2022 Institute Participants

The 2022 Research Training Institute (RTI) is offered in a virtual format from May 2022 to June 2023. The institute provides high-quality advanced research methods curriculum and learning model, with mentoring and support for one year while participants complete their research projects. The 2022 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.

Lisa Acuff, AHIP,  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8427-4073, is a Research and Education Librarian at the University of New Mexico, Health Sciences Center. She is the liaison to the College of Nursing and health professions programs including physical therapy, occupational therapy, and medical laboratory sciences. Acuff enjoys getting to know the programs, aligning learning objectives & goals, and creating integrated instruction. Her research interests include learners' lived experiences acquiring information for evidence-based practice; health information professionals' participation in interprofessional education; reflective learning; and information literacy instruction. She also enjoys exploring librarian well-being, as well as trauma-informed principles and practices for instructional design.

Anna Biszaha,  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9954-8505, is an assistant professor and Research & Education Librarian at the Ohio State University Health Sciences Library.  In her current position, she provides reference, instruction, and research support services and serves as the liaison librarian to both the College of Dentistry and the School of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences.  She received a BA in Philosophy and German from the Ohio State University and an MLIS from the University of Pittsburgh.  Her research interests relate to investigating how users engage with different library educational services from both an educational psychology and user experience perspective.

Alex Boeckman,  https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2800-994X, is a graduate student in the School of Library and Information Management (SLIM) at Emporia State University. She has a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Missouri - St. Louis. She currently works as a Digital Archive Intern at the Open Legal Blog Archive (LexBlog). Previously, Boeckman worked as a Senior Library Information Specialist at the Zalk Veterinary Medical Library. Her research interests include food literacy and open access. 

Kristen Burroughs,  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7046-5944, will receive her MLS from Emporia State University’s School of Library and Information Science in August 2022. She has worked in healthcare since 2009 and has been a registered nurse for the last ten years. She also has work experience in a large public library system, as well as internship experience in a hospital library. Kristen’s research interests include critical information literacy in health sciences libraries and inclusive language in educational resources.

Carolann Curry,  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9153-6051, Associate Professor of Community Medicine and Medical Library Sciences has been with Mercer University School of Medicine since 2007. She has worked in a variety of positions at the Medical Library, beginning in interlibrary loan and document delivery. Upon receiving her MLIS degree in 2009, Carolann took on reference, instruction, and assessment roles. Since 2020 she has worked as the school’s Grant Support and Technical writer, assisting faculty with identifying and submitting grant applications and also supporting faculty during the manuscript submission process. Her research interests include trends in biomedical scholarly communication and open access publishing.

Samira Didehbani, BSN, RN,  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5512-6060, has been a registered nurse for nine years. She currently works at the Texas Health Resources Dallas Presbyterian Hospital in the medical intensive care unit. She is working on a master’s degree in health informatics at the University of North Texas. Some of her career goals include supporting clinicians in their decision making via evidence-based practice and conducting research using solely the electronic health records.

Colleen Foy,  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3705-6353, is a Research and Instruction Librarian for Biology, Chemistry, and Health & Exercise Science programs at Wake Forest University. She received her bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science from Auburn University and master’s in Library and Information Science from the University of North Carolina Greensboro. Colleen’s research interests include the advancement of DEI efforts in libraries and health & science information literacy instruction practices. Her RTI project will investigate the impacts of library health information literacy intervention in employee weight management and wellness programs at her home institution.

Carla Fulgham,  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7986-5522, is the Health Sciences Librarian for Kolwyck Library and Information Commons at Chattanooga State Community College. Her primary role is to serve the Nursing and Allied Health (N&AH) Division by delivering research instruction, online instructional materials, innovative digital tools and OER. She currently serves as chair of the Library’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee. Her RTI project will study undergraduate student experiences with virtual learning in health sciences. She is also interested in healthcare equity in obstetrics and gynecology, and the impact of health literacy on patient attitudes toward healthcare.

Emily Gilbert,  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9928-2105,  joined the University of Illinois Chicago’s Library of the Health Sciences in 2021, where she works as an Assistant Professor and Liaison Librarian supporting the College of Medicine and the University of Illinois Hospital. She works with faculty, students, staff, residents, and fellows, providing research support and instruction. Previously, Emily spent eleven years in other academic libraries, including six as a Health Sciences Librarian at Rasmussen University. She holds an MLIS from Drexel University and a BA in French from Carthage College. Her research interests focus on anti-fatness in academic libraries and medical education.

Susan Harnett, AHIP,  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6331-4504, is Medical Information Services Librarian at Borland Library, University of Florida, Jacksonville, FL. Her role is primarily clinical, and she provides reference, instruction and research services to faculty, residents, fellows and staff at UF Health Jacksonville.  She received her Master of Library Service from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, and has previously worked as a clinical librarian at Eastern Virginia Medical School and Naval Medical Center Portsmouth.  Susan’s research interests include health literacy and consumer health; and she recently co-edited a book on roles for librarians on Institutional Review Boards and Institutional Animal Care and Use committees. 

Kim Harp,  https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2293-0375, is a member of the Education & Research Services team at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, McGoogan Health Sciences Library.  She is a liaison to the UNMC College of Nursing and to Nebraska Medicine where she provides instruction and research support. Kim also serves on the library's systematic review team.  Kim completed her Master of Library Science at Emporia State University.  Her research interests include evidence-based practice implementation at the clinical level, diversity, equity and inclusion as it relates to disability, and information literacy instructional design.

Bridget Jivanelli,  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8707-4859, is the Medical Librarian at Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY. She received her MLIS from Queens College, City University of New York. As a solo hospital librarian, she is involved in many aspects of medical librarianship – from interlibrary loan to budget administration to systematic reviews and beyond. Bridget is a column editor for Journal of Hospital Librarianship and Journal of Consumer Health on the Internet. At the RTI, Bridget is planning to focus on the potential impact of COVID-19 on mentorships in early career health science librarians in the hospital setting.

Drew Johnson, CHES,  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7215-6165, is a Certified Health Educator and a graduate student at the University of North Texas, pursuing her M.S in Medical Informatics. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Texas Woman’s University in 2021 with her Bachelor of Science degree in Health. There, she conducted a needs assessment aimed at identifying trends in the access and use of culturally competent maternal healthcare resources. Currently, she works in pharmaceutical drug safety to promote accurate data insights and monitoring for adverse events, and as a learning systems manager to promote clinician education and compliance maintenance support. At the RTI, Drew is interested in exploring inequalities in the process of gathering and analyzing health information for ethnic minorities.

Ellen Kearns,  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6818-7594, is a graduate student in the School of Library and Information Management at Emporia State University.  Ellen received a BA in Religious Studies from the University of Kansas and her Associate of Science in Occupational Therapy from Washburn University.  As an occupational therapy assistant within the hospital setting, she has served as the chair of a rehabilitation unit education committee, presented at community health events, created patient and employee education materials, and taught patient education groups.  Ellen is passionate about connecting patients, students, and colleagues with educational resources and her research interests include health literacy, patient advocacy, social justice, and evidence-based practice for allied health professionals. 

Vanessa Kitchin,  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5234-2681, is the Knowledge Synthesis Librarian at the University of British Columbia and has worked to support and conduct evidence syntheses in the health sciences since 2014. Vanessa’s research interests include integrated knowledge translation and data management for knowledge syntheses. She has a passion for open science and works diligently to engage and promote the open science manifesto. Her overarching research interest lies in the methodology of all knowledge synthesis types, especially that of realist reviews and meta-analyses – two review types that require robust teams to execute.

Karina Kletscher,  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1046-2415, is the Reference and Instruction Librarian on the Creighton University Health Sciences Campus in Phoenix, AZ. Karina earned her MLIS from the University of Maryland, College Park and a BA in Narrative Studies from the University of Southern California. Her research interests include critical pedagogies, medical humanities, and the intersection of information literacy and cultural programming and its impact on belonging in academic libraries. She has previously explored gamified library instruction, academic library spaces, and librarians’ roles in adolescent sexual health literacy. At RTI, she will focus on efficacy and student perceptions of satellite campus libraries.

Laura Lipke, AHIP,  https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3653-5843, is a Medical Librarian at A.T. Still University. She is the liaison to the College of Osteopathic Medicine and the department of Nursing in the College of Graduate Health Sciences. Her job responsibilities include providing instruction, reference and liaison services. Laura received her degree in Occupational therapy from Syracuse University, her Masters of Science degree from Towson University, and her MLIS from the University of Maryland, College Park. Her RTI project will focus on developing quantitative evidence to support case-based EBM integrated library instruction within the College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Laurie Najjar,  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7076-8953, is working toward her Master’s degree in Information/Library Science at the University of North Texas. She earned a B.A. in Psychology and M.S. in Management, and has a varied background, having worked as an instructional designer, marketing manager, editor, and researcher. Laurie plans to become a reference or research librarian. Currently, she works at the Austin Public Library, providing circulation and reference support, as well as promoting civic engagement. Laurie's research interests include information literacy, reference instruction, patient education, and behavioral interventions.

Michelle Nielsen Ott,  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2730-2928, is Assistant Professor and Sciences/Health Sciences Librarian at the Cullom-Davis Library at Bradley University in Peoria, IL. She is also an adjunct instructor at Illinois Central College in East Peoria, IL for the Library Technical Assistant program. Michelle earned her B.A. in Religion with minors in Philosophy and Ethics from the University of Northern Iowa, Master of Theological Studies from Vanderbilt University Divinity School, and Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her research interests are varied but she is currently focusing on health humanities and inclusive pedagogy for library instruction.

Donna O'Malley,  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7088-7186, is a Library Associate Professor at the University of Vermont Dana Medical Library where she provides consultation and instruction for students and faculty in medical student education and graduate student education at the Larner College of Medicine. She enjoys participating on systematic review research teams. She also manages the university's institutional repository, UVM ScholarWorks. She earned her MLS from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research interests center on scholarly communication, including approaches to instruction and methods for facilitating the publishing and sharing of research.

Ebony Peterson,  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3065-2216, is a student at the University of North Texas with a concentration in Health Informatics. She has a graduate certificate from the UNT in Archival Management. Before entering the field of Library Science, she obtained both BA and MA in history and furthered pursued a career in teaching both high school and collegiate students. She plans on doing research addressing the accessibility issues that users with learning disabilities face when researching library databases, with a particular focus on students with dyslexia.

Caitlin Ratcliffe, AHIP,  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2708-6786, is the health sciences librarian at Red Deer Polytechnic in Alberta, Canada. In her current position, she provides information literacy instruction and research support for the departments of Nursing, Kinesiology, Pharmacy Technician, and Occupational and Physical Therapist Assistant. Ratcliffe earned a Master of Library and Information Studies degree at the University of Alberta. Her research interests include academic integrity, Open Educational Resources, and student experience, currently focusing on assessing international students’ experiences with the Library’s online and in-person spaces and services.

John Reynolds,  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6744-3517, is a Librarian Associate Professor, Research and Education Librarian at the Calder Memorial Library, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. He coordinates the library’s systematic review and evidence synthesis service, as well as providing research, reference, and instruction services. John is a member of the Board of the Florida Association of College & Research Libraries and is the chair of the Research Committee Southern Chapter of the Medical Library Association. His research interests focus on supporting early career researchers, especially in adherence to best practices in evidence synthesis research and scholarly communication practices including predatory publishing.

Ciara Seals,  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8146-7635, is a student at the University of North Texas pursuing a Master’s in Health Informatics. She holds a BS in Anthropology with a concentration in health and medicine from Baylor University and works in public health and epidemiology, focusing on data management. Ciara has continually witnessed the undeniable value of the information professional’s role in trend identification, collection, and retrieval. Ciara’s background has shown her the importance of community outreach via information services. She is exploring career options in clinical research and is highly interested in informatics relating to database management and user interface in clinical trials. 

Claire Sharifi,  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7375-0767, is a reference and instruction librarian at Gleeson Library | Geschke Center at the University of San Francisco, and the liaison to the School of Nursing & Health Professions and the Department of Kinesiology. Her job responsibilities include providing instruction and research support to her liaison areas, and reference services to the university at large. Claire has a bachelor’s degree in health education from San Francisco State University. Prior to obtaining her MLIS in 2009 from San Jose State University, Claire worked as a research assistant investigating behavioral health interventions, and as a caseworker for a non-profit nutrition services agency. Her research interests include the scholarly communication practices of nursing, and professional civility and incivility.

Nancy Shin, AHIP,  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8996-3513, is the NNLM Region 5 Outreach and Data Coordinator at the University of Washington, in Seattle. Previously, she worked as the Sewell Fund RDM Librarian Fellow at Washington State University and as the Reference Librarian at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia. Her research interests lie in evidence-based medicine, data management, data storytelling, data visualization, and inclusive data ethics.

Kelly Stormking,  https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2818-6794, is a library specialist within the Biomedical Library at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Primarily focused on supporting researchers through reference services, resource instruction and grant support, they also manage both the physical and electronic resource collections. Her research interests are focused on equity and accessibility, information needs of advanced researchers and gender-based disparities in authorship. With a background in participatory design, their additional passions include design thinking, community building and gaming in libraries.

Ellie Svoboda, AHIP,  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5438-5071, is the Education Informationist at the Strauss Health Sciences Library at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. She liaises with the College of Nursing and chairs the Open Educational Resources (OER) efforts on campus. She received her MLIS degree from the University of Denver where she now teaches in the online MLIS program as an adjunct professor. Her research interests include open education in the health sciences, copyright, and program assessment/benchmarking. Prior to becoming a librarian, Ellie worked as a Montessori high school educator and taught everything from theatre and film to math and English. 

Lisa Tappeiner,  https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1808-3249, is an Associate Professor, Technical Services Librarian, and liaison to the allied health programs at Hostos Community College of the City University of New York in the Bronx, NY.  She holds Masters degrees in Library and Information Studies and Comparative Literature from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Her RTI research will focus on information seeking behaviors and health literacy among community college students in Associate’s allied health programs.

Ashley Thomas,  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2737-0015, is the Digital Initiatives and Accessibility Librarian at the Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School. In this role, she coordinates implementation of library web services and digital tools, and conducts usability studies to enhance services. Ashley is also the Research Data Management Librarian Academy (RDMLA) Coordinator, responsible for the management and maintenance of the RDMLA course. Ashley is an alum of Simmons University’s dual Archives Management/History degree program. She serves as a Steering Committee member for the Best Practices Exchange (BPE) and is active with RDAP. Her research interests include born-digital preservation challenges and peer-to-peer learning.

Marisa Tutt,  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6434-7850, is a Medical Librarian for Island Health (a healthcare provider in the Canadian province of British Columbia) based out of Nanaimo Regional General Hospital in Nanaimo, BC. Part of a team of six, Marisa provides library services and resources to staff, students, and physicians across Vancouver Island, the homelands of the Coast Salish, Nuu-Chah-Nulth, and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples. She holds a dual Master of Library and Information Studies and Master of Archival Studies from the University of British Columbia (2012). Marisa’s research interests include k* (knowledge management, knowledge translation, knowledge mobilization, knowledge transfer, etc.) practices in healthcare libraries.

Jason Wardell,  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8425-4598, is Health & Life Sciences Librarian and Assistant Professor for the Roesch Library at the University of Dayton, Ohio. In this role, he provides information literacy instruction and research support across his liaison areas, including Biology, Chemistry, Physical Therapy, Health & Sport Science, Physician Assistant Education, Nursing, and more. He is currently one of three Web Managers for the Academic Library Association of Ohio, and his research interests include library curricular integration in undergraduate health science studies and the longitudinal impact of early and frequent interaction with information literacy concepts in undergraduate studies.

Gwen Wilson, AHIP,  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7214-0403, currently works as a Medical Librarian in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Missouri – Columbia. She supports the clinical practice and research of family physicians who work at primary care clinics in Columbia and the surrounding rural areas. Previously she was the Health Informatics Coordinator/Librarian at Washburn University in Topeka, KS from 2012 to 2018. Her RTI project will be to work with several health sciences libraries to develop, test, and validate a new tracking scale/tool that will identify various impacts of library and health information requests.

Alessia Zanin-Yost, PhD, AHIP,  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9348-446X, is the Health Sciences Librarian at Slippery Rock University, PA. As the liaison to eight departments, she provides course-integrated instruction of research skills to undergraduate and graduate students and oversees collection development. She received an MLIS from San Jose State University and a Ph.D. in Communications, Media, and Instructional Technologies from Indiana State University of Pennsylvania. She has presented and published on these topics nationally and internationally. Her research interest is information behavior, undergraduate research skills, health communication, and cultural competency, which she plans to explore during the RTI.