Dr. Tom Delaney is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Senior Faculty Advisor in the Division of Public Health at the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine. He is the Director of the Four Pines Fellowship, a Foundation-level combined research and clinical learning experience focused on mental health and suicide prevention. He earned his BA from Rutgers University and MA and PhD from the University of Denver in Psychology with a focus on research and experimental methods. He has developed and taught courses across medical and other graduate health care programs in areas including biostatics, research methods, public health, and mental health. He is the Course Director for Culminating Project Experience in which students work in small teams to design, conduct and report on a public health research project. In 2020 he was recognized as an Expert Educator by the Teaching Academy at the University of Vermont and has been a member of the Medical Education Research Certificate (MERC) Steering Committee since 2023.

Dr. Janet P. Hafler is Associate Dean for Teaching and Learning and a Professor of Pediatrics at the Yale School of Medicine. As an institutional priority to support the YSM mission, the Center for Medical Education (the Center) was created under the leadership of Dr. Hafler. In this role, Dr. Hafler oversees two important entities, Continuing Medical Education (CME) and the Teaching and Learning Center (TLC). Both entities are organized under the Center to meet the increasing needs of medical educators in Undergraduate, Graduate Medical Education and Continuing Medical Education.

Dr. Hafler received her master's degree in education specializing in maternal and child health from Columbia University and her doctorate in Education from Harvard University. She focuses on assisting faculty, students, and residents to explore innovative ways to effectively promote learning in both the classroom and the clinical settings. Promoting, influencing and nurturing a climate in which physicians, residents and students can teach — and learn — has been foremost among her career objectives.

Through the TLC, Dr. Hafler continues to direct the Medical Education Fellowship for faculty educators as well as the Master of Health Science-Medical Education Pathway Degree. She also collaborates with Yale New Haven Hospital Graduate Medical Education overseeing Resident-as-Teacher programs for all Yale residents. Dr. John Encandela leads the TLC as its Executive Director overseeing student, faculty and program assessment and additional programs offered to YSM educators and departments.

Dr. Hafler leads the CME office, which is under Allison Rentfro, PhD as its Executive Director. Together they will expand the focus of the CME office to include continuing professional development (CPD), with a broader focus on professional development while continuing to provide courses on clinical medical education. YSM CME is positioned to broaden their scope to include a greater national presence and a new global outreach.

Dr. Hafler runs an active research program applying qualitative research methods in medical education. She collaborates with and mentors faculty on the elements of qualitative research in the field of medical education and medical care. In turn, mentored faculty members have learned to develop and demonstrate the tools necessary to effectively teach and lead others. Dr. Hafler is very widely published with book chapters, curriculum materials and original articles in medical education and clinical journals. She frequently serves as visiting professor internationally and has been invited to present regularly at regional and national professional meetings.

Arianne Teherani, PhD is Professor of Medicine, Director of Program Evaluation and Education Continuous Quality Improvement for UCSF School of Medicine, and Founding Co-Director University of California, Center for Climate Health and Equity. Arianne’s research has informed global conversations, research, and policies on equity and social justice in education and education for climate change and health. Arianne’s research into how educational disparities are perpetuated by learning environment practices has shifted how medical schools thinks about and act on inequities. Her research identifies and addresses the role of accepted assessment and learning environment practices in perpetuating disparities. She has led studies on interventions aimed at creating equity and she has led the development of novel evidence-based model for equitable assessment in the clinical setting. Additionally, Arianne’s research has positioned education as a core solution to the climate change and health crisis and has established globally utilized competencies, knowledge, and practice. She has examined the outcomes of successful endeavors to train practicing clinicians to educate their students and patients about climate-health impacts and climate justice. Arianne has published over 130 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters and work has been featured in venues such as National Public Radio, KTVU, Market Watch, and the Huffington Post. She was the recipient of the UCSF Faculty Sustainability Award and the UC Sustainability Champion Award. Arianne was named the Faculty Climate Action Champion - an award given to one faculty member at each University of California campus in recognition of their contribution to the mission of sustainability. 

Dr. Dana Larsen is an assistant professor of medicine in the department of nephrology at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She earned her medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine in 2017 where she began her medical education research in assessment of time-compressed education. In 2000, she completed her internal medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, conducting research on spaced education and wellness. During her fellowship at UCSF, she also earned a master’s in health professions education as a combined program at UCSF and University of California, Berkeley. Her master’s project focused on quantitative measurements of trainee engagement with online educational resources. In her current role, Dr. Larsen co-directs medical student courses on the kidney and foundational sciences and serves as the associate program director for the nephrology fellowship program. She is a current member of the MERC Steering Committee and served as a deputy editor for Journal of General Internal Medicines Special Issue on Medical Education, released January 2025. 

Dr. Cayla R. Teal is the Associate Dean for Assessment and Evaluation and an Education Associate Professor in the Department of Population Health at the University of Kansas School of Medicine (KUSOM).  Dr. Teal received her B.A. degree in Chemistry from William Jewell College and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Community/Clinical Psychology from Wichita State University, with emphases in applied research methods and psychometrics. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Health Services Research at the Center of Innovation in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety at the Michael E. DeBakey Houston VA Medical Center.  She served as the Director of Educational Evaluation and Research at Baylor College of Medicine and an Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs and Associate Dean for Evaluation and Assessment at Texas A&M College of Medicine prior to coming to KUSOM.  Dr. Teal is responsible for the assessment of student performance in and program evaluation of the KUSOM’s curriculum and a member of its continuous quality improvement team.  She is a mixed-methods medical education researcher, an Associate Editor for Medical Education Online, a Deputy Editor for Teaching and Learning in Medicine, teaching faculty for AAMC Medical Education Research Certificate (MERC) program, and a 2022 AMA Scholar in Health Systems Science.  Dr. Teal recently completed her two-year term as the national chair for the Medical Education Scholarship, Research and Evaluation (MESRE) section at the AAMC’s Group on Educational Affairs (GEA) and serves as the Treasurer for the Society of Directors of Research in Medical Education (SDRME). 

As part of the Research and Education Department at the Virginia Commonwealth University Health Sciences Library, John works with physicians, students, and residents in the VCU School of Medicine and at VCU Health to support research, learning, and patient care. John also served as Interim Co-Head of the Research and Education Department for 2020-2021. His scholarly interests include uncertainty in evidence-based practice and decision-making, evidence synthesis methods, and assessment of consultative library services. Before joining the faculty at VCU Libraries in 2012, he was a health sciences librarian at Louisiana State University in Shreveport, Louisiana. John earned his MLIS from Louisiana State University in 2009.

Jorie Colbert-Getz, PhD, MS, is Associate Professor in Internal Medicine and the Assistant Dean of Education Quality Improvement for the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah School of Medicine. She is also an adjunct faculty member for Johns Hopkins Masters of Education in the Health Professions. At the national level, Dr. Colbert-Getz serves on the Research in Medical Education (RIME) program planning committee. She has also served on the executive committee for the Society of Directors of Research in Medical Education, was the Medical Education Scholarship, Research, and Evaluation chair for the Western Region Group on Education Affairs and was the founding director of the Learning Community Institute Research Network. She has over 50 publications in medical education, mostly focused on assessment.  Her overarching mission is to ensure assessments measure developmentally appropriate learning objectives / milestones. To that end, her research focuses on validity frameworks and other elements of assessment utility, survey design, and program evaluation. Dr. Colbert-Getz received her MS degree in Psychology from Illinois State University and her PhD degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Utah.