Faculty & Staff
As a student in the Master of Science in Healthcare Simulation Education program, you’ll study with distinguished faculty, researchers and simulation experts from UW and Seattle-area academic and medical institutions. Our academic personnel and faculty are national leaders in healthcare simulation and medical education.
We'll post more information here soon about additional teaching professors, course instructors and research mentors.
Faculty & Academic Personnel
Dr. Victoria Roach
Program Director
Dr. Victoria Roach is a medical education researcher whose work focuses on the human factors that govern learning and performance in simulation. She is the director of evaluation and assessment for the WWAMI Institute for Healthcare Simulation (WISH) at the University of Washington and a research assistant professor in the UW Medicine Division of Healthcare Simulation Science.
Over the course of her academic career, Dr. Roach has led and lectured in graduate and undergraduate courses in anatomy, histology and research, in both online and face-to-face formats. Dr. Roach has also served as a program director for the Embark Scholarly Concentration Program at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine and as a primary research supervisor for 13 medical students, three graduate students and three surgical residents.
In the context of research, Dr. Roach aims to leverage human factors science to support the cognitive and physical work of professionals and trainees, to optimize training, working and receiving care in the healthcare setting. She earned a doctorate in anatomy and cell biology from The University of Western Ontario.
Dr. Austin Baird
Dr. Austin Baird is a research assistant professor in the UW Medicine Division of Healthcare Simulation Science. His research focuses on mathematical modeling of biological systems, specifically models in physiology in the context of whole-body patient responses. He aims to create a picture of the larger patient response to injury by connecting multiple spatial and time scales which determine dynamics of biological systems at the molecular and system levels.
Dr. Baird is on the leadership circle in the healthcare systems modeling and simulation affinity group of the Society of Simulation in Healthcare (SSH), and he’s a member of the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) and the NIH multiscale modeling group. Baird earned his doctorate in applied mathematics as it relates to heart tube electrophysiology and fluid dynamic modeling at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Dr. Kathryn Bolles
Dr. Kathryn Bolles is a hospitalist and clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of Washington. Her work focuses on providing compassionate, evidence-based, high-quality care to underserved patients and their families. Her academic and leadership interests are in pragmatic quality improvement and healthcare equity.
Dr. Bolles’ clinical improvement work focuses on rapid response, the acute care-intensive care interface, and improving uptake of evidence-based care for patients with substance-use disorders. She teaches resident courses in event analysis and quality improvement techniques, and she lectures for the American College of Physicians on rapid response and updates in hospital medicine. Her leadership work includes serving as the interim associate medical director for acute care at Harborview Medical Center. Dr. Bolles earned her medical doctorate at Baylor College of Medicine and served as a chief resident in quality and safety at VA Puget Sound Medical Center.
David Hananel
David Hananel is an assistant teaching professor in the Division of Healthcare Simulation Science. David has been deeply involved in healthcare simulation for more than 25 years, since the discipline’s early years. He closely collaborated with academic medicine as a source of inspiration and direction while managing the development of innovative products for healthcare simulation companies, where his various roles included president of U.S. operations, and director of surgical products. Born in Istanbul, Turkey, David earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering at Technische Universität Berlin and a bachelor’s degree in computer science at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.
Tonya Martino
Tonya Martino is the clinical director for team performance at the WWAMI Institute for Simulation in Healthcare (WISH), where she leads efforts to improve the function, efficacy and safety of healthcare teams throughout the health system. She has a background in nursing and patient safety. She currently serves as lead faculty for TeamSTEPPS Master Training programs at the local and national levels, and she's partnered with entities such as the American Hospital Association, American College of Surgeons AEIs, and the Society for Simulation in Healthcare to share how effective team performance can enhance patient outcomes.
Martino’s passion for education also plays an integral role in the development and execution of simulation-based interprofessional education (IPE) activities for the UW Schools of Pharmacy, Nursing, Social Work, Dentistry, Rehabilitation and Medicine, where her focus is in applying interprofessional team training simulation to train future generations of healthcare providers. Also a registered nurse, Martino earned a doctorate of naturopathic medicine from Bastyr University.
Dr. Amanda Kay Shepherd
Dr. Amanda Kay Shepherd is an academic internal medicine hospitalist and a clinical associate professor of general internal medicine at the University of Washington. In her clinical work, she cares for patients admitted for acute medical illness and supervises resident and medical student trainees. As associate program director for procedures and simulation training for the UW Internal Medicine Residency Program, Dr. Shepherd has developed a longitudinal just-in-time curriculum, providing interns and residents the opportunity to learn and practice critical skills at the point of care in a safe learning environment. She earned her medical doctorate at the University of Washington.
Megan Sherman
Megan Sherman is the associate director for the WWAMI Institute for Simulation in Healthcare (WISH) at the University of Washington. Sherman began her career in healthcare simulation in 2007, and throughout that time has gained a passion for using simulation to improve healthcare education, patient safety practices, and ultimately patient outcomes. She's worked in various roles, including operational management, education and serving as a consultant/mentor in both academic and healthcare settings.
With a background in educational development and organizational leadership, Sherman has been heavily involved in Team Training for healthcare providers. She currently serves as nonclinical teaching faculty for the University of Washington’s TeamSTEPPS Regional Training Center and on-demand national training program. She also serves on several local and national teams to advance the field of healthcare simulation. Sherman holds a master’s in education and human development from The George Washington University.
Dr. Robert Sweet
Dr. Robert Sweet is the founding chief of the UW Medicine Division of Healthcare Simulation Science, which unites healthcare simulation programs at the University of Washington under a formal academic unit. He is also co-founder and executive director of the WWAMI Institute for Simulation in Healthcare (WISH), and principal investigator for all Center for Research in Education and Simulation Technologies (CREST) programs, which has been funded by the Department of Defense, NIH and industry. His CREST programs include the Advanced Modular Manikin (AMM) project and the UMN Combat Casualty Care Consortium. Dr. Sweet is a joint professor in the Department of Urology and the Department of Surgery, as well as medical director of the UW Medicine Kidney Stone Center.
Dr. Sweet has served in leadership positions in simulation and education within the American College of Surgeons (ACS), the Society for Laparoendoscopic and Robotic Surgeons, the Endourology Society and the American Urological Association. Dr. Sweet helped develop ACS’s Surgical Simulation Fellowship Accreditation Program, as well as two such programs at the University of Minnesota and the University of Washington. He earned his doctorate of medicine from the University of Minnesota.
DJ Traina
DJ Traina is a mechanical engineer and avid maker. He joined the UW in 2018 and provides technical leadership across two labs within the Division of Healthcare Simulation Science. As interim director of technology for UW Medicine’s Clinical Additive Manufacturing Program, he brings state-of-the-art medical 3D printing to the clinical setting, including patient-specific surgical devices and anatomic models. At CREST, Traina is a senior mechanical design engineer who leads the mechanical design engineering process and oversees many aspects of physical production.
His work translates digital anatomy into functional prototypes, models and simulators through the use of CAD programs, traditional machining and additive manufacturing. Prior to mechanical engineering, Traina has a background is in scenic design, stagecraft and aerospace manufacturing. He earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Seattle University.
Advisers & Staff
Colleen Farrell
Colleen Farrell serves as the graduate program adviser for the UW Master of Science in Healthcare Simulation Education program. She's the manager of academic services for the Division of Healthcare Simulation Science at the University of Washington. She brings more than 15 years of experience in healthcare communications, marketing and outreach. Her passion lies in facilitating opportunities for people to come together to learn and make a difference. Farrell earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Gonzaga University.
Farrah Leland
Farrah Leland is the associate director for finance and compliance for the WWAMI Institute for Simulation in Healthcare (WISH) at the University of Washington, where she’s led administrative and financial management for simulation efforts for more than 16 years.
Leland is a consultant and former co-chair and vice chair of the Administration and Management Committee for the American College of Surgery Accredited Education Institutes. She’s also a TeamSTEPPS Master Trainer, a nonclinical faculty member for UW’s Regional Training Center for the National Implementation of TeamSTEPPS, and a site reviewer for the Society for Simulation in Healthcare. An active member of the Washington State Bar Association, Leland earned a law degree from Gonzaga University.