Vimla Band, Ph.D., chair of the UNMC Department of Genetics, Cell Biology & Anatomy, recently completed the prestigious Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine® (ELAM) Program for Women. ELAM is the only in-depth national program dedicated to preparing senior women faculty at schools of medicine, dentistry, and public health to effect sustained positive change as institutional leaders.
ELAM’s intensive one-year fellowship program of executive education, personal leadership assessments and coaching, and networking and mentoring activities supports ELAM fellows as they:
- Develop a broader vision of their role within their academic health centers.
- Enhance their leadership effectiveness, understanding of strategic finance, and ability to lead organizational change.
- Become part of an active resource network of women leaders.
“ELAM training helped me to enhance my skills towards efficient departmental governance as department chair,” Dr. Band said. “I learned advanced management tools for faculty performance in teaching, research and service. It improved my team-building skills and my ability in resource allocation to achieve the best outcomes in areas of strategic interest to the department and the institution.
“ELAM enrollment helped me to pursue my passion as a scientist and graduate educator by initiating my ‘ELAM institutional project’ to boost the recruitment of talented US undergraduates into biomedical graduate education at UNMC by establishing new programs and reforming existing programs.”
Dr. Band credited her mentor, College of Medicine Dean Brad Britigan, M.D., who attended the ceremony, and collaborator Dele Davies, M.D., UNMC vice chancellor for academic affairs, as key leaders who helped her accomplish her goals, including: the initiation of a one-year master’s in anatomy program that will start in the fall of 2014; establishment of a comprehensive anatomy teaching track Ph.D. program; and an interdepartmental/interdisciplinary graduate program, which is currently being established.
She also credited colleagues Shantaram Joshi, Ph.D., Karen Gould, Ph.D., Ryan Splittgerber, Ph.D., Carrie Elzie, Ph.D., Sarah Keim, Ph.D., Gordon Todd, Ph.D., Dan Monaghan, Ph.D., and Carol Lomneth, Ph.D., for their teamwork in accomplishing the goals.
“I plan to continue to work with Drs. Britigan and Davies to fully implement these programs through team-building,” Dr. Band said.
“Lastly, I learned about distinct skills women bring to leadership, and I plan to use these in developing programs for women faculty development at UNMC by closely working with Howard Liu, M.D., and Susan Swindells, M.B.B.S.”
Congratulations, that is inspirational !