2020 Institute Participants

The 2020 Research Training Institute (RTI) will be offered in a virtual format from July 13 to 17, 2020. The institute will provide the same high-quality advanced research methods curriculum and learning model, with mentoring and support for one year while participants complete their research projects. The 2020 Virtual RTI will also be taught by the same team of experienced and expert research faculty. The 2020 RTI fellow candidates were chosen by a selective submission process with an emphasis on a desire to learn, enthusiasm for research, and the quality and promise of their proposed research projects.

Gary Atwood, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2377-4100, is a library assistant professor and education librarian at the Dana Medical Library, University of Vermont–Burlington. His job responsibilities include overseeing the library’s information literacy program and providing instruction, reference, and liaison services to several departments in the Larner College of Medicine and the Department of Nursing. He received his master’s of science in library science from Simmons College and a master’s of arts in American history from the University of Maine. His RTI project will explore the information-seeking habits of undergraduate nursing students. His additional research interests include the medical civil rights movement and teaching technology.

Ana Corral, https:orcid.org/0000-0002-8067-0017, is the resident librarian at the Virginia Tech Libraries, Virginia Polytechnic & State University–Blacksburg. Corral received her bachelor’s degree from the University of California–Berkeley and her master’s degree from Wayne State University. Currently, she works in the Research Collaboration & Engagement and Collections & Technical Services Departments and is a liaison to the Latinx and American Indian & Indigenous Community and Cultural Centers. Her interests include the interaction between language, information access and dissemination, and Western research practices. At the RTI, she will be exploring the connections between health information literacy groups with limited English proficiency and digital literacy barriers.

Daina Dickman, AHIP, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9001-1608, is the scholarly communication librarian at the University Library, Sacramento State University, Sacramento, CA. She provides scholarly communication services to all departments, including health sciences, and serves on the California State University’s Digital Repositories Steering Committee. Prior to her faculty position, she worked in health, public, and school libraries, and was an HIV test counselor in LGBTQ+ clinics. She received her master’s of library and information science from San Jose State University and master’s of arts in comparative studies from Ohio State University. She is the chair of MLA’s Social Justice and Health Disparities Caucus. Her research interests include ethical conflict, compliance related to accessibility of information and communication technology, and critical librarianship in digital repositories.

Anna Ferri, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0191-6216, is a research and learning librarian at the Library of Roseman University of Health Sciences, Henderson, NV, where the primary units she supports are pharmacy, advanced education in orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics, and master’s of business administration. In addition to a master’s of library and information studies from the University of British Columbia, she is completing a graduate certificate in instructional and learning design and transferring into a master’s of education program in instructional design from the University of Massachusetts–Boston. Her research interests are in information literacy instruction and information-seeking behaviors in health disciplines and professions.

Lynn Kysh, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1886-0546, is the clinical and research librarian at the Health Sciences Library, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, as part of the Institute for Nursing and Interprofessional Research (INIR). As a solo librarian, she works to manage online resources, teach workshops, provide consultations, and join teams conducting systematic and scoping reviews. Her research interests include improving the quality of systematic and scoping reviews, investigating the impact of integrating the medical humanities, and expanding violence prevention among children and adolescents.

Stefanie Lapka, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9358-6068, is a health sciences librarian at the Health Sciences Libraries, University of Houston, Houston, TX, where she is the liaison to nursing, social work, and communication sciences and disorders. She began her professional career at the University of Texas–Rio Grande Valley, where she developed curricular components for the evidence-based medicine thread at the School of Medicine. She received her master’s of science in information studies from the University of Texas–Austin. Her research interests include the intersections between critical theory and pedagogy, evidence-based practice in health sciences librarianship and health care professions education, and medical humanities and their application to health care education and practice.

Michele L. Mason-Coles, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1865-2029, is currently a clinical librarian dedicated to the Department of Pediatrics and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC). She holds a faculty appointment as assistant professor of pediatrics at the F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine (USUHS). Upon completion of her master’s in library science from St. John’s University in 2011, Mason-Coles accepted a two-year fellowship at the National Library Medicine. In May 2019, the Library of Congress FEDLINK named Mason-Coles Federal Librarian of the Year for fiscal year 2018. Her research interests include usability and effectiveness of library websites for professionals and patients, as well as the effectiveness of librarian-led evidence-based medicine instruction for intern and resident groups.

Caitlin Meyer, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0916-9166, is a research and education librarian at the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT. In her current position, Meyer coordinates the medical library’s education program and works closely with the school’s two physician assistant programs. During graduate school, she worked as an instructional design assistant at the Louise Darling Biomedical Library, University of California–Los Angeles, and as a teaching assistant. It was here that her interest in instructional design and pedagogy began. This sparked her research interest in master’s of library and information science curricula around teaching skills, required experience and skills in the job market, and the overlap (or hypothesized lack thereof). Her RTI project will investigate this question.

Rebecca Anne Morin, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7293-7327, is the head of research and instruction at the Hirsh Health Sciences Library, Tufts University, Boston, MA. She received a bachelor’s of arts in music from Wellesley College before heading west, where she attended the University of British Columbia–Vancouver and earned a master’s of library and information studies and a master’s of archival studies. Prior to joining the team at Tufts, she served as head librarian at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. Her research interests are focused on medical education, including out-of-classroom topics such as resiliency, wellness, and managing uncertainty.

Annie Nickum, AHIP, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3643-9026, currently works as an information services and liaison librarian and assistant professor at the Library of the Health Sciences, University of Illinois–Chicago (UIC), where she supports the College of Nursing and the University of Illinois Hospitals. Before coming to UIC, she worked at the Library of Health Sciences at the University of North Dakota as the nursing and biomedical sciences librarian for five years. She obtained her master’s of library and information science from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in 2013. Her research interests are promoting understanding of the importance of consumer health literacy amongst nurses and ensuring that what she teaches nursing students translates well into practice.

Christi Piper, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6344-9532, is an education and reference librarian at the Strauss Health Sciences Library, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus–Aurora, where she is the liaison to the Physician Assistant and Physical Therapy programs. Her additional responsibilities include conducting systematic review searches, managing the reference and consultation services, and supervising master’s of library and information science graduate students who support the Education and Reference Department. Her current research interests center around attracting graduate library students to health sciences librarianship and how to provide better work experiences for graduate students to improve training and retention of future health sciences librarians.

Stacy F. Posillico, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7637-387X, is the health sciences librarian for Eastern Region Hospitals Libraries, Northwell Health, Hempstead, NY. Posillico earned her master’s of library science with a certificate of academic excellence from St. John’s University, and she has experience in medical and law libraries. She has published and presented on various library topics, including authoring a chapter in the book, Millennial Leadership in Libraries, and is a leader in professional library organizations. Her research interests include the advancement of librarians as organizational leaders; health literacy promotion; and innovation in hospital library organization, the latter of which she is excited to explore during her RTI fellowship.

Kearin Reid, AHIP, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1399-8549, is a medical librarian with the College of American Pathologists (CAP) in Northfield, IL. She supports guideline development projects, answers copyright questions, and performs literature research for a wide variety of research questions for staff and CAP committees. Reid has expertise in developing instructional materials and tutorials, providing webinar training for students and faculty, performing systematic literature reviews, answering copyright questions, and helping to guide the development of comprehensive research questions. Her research interests include evidence-based medicine searching and the use of artificial intelligence in systematic literature reviews.

Mary Roby, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2085-8605, is the assistant director for user services, Laupus Health Sciences Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC. Her career began thirty years ago in a small liberal arts college library as a music librarian; then over the years, she moved into library administration. In her current position, she oversees the liaison program, instructional services, circulation services, research services, and outreach services. Her current research interest focuses on improving the research skills of early career medical librarians.

Maggie Carrillo Shawcross, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7891-8135, is the health sciences librarian at the James A. Michener Library, University of Northern Colorado–Greeley. In her current position, she is the liaison to the Audiology & Speech Language Sciences, Gerontology, Human Rehabilitation Sciences, Nursing, Nutrition & Dietetics, Recreation, Tourism & Hospitality, and Sport & Exercise Science programs. Shawcross received her master’s in public health from the University of Northern Colorado and is a certified health education specialist (CHES) through the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing (NCHEC). Before becoming a librarian, she worked in public health as a health educator in various capacities. Her professional library experience includes serving as a consumer health librarian at a hospital and an adult services librarian at a public library. She received her master’s of library and information science from the University of Denver. Her current research interests include exploring the role of academic librarians in assisting new health professionals’ transition to their new careers, while developing an appreciation for lifelong learning.

Melanie E. Sorsby, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4873-8875, is the medical librarian at the Medical Library, Covenant Health System and School of Nursing, Lubbock, TX, where she works with the medical staff, Covenant School of Nursing, and the Research Council. Prior to this, she worked as a science librarian at the Research Library of Los Alamos National Laboratory. She earned her master’s of library and information science from the University of Pittsburgh. Her research interests include seeing if graphic medicine (GM) can improve nurses’ empathy and determining how to best incorporate GM into the nursing student curriculum.

Samuel Watson, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8191-4562, is an academic outreach specialist for the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Greater Midwest Region, Hardin Library, University of Iowa–Iowa City. His work consists of outreach and training for health sciences librarians on National Library of Medicine resources and services. He is also interested in partnering with the school of library and information science programs to promote health sciences librarianship as a viable career. His research is surveying health sciences librarians about their job satisfaction, what draws them to the profession, and what motivates them to stay.

Aidy Weeks, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0303-3193, is an assistant professor, graduate medical education (GME) liaison librarian, and collections manager at the Health Sciences Library, University of Nevada–Las Vegas (UNLV). She supports the UNLV School of Medicine GME Program and manages library resources for the Health Sciences Library. Weeks began her career in medical librarianship as a hospital librarian with Orlando Health and has fifteen years of library experience in both public and medical libraries ranging from outreach, collections development, systems, and medical reference support. She is a member of MLA and the Northern California and Nevada Medical Library Group. Her research interest includes critical librarianship in the health sciences, examination of traits of leaders of color in health sciences librarianship and mentorship models, graduate medical education librarianship, and building of inclusive library collections.

Kristin Whitman, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9401-1055, is a health sciences librarian at the Health Sciences Library-Meridian, Idaho State University–Pocatello, and has been in her post since 2018. Prior to her move to academic librarianship, Whitman worked as a corporate librarian specializing in patent research and as a trainer at ProQuest with a focus on federal government agencies. She holds an undergraduate degree in chemistry from the College of William and Mary, earned her master’s of library and information science from Rutgers University, and is currently completing her master’s of arts in education, curriculum, and instruction at Boise State University. Her research interests include health literacy instruction and open educational resources.

Stacy Winchester, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1305-7255, serves as the research data librarian in the Digital Research Services Department of the Thomas Cooper Library, University of South Carolina–Columbia. She received a bachelor’s of science in biological sciences from Clemson University, earned a master’s of library and information science from the University of South Carolina, and recently completed a graduate academic certificate in digital curation and data management from the University of North Texas. Winchester helps researchers preserve, share, and find research data across many disciplines, including public health, nursing, and pharmacy. Her current research interests include planning and assessment of library training and services for graduate students.