2023 LINC IPE Symposium Speakers

Amy V. Blue, Ph.D., is the Associate Vice President for Interprofessional Education – UF Health, and Clinical Professor in Environmental and Global Health in the College of Public Health and Health Professions at the University of Florida (UF). She earned her doctorate in Anthropology (Medical) from Case Western Reserve University. Prior to her arrival at UF in 2013, Dr. Blue had founded the interprofessional education program at the Medical University of South Carolina and served as the Assistant Provost for Education at the institution. Dr. Blue has been engaged in health professions education for over 20 years, having implemented and directed educational programs involving students from multiple health professions, such as medical, dental, biomedical science, pharmacy, nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and public health.

Dr. Blue has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles in the medical and health professions education literature and is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Interprofessional Care, and an Associate Editor for the Journal of Interprofessional Education and Practice. She was a member of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) Expert Panel that wrote the original Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice. She was a co-founder of the American Interprofessional Health Collaborative (AIHC) and is presently a Board member for the organization. In 2018, she received the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Southern Group on Educational Affairs (SGEA) Career Educator Award. ×

Anthony Breitbach, Ph.D., ATC, FASAHP, is a tenured Professor and serves as Interim Chair of the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics as well as the Director of the Athletic Training (AT) Program in the Doisy College of Health Sciences at Saint Louis University (SLU). A native of Dubuque, Iowa, Dr. Breitbach received a B.S. from the University of Iowa (1985), Master’s degree from the University of Florida (1987) and a Ph.D. from SLU (2007). He served on the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) Executive Committee for Education, where he played an active role in the development of the “Future Directions of Athletic Training Education” recommendations which were approved by the NATA Board of Directors in 2012. Dr. Breitbach served as a coordinator for the Interprofessional Education and Practice in Athletic Training Work Group for the NATA; where he was first author of “Interprofessional Education and Practice in Athletic Training”; which was awarded the Athletic Training Education Journal’s Outstanding Manuscript for Advancing Educational Practice Award in 2015.

Tony is the NATA’s liaison to the Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions (ASAHP). He is an ASAHP Fellow and chairs their Partnerships, Alliances and Advocacy committee, their Interprofessional Task Force as well as representing them on Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) council. He serves as Secretary-Historian and is on the Advisory Board of the American Interprofessional Health Collaborative (AIHC). He is on the Steering Committee for InterprofessionalResearch.Global; is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Interprofessional Care; is a Peer Reviewer for the Higher Learning Commission and serves as Public Member on the CAE Commission of the American Society of Association Executives. ×

Sally Choi, MD is a PGY-2 resident physician in the University of Texas at San Antonio Diagnostic Radiology program. She earned her M.D. at McGovern Medical School in Houston, where she also completed her intern year in Internal Medicine. She is now doing what she loves in the radiology program in San Antonio. Her scholarly interests include neuroradiology. She is passionate about medical student and resident education, having been involved in residency and medical school interviews. She has a second passion, which is making people smile through social media, specifically through Instagram Reels, where she shares relatable thoughts and moments from her life. She has 100K followers on Instagram. ×

Kathrin A. Eliot, Ph.D., R.D.N., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.  Dr. Eliot’s primary focus of teaching and research is in the area of interprofessional education and collaborative practice.  She has published and presented nationally on interprofessional education topics ranging from course development to student learning assessment.  As an advocate for the profession of nutrition and dietetics, Dr. Eliot is highly involved in leadership at the national level.  She currently serves as the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics alliance representative to the National Academy of Medicine Global Forum on Health Professions Education and the Interprofessional Education Collaborative.  She is also immediate Past Chair of the Nutrition and Dietetics Educators and Preceptors Council.  Her most recent honors include receiving the the Honorable M. Eileen Echols Inspired Award from the Susan G. Komen Foundation in 2022, the Interprofessional Education Leader of the Year Award from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in 2021 and the James H. Korn Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award from Saint Louis University in 2019. ×

Moshtagh Farokhi, D.D.S., M.P.H., leads the LINC Faculty Council’s Co-Curricular IPE Initiative, which spearheads the Co-Curricular IPE Track within the LINC Faculty & Staff Development Program and the LINC Interprofessional Case Competition. Dr. Farokhi brings private practice and teaching experience to her research at the UT Health San Antonio School of Dentistry. Her interests lie at the intersection of disease prevention, health promotion and community engagement, with a focus on IPE, social determinants of health, refugee health, acculturation and service learning. Her teaching is founded on principles of active learning and critical thinking, with an emphasis on cultural humility and empathy. Dr. Farokhi collaborates with various professions and partners within local community organizations, such as the Center for Refugee Services and Edgewood Independent School District, to address health disparities. She was recently appointed as a member of the UT System Shine Academy of Health Science Education. Dr. Farokhi was part of the QEP development team that pre-dated LINC, and she has represented the School of Dentistry on the LINC Faculty Council since June 2018. In 2021, Dr. Farokhi received the Academy of General Dentistry’s highest honor of Lifelong Learning and Service Recognition or LLSR, for her commitment to lifelong learning and service to the community and organized dentistry. ×

Tina Patel Gunaldo, PhD, DPT, MHS, is the inaugural Director for the Center for Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center at New Orleans (LSUHSCNO). She is a physical therapist by training, graduating in 1996 from LSUHSCNO. While increasing her administrative responsibility in a hospital-based rehabilitation center, she earned a Master in Health Science (2000) focused in education from LSUHSCNO, and a Doctor in Physical Therapy (2005) from Boston University. She joined LSUHSCNO in 2006 and graduated with a Ph.D. in Public Service Leadership, Health Care Administration from Capella University in 2012.

In her current role, Dr. Gunaldo supports all interprofessional learning experiences, including a required two-year longitudinal curriculum embedded within 19 academic programs for first and second year students. In addition to presentations and publications, she serves on the American Interprofessional Health Collaborative Scholarship Committee, the Louisiana Immunization Workgroup supporting a collaborative approach to increasing immunization rates, as well as contributes to the development of the Louisiana Area Health Education Center’s (AHEC) Scholar curricular program. Dr. Gunaldo is the co-editor in chief for the Health, Interprofessional Practice and Education journal and is a co-editor for the textbook Interprofessional Education and Collaboration: An Evidence-Based Approach to Optimizing Health Care. Most importantly, Dr. Gunaldo is supported by a wonderful team of faculty, who have supported and/or integrated IPE into their academic practice. ×

Rekha Kar, Ph,D. is an Associate Professor/Clinical in the department of Cell Systems and Anatomy at UT Health San Antonio. Her contributions to the educational enterprise of the UT Health San Antonio have included teaching gross human anatomy to students in different programs (medical, physical therapy, occupational therapy, physician assistant and graduate school) as a lecturer and course director, as well as serving as a mentor and advisor to students in the anatomical sciences Master’s degree program of Cell System and Anatomy (CSA). She received several recognitions for teaching and scholarship including the Excellence in Health Professional Student Education Award: Department of Cell Systems & Anatomy, UT Health San Antonio Presidential award for Emerging excellence in Teaching, LSOM Academy of Educational Scholars (AES) 2022 STAR Educator award. She was selected as a fellow of the LSOM AES in 2021 and was inducted as a member of AES in 2022. Her educational research projects are highly collaborative, and they draw faculty from several programs of our institution. One major project, funded by the Linking Interprofessional Networks for Collaboration (LINC) initiative of our institution, is to promote interprofessional education (IPE) core competencies. A second area of focus is the development of innovative anatomical teaching tools designed around advanced technologies including 3D printing and the Anatomage virtual dissection table. She serves in several departmental, institutional committees and in committees of national organizations including the Ambassador Committee of the American Association for Anatomy and the Career Development Committee of the American Association of Clinical Anatomist (AACA). ×

Katherine Loftus is a second-year student in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing Traditional Track program. She is the LINC Student Council representative for the School of Nursing TBSN program, serving as the LINC Student Council chair as well as the LINC-IPE Symposium co-chair. Katherine advocates for the homeless population in San Antonio by participating in the Street Nursing organization at UTHSA. She is also passionate about caring for those with Alzheimer’s and dementia, as she works as a caregiver and medication technician in a long-term memory care facility. This is her second year on the LINC Student Council, and she is eager to continue her work in this organization through her closing year at the UT Health School of Nursing. ×

Jacqueline Lee Mok, Ph.D., has served since September 2014 as Vice President for Academic, Faculty and Student Affairs. In this role, she is the Chief Academic Affairs Officer for UT Health San Antonio, working in close collaboration and partnership with the university’s senior leadership to promote academic, faculty and student success. Prior to her arrival at UT Health San Antonio, Dr. Mok was Vice President/Chief of Staff and Secretary of the Board of Trustees at Johns Hopkins University, where she also was a presidential research fellow in 2013. She has also held administrative positions with the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the U.S. Foreign Service, and The University of Washington. At The University of Arizona, where Dr. Mok served for fifteen years, she worked not only as an assistant and associate dean, she became Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost and Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff. Dr. Mok earned her baccalaureate degree at Middlebury College; master’s degree at The University of North Texas; and Ph.D. degree from New York University. She has as well participated in the Bryn Mawr/HERS Summer Institute for Women in Higher Education Administration and the Harvard University Management Development Program. In 2012, Dr. Mok received the national Chang-Lin Tien Education Leadership Award from the Asian Pacific Fund, in recognition of her outstanding contributions in higher education leadership. ×

Devin Nickol, MD, FACP, FNAP is a professor of medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where he serves as associate dean for interprofessional education. He is founding co-editor in chief of the Journal of Interprofessional Education & Practice, and has participated IPE research projects funded by HRSA and the American Medical Association.

Devin is a practicing general internist, providing direct patient care on interprofessional teams in both inpatient and outpatient settings. He oversees the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s interprofessional education program, which serves students from sixteen health professions training programs enrolled on six campuses across the state. ×

Meredith Quinene, D.H.Sc., M.P.A.S., PA-C, DFAAPA, leads the LINC Faculty Council’s Didactic IPE Initiative, which spearheads the LINC Common IPE Experience. Dr. Quinene is a 2003 graduate of the UT Health San Antonio Physician Assistant (PA) program. Following graduation, she worked clinically in several medical specialties, including Traumatic Brain Injury and Otorhinolaryngology. In 2015, Dr. Quinene joined the faculty of the UT Health San Antonio School of Health Professions in the PA department, where she is an Associate Professor and Academic Coordinator. In this role, Dr. Quinene is an active member of multiple department, school, university and national professional organization committees. Her interests focus on best practices in healthcare education, including IPE. Dr. Quinene has represented the School of Health Professions on the LINC Faculty Council since November 2019. ×

Temple Ratcliffe, M.D., MS-HPEd, leads the LINC Faculty Council’s Clinical IPE Initiative, which spearheads the Clinical IPE Track within the LINC Faculty & Staff Development Program. Dr. Ratcliffe is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Texas Health San Antonio, and he serves as Director of the Internal Medicine Clerkship at the Long School of Medicine. His teaching has been recognized by numerous awards, including the UT Presidential Teaching Excellence Award. He is also a Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation Faculty Scholar and inductee in the Gold Humanism Honor Society. His current scholarly areas of interest include IPE, clinical reasoning and learner assessment. Dr. Ratcliffe has represented the Long School of Medicine on the LINC Faculty Council since June 2018. ×

Avani Ved, BSN, RN is a third-year Doctor of Nursing Practice (BSN-DNP, FNP) student at UT Health San Antonio. She has been a nurse for four years and graduated with her bachelor’s in nursing from the University of Texas at Arlington. She is currently a member of the student advisory council (SAC), serves on the committee of graduate students (COGS), and works as a teaching assistant for undergraduate nursing students at UTHSCSA. She is also a member of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of nursing. She was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes almost 18 years ago and created a blog to educate and spread awareness about this chronic condition. She hopes to make positive changes for her patients and everyone in the type 1 diabetes community after she graduates. She believes the possibilities are endless and looks forward to the future after earning her DNP. ×

Vincent Vento Jr. is a 2nd year Occupational Therapy student at UTHealth San Antonio. He has been a member of the LINC student Council for 2 years where this year he has been elected Vice Chair. He is  currently employed with Right at School as a substitute educator in the Alamo Heights school district and volunteer weekly with Kinetic Kids in San Antonio.

He graduated Cum Laude with his bachelors in Exercise Science from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley where he also was a member, President, Vice-President, and Sargent at Arms for three school organizations, during his undergraduate degree.

He is very thankful for his family and the opportunities he has worked for his entire life up to this point and looks forward to becoming a Certified Occupational Therapist in the state of Texas, where he looks to start his career in Acute Care or a Skilled Nursing Facility. ×

Collin Wang Berton, BSN, RN, was born and raised in Houston, Texas. He lived in Austin while obtaining his bachelor’s degree from the School of Nursing at The University of Texas at Austin. He graduated in 2020 and began his career in critical care in the Medical ICU. Collin currently lives in San Antonio, and when he’s not injecting, works as an Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) specialist in the Lung Rescue Intensive Care Unit.

Collin is extremely passionate about and loves the aesthetic side of nursing. He has always found a special interest in pairing his nursing skill set and science background, with his love of creating art and being able to use his artistic skills in magnifying the art of beauty found in his patients. Besides creating and enhancing works of art through injecting, one of Collin’s favorite parts of aesthetic nursing is being able to help people feel more confident in the skin that they’re in. ×

Joseph A. Zorek, PharmD, BCGP, FNAP, serves as Director of the Quality Enhancement Plan, Linking Interprofessional Networks for Collaboration (LINC), at UT Health San Antonio. Dr. Zorek also holds an appointment in the UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing as associate professor with tenure, where he teaches advanced pharmacotherapeutics to graduate students and strives to elevate health professions education through creative and impactful scholarship. Dr. Zorek completed his undergraduate studies in psychology and secondary social studies education at the University of Iowa prior to teaching in Germany as a Fulbright Scholar. He earned his doctorate degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy and completed a two-year pharmacotherapy residency with specialty training in geriatrics and a research emphasis on interprofessional practice and education at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at Amarillo. Dr. Zorek began his academic career at the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Pharmacy, where he was promoted to Director of Interprofessional Education and Associate Professor based on the strength of his research, teaching, and service record.

In 2020, Dr. Zorek was elected to the National Academies of Practice as a Distinguished Scholar and Fellow. He is the recipient of several additional accolades, including the Rufus A. Lyman Award and a Baldwin Award, both of which annually recognize the best articles published in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education and the Journal of Interprofessional Care, respectively. His work exploring the regulatory environment in health professions education has been widely cited. Dr. Zorek represented the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education on a collaborative project with the Health Professions Accreditors Collaborative, which resulted in the co-authored Guidance on Developing Quality Interprofessional Education for the Health Professions, a national consensus guideline. Dr. Zorek’s latest project, a textbook intended for early learners in pharmacy called Interprofessional Practice in Pharmacy: Featuring Illustrated Case Studies, was published by McGraw-Hill Education in March 2021. ×