Learning Environment Advocacy Committee
The Learning Environment Advocacy Committee (LEAC) is a committee composed of faculty, staff, students, residents, and Carilion health professionals appointed by the dean.
The committee is charged with:
- promoting a learning environment that best supports student education;
- raising awareness about what constitutes mistreatment and unprofessional behavior through educational sessions for medical students, residents, and faculty;
- investigating allegations of mistreatment and unprofessional behavior in the learning environment; and
- resolving reported incidents through a committee process that determines appropriate disciplinary action to address the unacceptable behavior.
Committee Members
Felicity Adams-Vanke, MD, Committee Chair
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Beth Ipock, MAEd, MSW, QMHP, Staff Representative
Director of Clinical Skills Assessment and Evaluation
Tammy Barry, Carilion Clinic Administration Representative
Human Resources Business Director
Jerrie Patterson, RN, Carilion Clinic Nursing Representative
Unit Director
Karen Burns, Administrative Support
Executive Assistant to the Dean
VTCSOM Faculty Representatives
- N.L. Bishop, DMin, Faculty Representative
Sr. Associate Dean for Diversity, Inclusion, and Student Vitality
- Robert Moylan, MD, PhD, Faculty Representative
Assistant Professor of Gastroenterology
- Kris Rau, PhD, Faculty Representative
Assistant Professor of Basic Science Education
- Sarah DeWitt, MD, Faculty Representative
Professor of Internal Medicine
- Emily Faulks, MD, Faculty Representative
Professor of Surgery
VTCSOM Student Representatives
- Noah Oakland, M1 Representative
Class of 2024 - Luma Abunimer, M2 Representive
Class of 2023 - April DeStefano, M2 Representative
Class of 2023 - Yazdi Doshi, M3 Representative
Class of 2022 - Aryo Sorayya, M3 Representative
Class of 2022 - Tien Nguyen, M4 Representative
Class of 2021 - Meredith Rahman, M4 Representative
Class of 2021
Carilion Clinic Resident Representatives
- Felicia Gallucci, MD
Psychiatry - Margaret Nelson, MD
Pediatrics - Badr Ratnakaran, MD
Psychiatry
Committee Advisors
- Tracey Criss, MD
- Daniel Harrington, MD
- Aubrey Knight, MD
- David Musick, PhD
- Richard Vari, PhD
Is It Mistreatment?
Here is a useful one page summary of practices for productive interactions between teachers and learners (published in Academic Medicine, 2020)