Just as the field of medicine continuously evolves to meet the ever-changing needs of patient care, we must also evolve and innovate the way we educate future physicians. MOmentum will build upon a strong, learner-centered foundation to design and implement a state-of-the-art medical education curriculum.
By integrating cutting-edge technology, innovative learning strategies and robust support systems, we are paving the way for a more dynamic, engaging, and effective learning experience. Our goal is to equip our students with the skills, knowledge, and adaptability needed to thrive in an increasingly complex health care environment and deliver patient-centered care with excellence.
We aim to not only prepare students for the challenges of today but to empower them as lifelong learners and compassionate leaders in medicine.
With MOmentum, we are charting a bold path forward in medical education, ensuring that every student has the tools to reach their full potential.
Committee charge
Building on our strong learner-centered foundation, we will design and implement a state-of-the-art medical education curriculum. We aim to optimize learner success by integrating education-enhancing technology, innovative learning strategies, and comprehensive support systems.
Our goal is to ensure that students are fully equipped to excel as physicians, delivering patient-centered care and adapting to the evolving complexities of the health care environment.
Guiding principles
- Provides individualized support of all learners to optimize their personal and professional growth and development
- Grounded in evidence-based educational theory and the science of learning
- Leverage forward-looking teaching modalities and technologies
- Promotes life-long, self-directed learning and critical thinking
- Promotes the use of evidence-based medicine in developing clinical skills that integrate with basic science learning
- Transform the classroom into the laboratory – make the educational activities nonreplicable and invaluable to student learning and mastery of content
- Builds on the success of problem-based learning by augmenting with active learning strategies (case-based learning, TBL, Peer Instruction, flipped classroom)
- Incorporates frequent formative assessments and meaningful feedback
- Shorten the pre-clinical phase to allow for earlier transition to the clerkship phase and career exploration
- Enhance faculty engagement and development
- Restructure summative assessments
Steering Committee
Committee Members
- Mark Ellis, MD (Co-Chair)
Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine, Springfield Clinical Campus - Joel Shenker, MD, PhD (Co-Chair)
Associate Dean for Curriculum, Professor of Neurology - Audrey Abeyta, MA
Program Evaluation and Assessment Coordinator, Office of Medical Education - Kristina Aldridge, PhD
Assistant Dean for Accreditation, Associate Professor of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences - Nathan Beucke, MD
Associate Dean for Student Affairs, Associate Professor of Pediatrics - Dima Dandachi, MD, MPH
Associate Professor of Medicine - Carla Dyer, MD
Professor of Medicine - Bill Folk, PhD
Professor of Biochemistry - Shelly Frazier, DO
Associate Professor of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences - Jason Furrer, PhD
Associate Teaching Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology - Mitchell Goldman, MD
Professor of Medicine - Audrey Gruse, BS
M2 student - Stephen Halenda, PhD
Associate Professor of Medical Pharmacology and Physiology - David Haustein, MD, MBA
Associate Dean for Springfield Clinical Campus, Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation - Colleen Hayden, EdD
Associate Dean for Program Evaluation and Assessment - Laura Henderson Kelley, MD
Associate Dean for Preprofessional Programs, Associate Professor of Medicine - Dena Higbee, EdS, MS
Executive Director of Simulation - Cheryl Hill, PhD
Associate Teaching Professor of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences - Casey Holliday, PhD
Associate Professor of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences - Bruce Horwitz, PhD
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry - Kevin Kane, MD, MPH
Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education, Professor of Family and Community Medicine - Scott Kinkade, MD, EdD
Assistant Dean for Clinical Curriculum, Professor of Family and Community Medicine - Peter Koopman, MD
Professor of Family and Community Medicine - Whitney LeFevre, MD
Assistant Dean for Rural Programs, Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine - Michael McCullough, MD
Associate Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Women’s Health - Pete Ozias, EdD
Administrator, Office of Medical Education - Luis Polo Parada, PhD
Associate Professor of Medical Pharmacology and Physiology - Willie Shearon, MD
Resident, Anesthesiology - Kristi Smalley, EdD
Academic Assistance Coordinator, Office of Medical Education - Nicole Walker, BS
M3 student, Springfield Clinical Campus - Jill Wiggins, MBA
Director of Student Affairs, Springfield Clinical Campus - Peter Wilden, PhD
Associate Professor of Medical Pharmacology and Physiology
Curriculum Thread Teams
Biomedical Sciences
- Jason Furrer, PhD (Co-Chair)
Associate Teaching Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology - Cheryl Hill, PhD (Co-Chair)
Associate Teaching Professor of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences - Wacim Benyoucef, BA
M3 student - John Cannon, PhD
Associate Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology - Carla Dyer, MD
Professor of Medicine - Shelly Frazier, DO
Associate Professor of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences - Stephen Halenda, PhD
Associate Professor of Medical Pharmacology and Physiology - Casey Holliday, PhD
Associate Professor of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences - Bruce Horwitz, PhD
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry - Ellen Kurkowski, DO
Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine - Teresa Lever, PhD
Professor of Otolaryngology - Michael McCullough, MD
Associate Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Women’s Health - Luis Polo Parada, PhD
Associate Professor of Medical Pharmacology and Physiology - Joel Shenker, MD, PhD
Associate Dean for Curriculum, Professor of Neurology - Alexandria Spurgeon, MD
Resident, Neurology
Professional Formation and Clinical Excellence
- Carla Dyer, MD (Co-Chair)
Professor of Medicine - Dena Higbee, EdS, MS (Co-Chair)
Executive Director of Simulation - Carlo Barth, BA, Paramedic
M3 student, Springfield Clinical Campus - Elizabeth Borland, BSW
Lead Clinical Program Coordinator, Springfield Clinical Campus - Clayton Butcher, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine - Stephen Colbert, MD
Professor of Surgery - Nikki Cronk, PhD
Professor of Family and Community Medicine - Frank DiVincenzo, MD
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine - Mark Ellis, MD
Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine, Springfield Clinical Campus - Kevin Kane, MD, MPH
Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education, Professor of Family and Community Medicine - Jim Koller, MD
Professor of Medicine - Peter Koopman, MD
Professor of Family and Community Medicine - Jana Lee, MS
Director of Rural Scholars Program - Whitney LeFevre, MD
Assistant Dean for Rural Programs, Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine - Diane Lipscomb, MD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Springfield Clinical Campus - Natalie Long, MD
Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine - Nancy Mabe, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine - Kari Martin, MD
Professor of Dermatology - Kate McGough, BS
M4 student, Columbia campus - Adam Orf, BS
M4 student, Rural Scholar - Chris Sampson, MD
Professor of Emergency Medicine - Joel Shenker, MD, PhD
Associate Dean for Curriculum, Professor of Neurology - Aneesh Tosh, MD
Professor of Pediatrics - Celso Velazquez, MD
Professor of Medicine - Nicole Walker, BS
M3 student, Springfield Clinical Campus - Christine Wilson, DO
Assistant Professor of Family and Community Medicine
Drivers of Health Outcomes
- Dima Dandachi, MD, MPH (Co-Chair)
Associate Professor of Medicine - Bruce Horwitz, PhD (Co-Chair)
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry - Fares Alahdab, MD
Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics, Biostatistics, and Medical Epidemiology and Cardiology - Mohammad Alkhateeb, MD
Resident, Medicine - Lea Brandt, PhD
Professor of Medicine - Megan Coburn, DNP
Assistant Teaching Professor of Nursing - Christopher Hardin, PhD
Professor of Exercise and Nutrition Physiology - Laura Henderson Kelley, MD
Associate Dean for Preprofessional Programs, Associate Professor of Medicine - Whitney LeFevre, MD
Assistant Dean for Rural Programs, Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine - Diane Lipscomb, MD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Springfield Clinical Campus - Natalie Long, MD
Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine - Reiana Mahan, MD
Assistant Professor of Family and Community Medicine - Abdoulie Njai, MD, MPH
Resident, Orthopaedic Surgery - Cody Roberts, DO, MBA
Resident, Medicine - Morgan Shahan, DNP
Associate Teaching Professor of Nursing - Veronica Sievert, MD
Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine - Lindsay Sorbo, MA, LPC
Behavioral Science Faculty, Springfield Clinical Campus - Crystal Spangler, RD
Registered Dietician, Springfield Clinical Campus - Jeffrey Stein, MD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine
Scholarly Inquiry and Lifelong Learning
- Fares Alahdab, MD (Co-Chair)
Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics, Biostatistics, and Medical Epidemiology and Cardiology - Kristi Smalley, EdD (Co-Chair)
Academic Assistance Coordinator, Office of Medical Education - Jim Stevermer, MD (Co-Chair)
Professor of Family and Community Medicine - Audrey Abeyta, MA
Program Evaluation and Assessment Coordinator, Office of Medical Education - Bill Folk, PhD
Professor of Biochemistry - Maya Greenquist, BS
M2 student - Colleen Hayden, EdD
Associate Dean for Program Evaluation and Assessment - Scott Kinkade, MD, EdD
Assistant Dean for Clinical Curriculum, Professor of Family and Community Medicine
Holistic Student Success
- Trish Parsons, PhD (Co-Chair)
Learning Specialist, Office of Medical Education - Jill Wiggins, MBA (Co-Chair)
Director of Student Affairs, Springfield Clinical Campus - Sara Adams, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine - Kristina Aldridge, PhD
Assistant Dean for Accreditation, Associate Professor of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences - Stephanie Bagby-Stone, MD
Faculty Director of Medical Student Well-Being - Carlo Barth, BA, Paramedic
M3 Student, Springfield Clinical Campus - Nathan Beucke, MD
Associate Dean for Student Affairs, Associate Professor of Pediatrics - Kristen Deane, MD
Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine - Audrey Gruse, BS
M2 student - Heather Miles, MEd
Senior Program Manager of Student Support Services, Office of Medical Education - Pete Ozias, EdD
Administrator, Office of Medical Education - Laine Young-Walker, MD
Professor of Psychiatry
