Educational Landscapes

Woodruff Health Educators Academy

Educational Landscapes is a podcast that spotlights educators and education leaders working in various units and levels across the Woodruff Health Sciences Center (WHSC) enterprise at Emory University. In each episode, these individuals share their journeys and advice to aspiring educators and leaders.

  1. 01/08/2025

    Lessons from Camille Brockett, DNP, FNP-BC, AGACNP

    Camille Brockett, DNP, FNP-BC, AGACNP is a Clinical Associate Professor at the Nell Hodgson-Woodruff School of Nursing and the Interim Specialty Director for the Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program. In this episode, Camille talks about her journey into academia (from senior clinical instructor through to a ranked faculty member) and how serving as an education leader requires skills that are a combination of leadership, mentorship, and collaboration in order to support both faculty and students. Her words of wisdom include "leadership, to me, is less about managing tasks and more about really connecting with people, whether those people are students, faculty, colleagues, and really just creating a sense of trust and collaboration among the people that you are leading. Taking the time to listen and understand what the needs are of the people that you're leading. So you can be an effective leader, you just don't want to be a leader in name, but you really want to be effective.", "don't forget to take care of yourself and also giving yourself grace. Not everything is going to work out perfectly all the time, all at once and as you want it. You want to be able to celebrate small wins, learn from your setbacks, and also trust that you are truly making a difference." and "Don't be afraid to use your voice. I think it's really easy for that imposter syndrome to take root sometimes in us, and just know that you are in a particular space at a particular time for a reason, right? Nothing is happenstance, and this is just my belief. And that you have something to offer, never feel like you have to prove yourself to someone or you have to change courses in order for someone to see you. Just stay the course. Do the best that you can be, know that you are worthy, you bring value to the table, and just be authentic to who you are and people will connect to that". Resources Woodruff Health Educators Academy | Emory University | Atlanta GANational League for Nursing HomeNational Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties

    25 min
  2. 11/13/2024

    Lessons from W. Michael Caudle, PhD

    W. Michael Caudle, PhD is the Director of Graduate Studies for the Environmental Health Sciences PhD program at the Rollins School of Public Health. In this episode, Mike talks about his journey from trained laboratory scientist to discovering his passion for teaching and mentoring. He highlights how important continuing professional development is as the various skills needed to be an effective educator or leader aren't typically taught in PhD or postdoctoral training, therefore educators have to teach themselves or find other resources for that skills training. His words of wisdom include "really focus on being reflective, being able to reflect back on your own experiences and appreciating those experiences and being able to leverage those experiences as you're engaging with students, but at the same time, to be flexible. So understanding that each of those interactions is going to be different and that it's not going to be a one-size-fits-all solution to whatever the issue is." and "If you are someone who maybe doesn't see yourself in the educational space, don't close that door because there are a lot of different ways to educate. It does not have to be in a classroom. It does not even have to be in an academic setting. You are an educator in your community. You are an educator at your dinner table. So there are a lot of ways to educate, to mentor, and to facilitate." Resources Intersections: The Education Journal of the Woodruff Health Sciences Center | Emory University | Atlanta GA

    31 min
  3. 10/02/2024

    Lessons from Calli Cook, NP, DNP, APRN, FNP-C

    Calli Cook, NP, DNP, APRN, FNP-C is the Specialty Director for the Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner program at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. In this episode Calli talks about her journey as a nurse, exploring various specialties (e.g., ICU, mental health) until finding that working in a neurology practice was a good fit. Calli talks about how important her experiences in various leadership roles from when she was an undergraduate student through nursing training until now as an NP educator helped her become the servant leader that she is. Her words of wisdom include "I think patience is really important. I mentioned that as soon as I graduated, I wanted to hit the ground running, being a leader, but each role prepared me for the next role. So knowing that your first leadership role is not going to be your last and it is a preparation for the next, and to be patient as you go through each of those roles, and to take something with you, and to really pause and enjoy each moment." and "Remember that it's progress, it's not perfection. It takes a life to learn how to live. It takes a career to learn how to be an excellent educator. Each step is a step to becoming a better version of yourself as an educator. So learn from your mistakes and move forward, innovate, and inspire the next generation of healthcare providers." Resources English Teacher Weekly substackAmerican Academy of Neurology: Neurology Resources | AAN

    30 min
  4. 08/07/2024

    Lessons from Dimitri Cassimatis, MD

    Dimitri Cassimatis, MD is a small-group advisor and course co-director for the cardiovascular pathophysiology course in Emory University's MD program. He is also Chief of Medicine at Emory Midtown Hospital. In this episode Dimitri talks about his journey from being a physics student to biochemistry student (working as a patient transporter) to pre-med student to internal medicine resident to cardiology fellow to ultimately his current roles as an attending. Dimitri also talks about his experiences being open to opportunities and enjoying the process of becoming the various roles he's taken on. His words of wisdom which include "I tell that to students that they should not stress themselves out about picking the one right thing that there are usually lots of right things. You just have to pick one of those right things and make the best of it and go with it."; "your job that you start out with right after training is just a starting point, and that from that you tailor that to where you enjoy spending time first by volunteering in those areas and then looking for paid opportunities in those areas to really shore up the amount of time you can spend there and that you can really tailor your career in many different directions depending on where your passions are." and "remember that education is a skill. You build it by practicing it and by paying attention to the feedback and trying to do things better, so look for opportunities to practice it. I would also remind everybody who's going to become a clinician that education is part of what you do every day with your patients. If you're going to be patient-facing, you're going to be educating your patients, and having skills to educate them is extremely important in being a good clinician for them. So even if you don't consider yourself an educator, if you're a clinician, you are an educator."

    45 min
  5. 06/05/2024

    Lessons from Kelly L. Wiltse Nicely, PhD, CRNA

    Kelly L. Wiltse Nicely, PhD, CRNA is program director for the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Nurse Anesthesia, DNP Program and educator director on the board of directors for the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs. In this episode Kelly talks about her journey from rural Michigan in which access to the healthcare system meant folks left their community and didn't have their social support systems with them through to lead a successful DNP program that is built with the idea of community; building clinical sites and a program with the idea of meeting our community's needs. Kelly's words of wisdom include "find yourself in a place where you get to be comfortable being uncomfortable. You can do more than you realize and find those people that can see your potential, who will cheer you on, who will open doors for you. Those mentors are priceless, and they will help you realize all of the dreams that you want to realize. And also know that those dreams will change, and it's okay that they change. And go with what your passion is, go with what's going to make you happy because this life is too short and your work days are too long to not enjoy what you do." and "I always recommend finding the most accomplished people you can to join your team and then make it your mission to provide them with the resources and support to do the things that they love. If people love what they do, they're going to want to spend time doing it, they're going to want to spend time with their colleagues teaching them and helping them learn and grow. And then you'll find that the work that you're doing, you're able to do it better, faster, stronger." Resources International Association for the Study of Pain

    41 min

About

Educational Landscapes is a podcast that spotlights educators and education leaders working in various units and levels across the Woodruff Health Sciences Center (WHSC) enterprise at Emory University. In each episode, these individuals share their journeys and advice to aspiring educators and leaders.