p>The GME @ Dentons team extends a warm welcome to our newest colleague, Linda M. Famiglio, MD, FAAP. Dr. Famiglio joins us as a senior advisor in the firm's Health Care group. She most recently served as the Chief Academic Officer of the Geisinger Health System, and has extensive experience in the areas of rural hospital status, the establishment of residency education programs in non-teaching hospitals, and the impact on GME programs when multiple hospitals combine into a single sponsoring institution.
We interviewed Linda about her GME-related history, interests and passions, to help you get to know her better.
Q: Tell us a little about your career path and what first got you interested in graduate medical education.
Analysis and problem-solving has always been at the center of my career path. From figuring out how to get a new FM radio station on the air while an undergraduate at Wellesley College, to studying the effects of cyclosporine on rat brains with EEGs as a resident in pediatric neurology at Johns Hopkins, to leading a transition team to effectuate the merger of two teaching institutions.
That last one got me hooked on GME. I had two extraordinary mentors: the chair of pediatrics from Geisinger and an associate dean from Penn State College of Medicine, both of whom demonstrated two important things to me. First, collaboration is the most desirable tool for conflict resolution in merging two great institutions. Second, it's all about the mission. Stay focused on that, and you will know what to do.
Q: What's your proudest GME-related accomplishment?
That's a softball question: the graduates! Don't most teachers feel that way? Graduation is always so joyful.
Then, of course, there is the bigger picture of building new programs and hospitals to be able to train more needed physicians, nurses, PAs, CRNAs and therapists.
That leads me to add that I am proud of creating the Inter-Professional Council. Mentoring a variety of healthcare providers to work and learn together in inter-professional teams has been very satisfying.
Q: What's your best piece of advice to DIOs?
Seek personal and professional development and networking opportunities at each turn. Take this seriously. Plan out your skill development. See clearly your weaknesses and strengths. Make professional friends. Don't put this off.
Q: What topics do you think will be important to be on the lookout for in the GME world in 2018?
The most important topic now is: How can I grow more residency positions and programs? This means getting through the arduous planning phase, obtaining accreditation, managing with limited resources, and finding win-win opportunities.
Q: In what areas of GME do you most enjoy advising residency programs?
Encouraging greatness. We can deliver facts and knowledge, analyze problems, suggest solutions and structure effective documents. And we do all of that very well. But it's when programs, their staff and their leaders take a step forward because of our work together that I really enjoy my work.
Q: What's your passion outside of GME world?
Long list! I have been caring for patients with opioid use disorder as a volunteer at Family Recovery Solutions in rural Pennsylvania. Supporting people in recovery from heroin or pills keeps me full of gratitude for my own good fortune. Also, cooking, traveling—or both at the same time! This summer my family is doing a cooking tour of my mother's birthplace in Abruzzo, Italy. I will share my favorite dish with you when I get back!
Dr. Famiglio joins a team of practitioners with robust GME experience, including Senior Advisors Rosemarie Fisher, MD and Pat Surdyk, PhD, and attorneys Lori Mihalich-Levin, Susan Banks, Holley Lutz, Charlie Luband, Allison Cohen, and Clay Wortham. To learn more about the team's experience, click here. For an archive of all past editions of the GME @ Dentons newsletter, click here.