Two DOM faculty to graduate from SSWIMS fellowship, four more named fellows

The SSWIMS or Spurring Success for Women in Medicine and Science fellowship will host a “Sparking Change Celebration” for 12 graduating fellows in the first cohort for the program, which is coordinated through Women in Medicine and Science, or WIMS, as part of the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson.

Among inaugural participants in the early-to-mid career women’s physician leadership program are:

• Olivia Hung, MD, assistant professor in the Division of Cardiology, Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship program director and associate block director for the college’s Clinical Reasoning Course, and
• Salma Patel, MD, MPH, assistant professor and Sleep Medicine Fellowship associate program director in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine, Graduate Medical Education Subcommittee for Research chair and Admissions Committee vice chair at the college, and medical director of the Physician Assistant Program at the UArizona College of Health Sciences.

The graduation event occurs the evening of May 15 in the COM-T Social Hall (Room 2500). The 2023-24 fellows will present their leadership excellence projects. And winners of WIMS’ inaugural 2023 Torchbearer Awards also will be recognized. Included among the 52 Torchbearer winners – announced last September – were 11 DOM faculty.

“This program has been a journey of growth, learning, and empowerment for our women leaders, and we are excited to celebrate their achievements,” said Hina Arif, MD, WIMS assistant dean at the college and chief of the Division of Abdominal Imaging and vice chair for clinical affairs for the Department of Medical Imaging.

Dr. Arif said there would be 11 faculty members included in the 2024-25 cohort for the SSWIMS Fellowship. Among them from the Department of Medicine are Danielle Avila, MD, of the Division of Infectious Diseases; Billie Bixby, MD, of the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine; and Saher Khalid, MD; and Amy Klein, MD, both in the Division of General Internal Medicine, Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine. All are assistant professors.

Dr. Avila is principal investigator for HIV Clinical Care, Petersen HIV Clinics as well as the Arizona chapter of the Pacific AIDS Education and Training Center. Dr. Bixby also is director of the Interventional Pulmonology Program at Banner – University Medical Center Tucson. Dr. Khalid is an internist and division lead for population health and physician champion for e-consults for the Primary Care Physicians Program. And Dr. Klein is program director of the Hospice & Palliative Medicine Fellowship and palliative medicine director for Banner – University Medicine Tucson. Both Drs. Khalid and Klein were 2023 WIMS Torchbearer Award winners, too.

For questions about the graduation event, please contact Auralia Walls at abw2@arizona.edu.

From the May 15 graduation event in the COM-T Social Hall, the inaugural 2023-24 SSWIMS Fellowship graduating class, with Drs. Hung and Patel front and center. Photos (left) by DOM communications manager David Mogollon and (right) BioCommunications’ photographer Mitch Masilun.

 

ALSO SEE:
“11 DOM physicians win Women in Medicine & Science Torchbearer Awards” | Posted Sept. 11, 2023
“New SSWIMS fellowship aims to elevate women in academic medicine” | Posted July 24, 2023
“Dr. Olivia Hung Picked for SSWIMS Fellowship” | Posted June 8, 2023