Dr. Heather Harrell named associate dean for medical education
Harrell succeeds Dr. Maureen Novak in this role
March 30, 2020 — Heather E. Harrell, M.D., has been named associate dean for medical education at the UF College of Medicine, effective April 1.
In this position, Harrell will serve as a member of the UF College of Medicine education leadership team under Joseph Fantone, M.D., senior associate dean for educational affairs. Harrell will provide leadership to the undergraduate medical education program, responsible for the development and delivery of the medical student curriculum.
A board-certified general internist, Harrell serves as a professor of medicine and co-clerkship director for the UF department of medicine. She earned her bachelor of arts, bachelor of science and medical degree with honors from the University of Florida, where she received numerous awards as a student, including election to the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society and the John Gorrie Award.
Heather Harrell, M.D., at the groundbreaking ceremony for the George T. Harrell, M.D., Medical Education Building in November 2013.
Photo by Maria Belen Farias
Harrell trained in internal medicine at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston and completed the Master Educators of Medical Education program at UF. She maintains an active clinical practice at UF Health, was recognized as a master clinician by the department of medicine and has been voted into Best Doctors in America yearly since 2007. She has excelled as a teacher at the college, having been recognized as one of the College of Medicine’s exemplary teachers every year she has been eligible. She was the youngest member inducted into the College of Medicine’s prestigious Society of Teaching Scholars, is a member of the Chapman Chapter of the Gold Humanism Society and is an Outstanding Young Alumna of the University of Florida.
Harrell has substantial experience in curriculum design, implementation and assessment at both local and national levels. She co-chaired the Residents as Teachers Task Force for the Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine/Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine, which developed and disseminated a curriculum for program directors. She initiated one of the first programs in the country that successfully incorporated portfolios into the clinical years. For this work, she was awarded the Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine Louis N. Pangaro, M.D., Educational Program Development Award.
Recently, Harrell shifted her focus to teaching high-value care to medical students. She helped create a national curriculum in high-value care, which was sponsored by the American College of Physicians, the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine and Aquifer, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing clinical learning through innovative teaching and learning tools. She is currently senior director of the Aquifer high-value care interdisciplinary virtual patient course. She is active in many professional organizations and is a past president of the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine’s Clerkship Directors of Internal Medicine.
Maureen Novak, M.D., received the Hippocratic Award from UF College of Medicine students for her contributions to education in 2017.
Photo by Mindy C. Miller
Harrell succeeds Maureen A. Novak, M.D., a professor in the department of pediatrics at the College of Medicine who has provided exceptional leadership to the medical education program for the past 12 years. She was instrumental in the college’s curriculum revision initiative as well as with our highly successful accreditation reviews by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education.
“I extend my most sincere gratitude to Dr. Novak for the years of dedication, expertise and compassion she provided to our medical students,” said UF College of Medicine interim dean Joseph A. Tyndall, M.D., M.P.H. “In her new leadership role, Dr. Harrell will use her valuable wealth of knowledge and talent to advance the College of Medicine’s educational mission.”
