Contact Information
The Faculty Development Program welcomes your comments. What topics would you like to see Faculty Development offer? Please send us your suggestions for future programs.
Phone: 713-792-8061
Fax: 713-563-3071
E-mail: FacDev2@mdanderson.org
Mailing address:
Faculty Development
MD Anderson Cancer Center
PO Box 301402, Unit 1426
Houston, TX 77230-1402
Download Career Advice Policy (doc).
Meet the Faculty Development Staff
Janis Apted Yadiny, M.L.S. is associate vice president of Faculty Development. She has an MLS from McGill University and over 25 years of experience in information access and management, organizational, professional and faculty development, and strategic and planned change in academic, international and corporate institutions. Mrs. Yadiny's previous positions have been with the University of Michigan, the Houston Academy of Medicine - Texas Medical Center Library, McGill University, Royal Society of Medicine in England and the World Health Organization in Switzerland and Tunisia.
Katrina Allen Wright, M.B.A. program manager for Faculty Health & Well-Being, received her bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Houston – Downtown. Following work in the oil and gas industry, she transitioned to the institution for an opportunity to make more meaningful differences in the lives of people impacted by cancer. For two years and in the absence of a director, she designed and developed programs for faculty members that highlight their professional and personal lives. She now works under the guidance of Warren L. Holleman, Ph.D., associate professor and director of Faculty Health & Well-Being. Their goal is to promote more fulfilling and professional and personal lives for faculty members.
Walter F. Baile, M.D. is Professor of Behavioral Science and Psychiatry and Director of the Interpersonal Communication And Relationship Enhancement (I*CARE) program in the Department of Faculty Development. In addition to be a practicing psychiatrist, he heads up the I*CARE educational effort within the Division of Academic Affairs. This consists of the development and dissemination of programs promoting competency in clinician patient communication, conflict resolution and mentoring. Specific activities directed toward this goal include a video based website (www.mdanderson.org/icare), a lecture series for fellows on Professionalism and Communication skills and hands on workshops for faculty, fellows and oncology staff. He has been involved on a national level in NCI funded programs in teaching communication skills (Oncotalk and Oncotalk Teach) and the International level, training physicians and other staff in communication skills notably in Italy, Germany and Portugal. He has presented and published widely in the area of clinician patient communication. Video presentations on his I*CARE website received 2010 “People's Telly Award” in three categories: education, training and the highest honor which is the silver People's Telly Award. Dr. Baile is also recipient of the 2010 Lynn Payer award given for Outstanding Contributions to the Literature on the Theory, Practice and Teaching of Effective Health Care Communication and Related Skills by the American Association of Communication in Healthcare and co-recipient of the 2011 John P. McGovern Award for Excellence in Biomedical Communication presented by American Medical Writers Association.
Melanie Somers, M.B.A. is a project director for Faculty Development overseeing the Junior Faculty Development Program (JFDP) and the Provost's Mentoring Initiative. She has been with MD Anderson Cancer Center since late 2005. She earned her MBA from a consortium campus (CIMBA) in Asolo, Italy, and has been working in the area of organizational development and training for more than eleven years in international consulting, the energy industry and academic medicine.
Janet Bruner, M.D., Professor of Pathology and former chair of the Department of Pathology for 12 years, joins us as Special Advisor to Faculty Development. Dr. Bruner continues her clinical and other administrative roles in the institution. She has worked with Faculty Development in an ad hoc capacity on the Faculty Leadership Academy and is a member of the Faculty Mentoring Advisory Committee. She is a former member and chair of the Promotion and Tenure Committee of MD Anderson Cancer Center. She will work collaboratively with Faculty Development on the above activities and also in efforts aimed at faculty leadership development, in general.
Liliana DeGeus has been a senior administrative assistant in Faculty Development since May 2008. In addition to providing administrative support to Dr. Walter Baile, she coordinates the various communication skills sessions and workshops of the program for Interpersonal Communication And Relationship Enhancement (I*CARE) activities. Ms. DeGeus has worked at MD Anderson for 25 years.
David M. Ford, Ed.D., currently serves as program director of The Classrooms of the 21st Century, Faculty Development's Teaching Skills Program, as well as the Teaching Scholars Program for MD Anderson's postdoctoral fellows. He joined the department in 2000. Dr. Ford has served as principal, educator and director of on-line training. He holds superintendent, mid-manager, guidance and teacher certification in Texas and Illinois. He earned a doctorate in education from the University of Houston in Educational Leadership and Cultural Studies in 1993. He currently serves as a board member to the Houston Independent School District Advisory Board for Professional Development Services.
Warren L. Holleman, Ph.D. is Professor of Behavioral Science and Director of the Faculty Health & Well-Being Program. He and Katrina Allen develop programs that promote the health, well-being, and work-life balance of faculty. These include traditional educational programs such as Grand Rounds lectures, departmental presentations, and workshops and as well as nontraditional endeavors that promote communication, social support, and healthy lifestyles. These include the Faculty Voice blog, mindfulness training, Tai Chi, faculty art shows, and faculty coffee houses, happy hours, dance lessons, and karaoke. Dr. Holleman also collaborates with other faculty to conduct research on faculty stress, burnout, and well-being.
Catherine D. Kirkwood, M.P.H., Project Director, Interpersonal Communication And Relationship Enhancement (I*CARE) program has 30 years of success in the development of educational programs for health care professionals in the Texas Medical Center. She is the former Clinical Education Director for the University of Texas AIDS Education & Training Center (AIDS ETC) for Texas and Oklahoma and Education Manager for The UT MD Anderson Cancer Center's Complementary/Integrative Medicine Education Resources (CIMER) program/Web site She was the Project Director for the International Health and Medical Media (FREDDIE) Award winning program "Important Conversations: Talking with Patients About Complementary Therapies." and the Telly Award winning program "Crossroads" which received two bronze awards in the categories of "Education" and "Training" and the highest award, the Silver People's Telly Award. She is also joint recipient (Walter F. Baile, M.D.) of the John P. McGovern Award for Excellence in Biomedical Communication.
Lora Shea, M.Ed. is a project director in Faculty Development. She joined MD Anderson in June 2005. She works with David Ford,EdD on instructional initiatives of the Quality Enhancement Plan and The Classrooms of the 21st Century program. Lora holds secondary science and English as a Second Language teaching certifications in Texas and has extensive classroom and educational technology experience. She earned her Master of Education in biology from Louisiana State University.
Janice Simon, M.A., CPO® is a project director for Faculty Development. She came to MD Anderson Cancer Center early in 2000 from her former post at the Galveston Independent School District. For nearly five years, she served as the school district's coordinator of media and curriculum services. Prior to working at Galveston I.S.D., Ms. Simon was a newspaper journalist in Oklahoma and Galveston for more than nine years. She earned her Master of Arts degree from the University of Houston-Clear Lake.
Brenda Slawson, C.P.S./C.A.P. Program Manager for the Department of Faculty Development, has worked at MD Anderson Cancer Center since 2007. In April 2011, she joined us from the department of Pathology where she served as a senior administrative assistant.
Victoria Thompson, Dr.P.H, project director, was Director of Marketing and Client Relations at a Houston-based technology company that develops video games for health and the qualitative researcher and Houston-site project manager of an NIH-funded Type 2 diabetes prevention trial at Baylor College of Medicine. Upon joining our team, she redesigned our websites along with designing and launching the inaugural intranet site for the Office of Women Faculty Programs. She is a Certified Practitioner of the Myers Briggs Type Indicator® Step I and Step II instruments. In addition to other responsibilities, she collaborates with the Office of Women Faculty Programs, Faculty Health and other faculty career and professional development programs. She earned her master's degree in nutrition from Pennsylvania State University and her doctorate in public health from The University of Texas Health Science Center School of Public Health.