LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 4, 2012) -- Dr. Rinskje de Leeuw, associate professor and chief of the Division of Orofacial Pain and the director of graduate studies in the University of Kentucky College of Dentistry, has been named a 2012-2013 Fellow by the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program for Women at Drexel University College of Medicine.
This is the 18th incoming class for the program dedicated to preparing senior women faculty for positions of leadership at academic health centers, where they can ultimately play a role in academic health organizations becoming more inclusive of different perspectives and responsive to societal needs and expectations.
ELAM also aims to increase the diversity of women in leadership positions, and to continue to
expand its reach beyond the U.S. ELAM welcomed women from Canada in years past and extended to Europe for the first time in 2010, with a Fellow from the U.K. This year marks another first for the program, as it welcomes a fellow from a new country – Saudi Arabia. “The diversity of this class is evident in the inclusion of women from outside our national borders, various backgrounds and experiences, and from 48 different institutions, four of which are new to ELAM,” said Dr. Diane Magrane, director of Drexel’s International Center for Executive Leadership in Academics, which hosts the ELAM program.
In order to be accepted into the program, each Fellow must be nominated and supported by the dean or other senior official of her institution. ELAM continues to cultivate strong partnerships with participating institutions throughout the year-long fellowship. One aspect of this relationship is the curricular requirement to conduct an Institutional Action Project, developed in collaboration with the Fellows’ dean or other senior official. These action projects are designed to address an institutional or departmental need or priority.
“We are extremely excited to see the impact these women will have on their institutions as they work through the ELAM curriculum and develop their action projects,” said Magrane. “The projects the Fellows conduct not only help them understand the challenges facing academic health centers and the skills a leader must possess to address these challenges, but also often result in concrete changes at their institutions.”
The work for this incoming class began in May with online assignments and community building activities that continue through the end of the program in April 2013. Fellows begin the first of three week-long, in-residence sessions when they meet for the first time at the ACE Conference Center in Lafayette Hill, Penn., on Sept. 8, 2012.
