Dr. Nichole Zehnder, Associate Dean for Educational Strategy
With the support of Deans Ratts, Moscoso and DeFer, and based on the overwhelmingly positive response from those faculty and staff who met with her, I am pleased to announce that Nichole Zehnder, MD will join our ranks as an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine and the Associate Dean for Educational Strategy, beginning April 15, 2020. In this role, Dr. Zehnder will collaborate with existing units across the continuum of education to help develop and implement new and necessary programs. In the immediate term, she will support Dean Ratts with continued process improvement by establishing, identifying and implementing best practices and procedures in admissions. She will work closely with Dean Moscoso to stand up the coaching program including the onboarding and support of the coaches. Finally, she will work with Dean Moscoso and Dr. Amanda Emke to develop a remediation and support program for struggling students. Over time, each of these programs will be led by others and remain under the umbrella of the appropriate unit.
Dr. Zehnder has extensive experience in curriculum development, student affairs, admissions and faculty development. She comes to us from University of Colorado where she is the former Clerkship Director in Internal Medicine, former interim Director of the Academy of Medical Educators, and current Assistant Dean for Admissions and Assistant Dean for Student Affairs. Nationally, she works with the ACGME on chief resident leadership development and locally she has led several units through change management processes as a coach. In her various roles, she has markedly increased under-represented in medicine student recruitment, implemented novel admissions and holistic review processes, developed training programs for student coaches, implemented complex remediation plans at the UME and GME level, and created multiple new curricula and programs. Her experience in program development and implementation will be a huge asset during this time of significant change and rapid implementation of curriculum renewal.
~ Deans Aagaard, DeFer, Moscoso and Ratts