental public health and currently serves as an officer with the American Board of Dental Public Health. Mark has been a faculty member in the School of Dentistry since 1998. He is a tenured professor in the Department of Dental Public Health and also serves as the assistant dean for curriculum innovation and scholarship for the school. 

What are your ultimate career goals? 

"To use my training in health professions education to bring exciting new, evidence-based approaches to dental training in Maryland."

Josline Dibonge, LCSW-C (She/Her)
Health Professions Education PhD Student

Josline received her undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland in 2015, her BA in Psychology and Criminal Justice with a minor in Global Poverty MSW from the University of Maryland in 2017, where she specialized in clinical behavioral health. Joseline is a clinical specialist at the Department of Juvenile Services. Here she works at a high security facility for incarcerated juvenile males and specialized in trauma, anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder, co-occurring disorders, and substance use. Josline works at an inpatient psychiatric hospital, here she specializes in children/adolescents, anger/aggression, psychosis, trauma, suicidality, and crisis stabilization. She is also a school based therapist specializing in ADHD, ODD, and anxiety. Josline hopes to grow her private practice and offer robust clinical internship experiences to students while also serving as faculty in my discipline - teaching and engaging in research. 

Why did you decide to apply to this particular graduate program? What made it stand out to you? 

"I find one of the best ways to impact the future of my profession is by educating, training and preparing future providers and contributing to advancements in the field through research. I also believe healthcare delivery should be interprofessional. This program reflects these beliefs and will prepare me with the skills needed to be an effective educator and researcher."

Suzanna Fitzpatrick, DNP, MS (She/Her)
Health Professions Education PhD Program Student 

Suzanna Fitzpatrick, DNP, ACNP-BC, FNP-BC, is a nurse practitioner at the University of Maryland Medical Center In Baltimore, Maryland where she has worked since 2008. She is a senior nurse practitioner with expertise in surgical patients, transplant, oncology and emergency medicine. She began her healthcare journey as a Paramedic which she has continued doing as a volunteer for the past 20 years. Her educational background includes a B.S. from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (2004) in Emergency Health Services, a B.S.N from Villa Julie College (2008), Masters in Nursing in Acute Care (2010), Post-Masters certificate from George Washington University in Family Practice (2013) and her Doctorate in Nursing Practice (2020). Her doctoral work focused on teamwork and collaboration with emergency nurses. She has a passion for mentoring novice Nurse Practitioners in their transition into practice and in their professional development. She has written articles on teamwork. nursing leaderships, and transition shock for novice practitioners. In addition she is an adjunct professor teaching Doctoral nursing students system and complex leadership theories and practical strategies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Ultimately, Suzanna would like to pursue a faculty appointment and become a clinical NP. 

Why did you decide to apply to this particular graduate program? What made it stand out to you?

"I'm interested in teaching and improving the health professionals of the future."

Peter Jin, MD (He/Him)
Health Professions Education MS Student 

Dr. Peter Jin received his undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis. and his medical degree from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. Dr. Jin is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. As a faculty physician in the neuromuscular division, Dr. Jin specializes in care of patients with diseases such as peripheral neuropathy, autoimmune neuropathy, amyloid neuropathy, myasthenia gravis, myopathy, myositis, motor neuron disease, and ALS. He is trained in various neuromuscular procedures, including EMG (nerve conduction and electromyography) and neuromuscular ultrasound. Dr. Jin hopes to become the leader of education research in our department. 

Why did you decide to apply to this particular graduate program? What made it stand out to you?

"I wanted more formal training in education science."

Sabrina Bielefeldt, BSN (She/Her)
Health Professions Education PhD Student  

Sabrina received her bachelors in science of nursing from University of Virginia in 2003, her master's in health systems leadership and management with an education focus, from University of Maryland Baltimore School of Nursing in 2015. She began my nursing career at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Hospital in surgical oncology. Soon after,  she began working in inpatient hematology-oncology and bone marrow transplant at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. She also served as the Assistant Nurse Coordinator, and later Clinical Manager. During that time, she taught for the Oncology Nursing Society and took part in quality improvement projects to increase chemotherapy error reporting and safety through transparency and interprofessional communication. She returned to graduate school to pursue a more formal role in education. Since receiving her master's degree, she has been teaching at Montgomery College Nursing Program in Montgomery County, Maryland. Sabrina is passionate about clinical, interprofessional, and service learning, as well as improving access to careers in the nursing profession. She is passionate about improving the clinical learning experiences of nursing students. She aspires to engage in research about educational practices to best prepare nurses for the complexity of professional practice and to be members of a high-functioning interprofessional healthcare team.

Why did you decide to apply to this particular graduate program? What made it stand out to you?

"I have long been interested in interprofessional education, and to be in a program with other non-nursing health professions education doctoral students was an opportunity I could not pass up. I appreciate that this program is designed for working health professions educators, and the diverse faculty and student body creates a novel learning community."

Zachary Noel, PharmD (He/Him)
Health Professions Education PhD Student 

Dr. Zachary Noel completed his undergraduate studies and obtained his Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) from the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy in Lexington, KY. Dr. Noel completed two years of post-graduate training at UK HealthCare in Lexington, KY, where he specialized in cardiology. He is a board-certified cardiology pharmacist. He has been a faculty member at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy since 2016. Ultimately, I'd like to one day oversee curriculum development and/or assessment within a health professional program.

Why did you decide to apply to this particular graduate program? What made it stand out to you?

"My clinical training placed a high priority on evidence-based decision-making and evidence-based medicine. But when it came to teaching, most of the decisions I made were based purely on anecdotes, experience, or what "felt" right. This created a degree of dissonance, so I decided to pursue formal education in the science of learning and health professions education. I ultimately decided on this because of the research focus. I want to be able to contribute to high-quality health professions education research, and the knowledge and skill sets gained from this program will allow me to do just that."

Shannan Dixon, MS, CGC (She/Her)
Health Professions Education PhD Student 

Shannan graduated from Penn State with a BS in Biology and a concentration in Genetics. She completed her MS in Genetic Counseling at Arcadia University in Glenside, PA.S hannan Dixon, MS, CGC has worked as a genetic counselor for over 23 years. During that time, she served in many roles as a prenatal, pediatric, and adult genetic counselor for a diverse set of communities. Shannan is the Director of the Master’s in Genetic Counseling Training Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB). Over the course of her tenure, she has doubled the size of the training program and genetic counseling faculty at UMB and has graduated over 100 genetic counselors – many of whom provide genetic counseling services in the Baltimore Washington DC area. She serves as a mentor on one student independent study projects each year and is active in the education of medical, nursing, dental, physical therapy and other health professionals at the UMB. She has held numerous leadership positions at the national level and was a member of the team that helped to achieve state licensure for genetic counselors in Maryland. She currently serves on the State Advisory Council for Newborn Screening. When she graduates from the HPE program, she'd like to take a deeper dive into both the overall curriculum design for genetic counseling programs and how the accreditation guidelines drive curricular innovation at a national level.

Why did you decide to apply to this particular graduate program? What made it stand out to you?

"I chose the HPE program at UMB because it was exactly what I had been searching for to continue my educational journey. I love being a genetic counselor and guiding the next generation of genetic counseling learners, but I had no formal training in education. Most of it I figured out trying new things in the classroom. I knew I needed to understand the theory and practice of education and specifically what it means to educate health professions to grow as an educator. The HPE program at UMB offers learners the opportunity to apply what we are learning in our classes directly into the education space."

David J. Bunnell, MSMS, PA-C (He/Him)
Health Professions Education PhD Student 

David became a Paramedic through the Center for Emergency Medicine of Western PA. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Emergency Medical Services Management from MCP-Hahnemann University. He was an Intramural Research Training Award Fellow at the National Institutes of Health. His medical training was at The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences where he became a Physician Associate and earned a Master of Science in Health Sciences. He participated in an Academic Fellowship with the PA Leadership and Learning Academy at University of Maryland, Baltimore. He has practiced in Cardiothoracic Surgery, Surgical Critical Care, and Cardiac Electrophysiology. He is the Associate Director at the Frostburg State University Department of PA Medicine. He has served in leadership with the Association of PAs in Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery as a Past President of the organization. He currently serves on the American Academy of Physician Associates as a Director at Large.

Why did you decide to apply to this particular graduate program? What made it stand out to you?

"The HPE PhD program stands out as an opportunity to contribute in health education scholarship to enable healthcare providers to help people feel better and live longer. We are at a unique time in history where academia and students are open to innovative solutions. This program enables PhD students to build the knowledge, skills, and abilities to be those innovators."

Rayne Loder, MSHS (She/Her)
Health Professions Education PhD Student 

Rayne graduated with a Bachelor of Science in biology from Lebanon Valley College in 2006. She then completed a Master of Health Science with a physician assistant focus from Lock Haven University in 2013. Rayne has been practicing as a physician assistant (PA) since 2013. Most of her clinical work has been as an emergency medicine provider in rural and medically underserved areas across the United States, though she has also worked in family practice and perioperative medicine. She continues to practice clinically on a per diem basis, but transitioned to working as a full-time PA faculty member in 2018. Rayne is currently an assistant professor at the Tufts University PA program. Here she teaches internal medicine topics in the didactic phase of the program and coordinate interprofessional education opportunities for students. Ultimately, she wants to continue to develop her teaching skills and promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice within PA education and the PA profession.  She also hopes to continue to develop as a researcher in order to contribute to the advancement of PA education and the PA profession.

Why did you decide to apply to this particular graduate program? What made it stand out to you?

"This program appealed to me because of the well rounded curriculum which I feel will provide the tools I need to develop into an independent and prolific educational researcher. I appreciate the hybrid format and that I can fit this program into my already busy life. Pursuing a PhD at a well-established, reputable institution, like the University of Maryland, was important to me. I also was impressed that many of the faculty members are nationally known researchers in my field."

Stephen Kavic, MD (He/His)
Health Professions Education MS

Ryan Scilla, MD (He/Him)
Health Professions Education MS Student 

Dr. Scilla completed his pre-medical training at Pennsylvania State University, earned his medical degree at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University and completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Maryland Medical Center, where he also served as Chief Resident in Medicine. He has obtained Lean Green Belt Certification through the Veterans Affairs Center for Applied Systems Engineering (VA-CASE) and completed the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute Patient Safety Certificate Program. He is currently enrolled in the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Graduate Medical Education Leadership Development Certificate Program and the University of Maryland Baltimore Masters of Science in Health Professions Education Program.

Dr. Ryan Scilla serves as Associate Director of Graduate Medical and Dental Education for the Office of Academic Affiliations (OAA), Veterans Health Administration. Dr. Scilla has served as Academic Hospitalist, Director of Quality, Safety, & Improvement, High Reliability Organization Champion, Deputy Associate Chief of Staff for Education, and Associate Chief of Staff for Education (Designated Education Officer) at the Veterans Affairs Maryland Health Care System. Dr. Scilla is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians (FACP), a Certified Physician Executive (CPE) and a member of both the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and the Gold Humanism Honor Society. Dr. Scilla is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. His goal is to continue to enhance the education and training of health professions trainees across the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

Why did you decide to apply to this particular graduate program? What made it stand out to you?

"This program stood out to me for a number of reasons. The educational objectives aligned closely with my professional needs and the program is thoughtfully structured in a manner which allows me to complete the educational requirements of the program while continuing to work full time as a medical professional. The stellar academic reputation of the University of Maryland Baltimore paired with the impressive expertise of the highly accomplished interprofessional faculty were also very attractive selling points for the program. Although I am still in the early stages of the training program, my phenomenal educational experience to date has fully justified my decision to enroll in this excellent training program."