Medical Education at the University of Colorado

Faculty Scholarly Interest in Medical Education

James Barry MD, MBA

Dr. Barry is the medical director of the University Hospital NICU and has been involved with NEAR4Neos national collaborative registry addressing neonatal intubation education/skill for trainees. His other educational interests include the use of Artificial Intelligence in Medical Education.

Nicolle Fernández Dyess MD, MEd

Dr. Dyess is one of the associate program directors of the fellowship program and studies multiple aspects of curriculum development and the career development of medical trainees, especially in the realm of identity formation. She has expertise in curriculum development/instruction, survey development/implementation, and qualitative analysis. She is a member of the national neonatology curriculum committee and is working on the development of a national, implicit bias and health disparities curriculum for neonatal-perinatal medicine clinicians. Additionally, she is the co-director of the School of Medicine’s Future Leaders in Medical Education Trail and the director of the GME-wide Residents and Fellows as Educators Elective. She is a Senior Fellow in Educational Leadership through the Academy of Medical Educators.

Karena Lawrence MD

Dr. Lawrence is the director of our Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) curriculum and program. She has a national presence in POCUS and is working on the development of a national, flipped classroom curriculum for neonatal-perinatal medicine physicians.

Laura Marrs MD

Dr. Marrs studies simulation and neonatal resuscitation. She contributes to our section’s outreach program, providing NRP teaching to our community partners and bordering states. She also serves as a DOCS coach through the school of medicine.

Thomas Parker MD

Dr. Parker is one of the associate program directors of the fellowship program and studies the development and use of neonatal specific Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) as a source of more structured, formative feedback. Dr. Parker is also the Vice Chair of Education for the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and leads the Pediatric Education Group (PEG) through the Department of Pediatrics. He is a Senior Fellow in Educational Leadership through the Academy of Medical Educators.

Laurie Sherlock MD

Dr. Sherlock studies improving communication in the NICU and is working on a communications curriculum for our fellowship program encompassing the evidence-based VITALtalk framework. VITALtalk has been shown to most consistently improve clinician comfort with delivering bad news and provides a toolbox for responding with empathy.