LINC Simulation IPE Initiative

Sadie Trammell Velásquez, M.D., FACP received her medical degree from the University of Texas Health San Antonio (UTHSA) and subsequently completed residency training in internal medicine and was selected as chief resident. After her training, she joined the faculty in the Department of Medicine, Division of Hospital Medicine, in 2012 and is currently an associate professor. Engaged in undergraduate medical and graduate medical education since joining faculty at UTHSA, she has held multiple teaching and leadership roles in UME and is currently the Assistant Dean for Preclinical Curriculum. With support of Linking Interprofessional Networks for Collaboration (LINC) Seed Grants, her collaborations with the School of Nursing and the School of Dentistry have successfully resulted in implementation of interprofessional education (IPE) into the LSOM and SOD curriculum. She is actively involved with LINC in increasing didactic IPE across the university and disseminating the work done, which includes three publications and over 10 posters/oral presentations from the local to international level. In 2021, she completed the Harvard Macy Program for Educators.

Dr. Velásquez is board-certified in internal medicine and obesity medicine. After working in hospital medicine for 10 years, she developed and opened a new collaborative weight management clinic in the South TX Veterans Healthcare System in 2021, where she currently practices clinically. ×

James Cleveland joined UT Health’s School of Nursing at San Antonio as a nursing faculty in the fall of 2009. Currently, James is the Director for the Center for Simulation Innovation (CSI). He came to UT Health following his retirement from the Army as a Lieutenant Colonel after nearly 28 years of combined military service. He specialized in Emergency and Trauma Nursing.  During that time, he became a member of a national research consortium (civilian and military membership) developing and verifying the congressionally funded project “MedTeams.” This successful program has since been implemented as AHRQ‘s Team STEPPS, in which he is a Master Trainer. In 1999, James become a team member of a Department of Defense initiative, the Joint Trauma Training Center located at Ben Taub Medical Center, Houston, Texas. The team published their findings (2002) on the use of high-fidelity patient simulation (HFPS). James’ last assignment was the Chief of Emergency Nursing Services, Emergency and Trauma Department, Brooke Army Medical Center, 2006-2009. Jim concurrently served as the Surgeon General‘s Emergency and Trauma Nursing Consultant. He now serves as the Director for the Center for Simulation Innovation and continues to teach in the role as a faculty at UT Health. ×

Diane Ferguson, B.S.N., RN, is the Director of the HEB Clinical Skills Center at the University of Texas Health San Antonio. The Center focuses mostly on Simulated Patient/Participant simulation. Diane has been in SP education since 1995. She serves on the LINC Simulation IPE Initiative. ×

Rebecca Moote, PharmD, MSc, BCPS, serves as the Scholarship Dissemination Coordinator for Linking Interprofessional Networks for Collaboration (LINC), at UT Health San Antonio. Dr. Moote is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Texas College of Pharmacy and has an adjunct appointment with the Department of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio. She also serves as the Assistant Division Head of the Pharmacotherapy Division for the UT College of Pharmacy. Dr. Moote received her Doctor of Pharmacy in 2007 from The University of Texas at Austin and her Master of Science in Pharmacy and Advanced Practice Pharmacotherapy Specialty Residency at the UT Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas in 2009. She started her academic career at Regis University in Denver Colorado where she was promoted to Associate Professor. Dr. Moote maintains an active practice as a clinical internal medicine pharmacist at University Hospital.

Dr. Moote has been involved in interprofessional education as part of her teaching, service, and research since 2009. She has created IPE teaching materials and curricula for orientation events, palliative care and medical surgical simulations, and co-curricular experiences. She has received grant funding for interprofessional projects and was awarded a LINC Seed Grant in 2020 for clinical interprofessional education for dental and pharmacy students to optimize pain management prescribing in a dental surgical setting. She currently serves on the LINC Faculty Council’s Clinical IPE workgroup and has provided faculty development training with this group for the last two years. She has multiple publications in interprofessional education as well as two book chapters and has presented her work on interprofessional education at a national level. She also serves as a reviewer for the Journal of Interprofessional Education and Practice. ×

Dr. David Ojeda received his D.D.S. from the Santa Maria University School of Dentistry in Caracas, Venezuela, in 2008. He then entered a combined training program in Oral Surgery and Oral Medicine at the Xaverian University School of Dentistry, Bogota, Colombia. Upon graduating in 2011, he returned to Caracas and began private practice while collaborating with the Venezuelan Academy of Oral Medicine. In 2014, he started a one-year Oral Medicine & Orofacial Pain fellowship at the New York University College of Dentistry. In 2017, Dr. Ojeda completed a two-year residency in Oral Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. David Ojeda is a Diplomate of the American Board of Oral Medicine and is currently a full-time faculty at the Department of Comprehensive Dentistry at UT Health San Antonio. Dr. Ojeda’s research interest lies in the relationship and impact of oral health in systemic health, the integration of Medicine and Dentistry, Interprofessional Education, and behavioral sciences related to Medicine, Dentistry, and Education. Dr. Ojeda is a member of the American Academy of Oral Medicine and has published articles and book chapters related to Oral Medicine and Orofacial Pain. ×

I have been a pediatric nurse practitioner since 2001 and I have been privileged to partner with families in caring for the health and wellness of their children. My current focus of interest is addressing the social and behavioral determinants of health that affect the population of adolescents and their children whom I see in my practice. Although my role is to provide health care to underserved adolescents at a school based clinic I have broadened my practice to address many of the social and behavioral issues which affect my patients and are known to have a strong association with poor health outcomes. I am working with an interprofessional team which is comprised of nurse practitioners, a registered nurse, a dietician, and a licensed professional counsellor to screen students and provide interventions for issues such as poor health literacy, depression, anxiety, food insecurity, obesity, and risky sexual behavior.

I have been the track coordinator of the pediatric nurse practitioner program since 2014. My didactic courses are presented in the “flipped classroom” format to allow students to learn content outside of the classroom and to apply their knowledge through experiential case-based learning during class time. I have developed a telehealth simulation experience for pediatric and family nurse practitioner students to increase their competence in providing health care to patients using this modality. I am also currently leading a working group at the School of Nursing to integrate telehealth competencies into the graduate school nursing curriculum. ×

Bridgett Piernik-Yoder, Ph.D., OTR, FAOTA, is an occupational therapist with clinical expertise in adult rehabilitation. She serves as chair of the Department of Occupational Therapy at UT Health San Antonio, Texas, USA. Dr. Piernik-Yoder has extensive experience in developing interprofessional education and simulated learning experiences for occupational therapy and health science students. A component of Dr. Piernik-Yoder’s research has always involved systematically investigating occupational therapy education outcomes through the scholarship of teaching and learning. Her professional service includes being part of the leadership team for the American Occupational Therapy Association’s Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Institute and Mentoring program. Dr. Piernik-Yoder has frequently presented at national and international conferences on topics related to interprofessional education, and her published numerous journal articles and book chapters on education theory and outcomes. ×