WHEA Fellowship in Interprofessional Leadership and Professional Development

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The WHEA Fellowship in Interprofessional Leadership and Professional Development ("Formerly the Kern Faculty Fellowship") is an 8-month program for health sciences educators and practitioners who want to transform interprofessional collaborative practice & education at Emory University.  The program focuses on developing the high-level professional and relational abilities necessary to create interprofessional leadership and professionalism at the individual and organizational level, along with joyful practice, resilience, team functioning, and collaboration. The program targets high-level professional development in faculty as a vital component of addressing a wide range of challenges including educational and practice reforms related to community norms and standards, interprofessional collaboration, and organizational leadership.

Accreditation Statement for 2024-2025 Cohort

The Emory University School of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. 

Physician designation statement

The Emory University School of Medicine designates this live activity for a maximum of 25.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Nursing Credit Statement

Emory Nursing Professional Development Center (ENPDC) is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation. Attendees to this activity will be awarded 25.5 contact hours by ENPDC upon completion of the activity evaluation and by participating in 90% of the activity time. 

This longitudinal certificate program uses a small group approach for learning in community. The educational method facilitates growth in moral character and identity through guided critical reflection coupled with immersion in challenging scenarios. This pedagogical approach develops and sustains meaningful relationships over time as a model that can be exported to other organizational contexts. Example sessions topics include the following:

  1. Character formation, professional development, and leadership.
  2. Effectively addressing equity, inclusion, and structural racism in healthcare.
  3. Addressing burnout and moral injury and achieving joy and balance using peer support.
  4. After the error: Learning, Growth, and Wisdom.

Effective teamwork, collaboration, person centered care and health equity are essential for improving quality of care - case scenarios chosen will link session topics to key determinants that impact patient, health system and community outcomes.


Participants become deeply engaged. They may experience a level of transformational learning with associated changes in professional identity- e.g. changed relational perceptions regarding colleagues in the group and/or internalization of more inclusive values.

Participants should identify and implement changes in professional practice/educational approaches because of insights gained through the experiential learning activities.

Participants will be early to mid-career educators from any of the Emory health sciences schools, centers, programs, or practice sites who are dedicated to and passionate about providing excellent patient-centered care and educating students, trainees, faculty, or others, and who would like to enhance their leadership and collaboration skills. At least two years of educational experience preferred with positional authority to influence instruction, curricular programs, and/or interprofessional collaborative practice; support of administrative unit is required.

  • Live chat information session online via Zoom will be held on Tuesday August 20th at 5 pm. 
  • Applications due no later than September 16th
  • Participants will be notified by October 1st
  • Workshops and sessions: Approximately every two weeks beginning mid-October through the end of May (at a time and place convenient for the group members - virtual platform)

Workshops have been developed by national experts participating in a National Collaboratory based at Emory that includes Harvard, UCSF, and Indiana University. The group at Emory will be facilitated by William Branch, Professor School of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Corrine Abraham, Associate Clinical Professor Emerita School of Nursing, and Tamara Haynes, Assistant Professor School of Medicine, Departments of Medicine and Psychiatry.

Fellows are expected to:

  • Commit to participate fully in all 12 scheduled group sessions (exception: major scheduling conflict)
  • Complete all pre/post program surveys
  • Identify tangible strategies for leading change in IPE/IPCP

No cost to participate.

We will select 10-12 promising interprofessional leaders who commit to attend bi-monthly sessions for 8 months, and who are likely to contribute to education of students, trainees, and others within their institutions. Complete application here

"The Kern Fellowship was an amazing longitudinal experience that renewed my hope and energy for healthcare and the people who are doing this work. The facilitators are amazing, and a substantial portion of the learning comes from your co-fellows. Learning about people's work, listening to the unbelievable breadth of the work at Emory, and how we can all work as interprofessional groups to enhance care, education, and mentoring was truly the experience I needed at the tail end of this pandemic."

~ Katharine Brock, MD, Pediatric Hematologist/Oncologist at the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine

"My participation in the 2021-22 Kern Fellowship was rewarding well beyond my expectations. My time meeting with the interdisciplinary group, under the guidance of Corrine Abraham and Bill Branch, provided an opportunity to process some of the more intense aspects of my work and life. I truly felt some growth and emotional opening in every single session, and I felt that we as a group bonded through listening, speaking, and reflecting each other on numerous topics of importance - such as finding meaning in life and work, and developing trust with patients and colleagues. I highly recommend this fellowship to anyone interested in having a safe place to discuss and think about some of the most challenging aspects of what we do in healthcare. And a piece of advice for when/if you join a future year of this fellowship: show up, participate, and trust the process - and you'll see what I mean about how valuable it is."

~ Dimitri Cassimatis, MD, Cardiologist and Chief of Medicine at Emory University Hospital Midtown

"I was honored to be selected to participate in the Kern Fellowship in Interprofessional Leadership, co-sponsored by the Woodruff Health Educators Academy and the Kern Foundation. Dr. Branch and Dr. Abraham skillfully crafted safe, inclusive spaces for self-reflection, authenticity, learning, and growth. I am grateful for this fellowship and the meaningful experiences I shared with interprofessional colleagues. The outcomes of this fellowship will continue to shape my thoughts and actions for leader development, diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, resilience, and optimal outcomes in healthcare."

~ Trina Geyer, PhD, RN, NPD-BC, NEA-BC, Director, Nursing Leadership and Development, Emory Healthcare Program Administrator, Emory's Building Resilience and Compassion Enculturation (emBRACE) Peer Support Program

“This program brought me closer to my colleagues and to myself through well-planned sessions, thoughtful facilitation, and an openness to be vulnerable with one another.”

~ Holly Gooding, MD, MS, Division of General Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine. (Grady Healthcare)