Five female faculty members accepted to prestigious leadership and health care fellowships

The Ohio State University College of Medicine is known for developing the next generation of emerging leaders in academic medicine and health care who have the ability to make critical, systemic changes. Two programs, the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) and Executive Leadership in Health Care (ELH), which focus on developing women leaders, are important initiatives to help us achieve this. Established in 1995, ELAM is hosted by Drexel University College of Medicine as a one-year, part-time fellowship designed to develop the personal and professional skills required to lead in academic health care.

Three faculty members at the Ohio State College of Medicine will join ELAM’s ranks this year: Maya Iyer, MD, MEd, associate clinical professor of Pediatrics, the assistant dean for Clinical Faculty, the director of Women in Medicine and Science (WIMS) and a pediatric emergency medicine attending physician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital (NCH); Jennifer McCallister, MD, clinical professor of Internal Medicine and the associate dean of Medical Education; and Jennifer Muszynski, MD, FCCM, MPH, associate professor of Pediatrics and associate chief clinical research officer for research informatics at NCH.

Two faculty members will join the ELH rank –– Catherine Quatman-Yates, DPT, PhD, associate professor in the Division of Physical Therapy at The Ohio State University School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, and Ellen Chung, MD, associate clinical professor of radiology and director in the Department of Radiology at NCH.

They are among 100 ELAM fellows and 50 ELH fellows welcomed into the class of 2025-2026, and this cohort comprises exceptional leaders from 118 institutions. To be accepted into the programs, each fellow must be nominated and supported by the dean or another senior official of their institution. 

Dr. Iyer says she was drawn to ELAM due to its thoughtful and hands-on approach to leadership development and says the program will challenge her in the right ways.

“It offers space to step back, reflect, grow and build the skills needed to lead more effectively,” Dr. Iyer says. “Getting to learn alongside such an inspiring group of peers is a powerful reminder of the impact we can have when we support and learn from one another.”

Dr. Quatman-Yates is excited by the opportunity to enhance her leadership capabilities in ways that will directly support her work in advancing learning health systems (LHS), models where clinical practice, research and data are continuously integrated to improve patient care and system performance.

“This fellowship offers a unique opportunity to refine my strategic, financial and change-management skills,” says Dr. Quatman-Yates. “This will help me facilitate the cultivation of the LHS infrastructure we are developing at Ohio State.”

Dr. Chung is looking forward to learning more about change management within complex health care systems which will enable her to extend her contribution to the organization and help navigate through the rapidly changing health care environment.

“I am looking forward to learning from and collaborating with a vibrant and dynamic network of women leaders,” Dr. Chung says. “I also hope to extend to the younger developing women leaders in our institution the benefits of mentorship that I wish I had had earlier in my career.”

Dr. Muszynski serves as a principal investigator in the Center for Clinical and Translational Research in NCH's Abigail Wexner Research Institute where she says her research is about pushing boundaries of what is known and finding new ways to answer tough questions and develop new understanding and treatments. Her research focuses on understanding how the immune system function of children who receive donated blood product through transfusion may be affected when they are critically ill or require care in Intensive Care Units. 

For many years, Dr. McCallister has honed her focus as a clinician-educator by working to improve medical education through creative and novel approaches to learning and training. She says this includes working to establish a solid home for medical educators in our institution and the profession.

“I am passionate about developing the next generation of clinicians and educators,” Dr. McCallister says. “This fellowship will allow me to develop the additional skills needed to advance this mission within the college and medical center, and to better support those already doing this important work.”

Mentorship and sponsorship have both helped these leaders navigate and grow through career challenges and be poised to illustrate their value. Dr. Iyer credits her success to the support from Carol R. Bradford, MD, MS, FACS, dean of the Ohio State College of Medicine, her chair Catherine Krawczeski, MD, FAAP, and Nationwide Children’s Hospital CEO Tim Robinson.

“That support has made all the difference,” Dr. Iyer says. “I try to pay that forward by mentoring and sponsoring others, because none of us gets here alone.”

Congratulations to this year’s ELAM and ELH fellows!