Academy Leader
John Porcari
Instructional Team
Robert M. Arnold, MD
Joseph Ayoob, PhD
Franklyn P. Cladis, MD, MBA, FAAP
Emilia Diego, MD
Rickquel Tripp, MD, MPH
Jennifer E. Woodward, PhD
Academy Leader
John Porcari is the Founder and President of JPorcari & Associates, LLC., where he works with forward thinking organizations to build, accelerate and continually re-energize their Leaders, Teams, Culture, and Critical Change Initiatives.Instructional Team
Robert M. Arnold, MD, is a distinguished Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and in the University of Pittsburgh Center for Bioethics and Health Law. He was the Past-President of the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities as well as the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. He has mentored both investigators and educators and helped start VitalTalk, a company whose aim is to ensure that every seriously ill patient has clinicians who can talk about what matters most. He is clinically active in palliative care.
Joseph Ayoob, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computational and Systems Biology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The main thrust of Dr. Ayoob’s work has been to design and implement innovative research, training, and educational efforts for students and trainees at all levels. This includes a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program called Training and Experimentation in Computational Biology (TECBio) that has been continually funded since 2010 and a tailored research and enrichment CompBio Academy summer program for high school students started in 2011 that is a part of the UPMC Hillman Academy, for which he is also the Associate Director. His educational efforts also extend to graduate students in the joint CMU–Pitt PhD program in Computational Biology (CPCB) and the Computational Biomedicine and Biotechnology (CoBB) MS program. Together, Dr. Ayoob has pioneered innovative approaches and programs to teach laboratory-based and essential professional skills to these students to prepare them for success in their academic tenures and on the job market.
Dr. Ayoob additionally serves as the Faculty Fellow of the University of Pittsburgh Center for Mentoring. His calling to the world of mentoring and mentor/mentee training was sparked by the exemplary mentors who helped shape his career path in such a positive way. Dr. Ayoob has been recognized by the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN) as a Mentor of the Month and as an NRMN Master Mentor and is also a Principal/Master Facilitator of both the Entering Mentoring Curriculum (mentor training) and Entering Research Curriculum (mentee training) from the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER). He leads workshops in these curricula for faculty and trainees throughout the university and beyond.
Franklyn Cladis, MD, MBA, FAAP, is a Professor of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at The UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. He trained in both internal medicine and anesthesiology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine. His Pediatric Anesthesiology fellowship was completed at The Children’s Hospital of Boston. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Anesthesiology, and Pediatric Anesthesiology. He completed his MBA at the University of Pittsburgh Katz School of Business in March 2022.
Dr. Cladis is the Anesthesiologist-in-Chief of the Division of Pediatric Anesthesiology and provides anesthesia care for infants and children in the operating room, on the pediatric pain service (acute and chronic), and the pediatric liver transplant team. Areas of clinical interest include the anesthesia care of children having craniofacial surgery, pediatric perioperative pain, point-of-care ultrasonography and education. He is an editor of the 8th, 9th, and 10th edition of Smith’s Anesthesia for Infants and Children.
From an educational perspective, Dr. Cladis has been the program director for the Pediatric Anesthesiology Fellowship since 2007. He has served on the Board of Directors for the Society for Pediatric Anesthesiology and Society for Education in Anesthesia. He currently serves as the Treasurer for Society for Education in Anesthesia. He is a Full examiner for the American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA) Applied Exam and is Chair of the ABA Pediatric Anesthesiology exam committee. He has been a member of the Pediatric Anesthesia Program Directors Association (PAPDA) since 2010 and is now a past president of this organization.
Emilia Diego, MD is a breast surgical oncologist and the division chief of breast surgery. She is the vice-chair for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Department of Surgery and has been promoting Upstander training alongside Dr. Tripp since 2020.
Rickquel
“Rikki” Tripp, MD, MPH, is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, EMS faculty, and EMS Medical Director of 4 different EMS agencies: Penn Hills, Lower Valley, SouthEast Regional, and Foxwall and Assistant Medical Director for City of Pittsburgh EMS. She is Board Certified in Emergency Medicine and Emergency Medicine Services (EMS). She has chaired the Networking Committee of the Physician Inclusion Council of Pitt and UPMC (PICUP) since 2017 and now serves as the first Vice Chair of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) of UPMC Graduate Medical Education (GME) since 2020 and first Vice Chair Diversity, Inclusion, & Health Equity (DIHE) of Department of Emergency Medicine since 2021. She also is the Co-Chair of UPP EM DEI Committee and former founding Vice Chair of National Association EMS Physicians (NAEMSP) DEI Committee from 2020-2022. She has created and promoted many initiatives to include UPSTANDER training workshop; UPMC GME and NAEMSP Townhalls addressing systemic racism, cultivating healing, & health disparities; Virtual URiM Recruitment Diversity Brunches, antiracism curriculum FOREM (Framework of Race Equity medicine), and creating a Department Diversity Champions list for better networking and communication. She is also the co-founder for Akoma United, which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating life-saving skills like CPR and Stop the Bleed to underserved communities. Dr. Tripp received the UPMC Award for Commitment and Excellence in Service (ACES) for her outstanding accomplishments and commitment in DEI in 2019 along with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Social Justice Educator Award, Onyx Woman Leadership Award, and YWCA Bridge Builder Award in 2023. She was raised in Upper St. Clair, PA and began her academic journey across the East coast and Midwest after high school. She completed her MD at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, MPH at Harvard School of Public Health, emergency medicine residency at the University of Chicago, and her EMS Fellowship at UPMC in 2017. In addition to Rikki being a Commander in the US Navy Reserves and her previous service as a flight surgeon while on active duty, she is an exceptional leader, mentor, and educator within the UPMC/Pitt community.
Jennifer E. Woodward, PhD, serves as Vice Chancellor for Sponsored Programs and Research Operations and Professor of Surgery and Immunology in the School of Medicine.
Previously, Dr. Woodward was Associate Vice Provost for Research Operations, Assistant Dean for Faculty Affairs in the School of Medicine, and Executive Director for Research and Academic Affairs at the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute.
Jennifer has extensive experience negotiating in an academic culture – sitting on both sides of the table. She is an alumna of ELAM, the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine program, which is a year-long fellowship for senior women faculty dedicated to developing the skills required to lead and manage in today's complex health care environment.
Jennifer has received additional training in negotiation under Catherine Morrison, a nationally recognized negotiation consultant specializing in academic healthcare.
Learn more about the 2024 Health Sciences Leadership Academy for Early Career Faculty