Academy Scholars

Dr. Farahmand specializes in Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism & Internal Medicine. Endocrine is a field of medicine that can involve virtually every organ in the human body. Patients with endocrine disorders often have chronic issues that will involve seeing his or her endocrinologist for many years. Dr. Farahmand went into this field, because not only does he enjoy the medicine of Endocrine, but he believes it is critical in creating a solid rapport with your patients over time to handle such chronic conditions.

Project Name: Diabetes Curriculum for Internal Medicine Residency

Amy Moore, MLIS is a Medical Librarian with over a decade of experience connecting library patrons with knowledge to learn, share and create. Amy specializes as a library nurse liaison and has taught and co-taught sessions on evidence-based practice and information literacy for residents, nurses and clinical scholars. She also enjoys sharing the many time-saving services and resources the Library offers, including EndNote, a citation management software.  She serves as a member of the Interprofessional Research and Innovations Council and an adjunct member of the Mid Coast Hospital Nursing Research and EBP Committee. Amy graduated with her Master of Library and Information Science from San Jose State University as a Circle of Learning Scholar. She enjoys hiking and time outside with family and friends.

Project Name: An Evidence-Based Practice Tutorial for a Learning Management System

Brandy Brown, LCSW (Pronouns: she, her, hers)

Brandy is the Program Manager for The Gender Clinic Program at Maine Medical Partners/ The Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital.  She provides assessment, therapy, coordination of medical and mental health services, and program development within a multidisciplinary setting.  She is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry for Tufts University School of Medicine. Brandy received her BSW and MSW at the University of Southern Maine and is currently pursuing a DSW.

Brandy is an advocate for improving LGBTQ+ healthcare, with a clinical focus on best practices in transgender health within pediatrics, as well as improving overall systemic competency and functionality within a large healthcare system.  Relevant memberships and affiliations include: WPATH, NASW (President of the Maine Board of Directors and Chair of the NASW- Maine Chapter LGBTQ Advocacy committee), MMC Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Steering Committee, MMC Equitable Care Workgroup, New England Transgender C.A.R.E. Consortium, & LGBTQ Youth Coalition (Maine).

She has worked within different systems of care, including psychiatric inpatient hospitalization, residential settings with vulnerable populations including homeless youth, severe psychiatric disorders, veterans and neuro-rehabilitation.

Brandy lives in Southern Maine where she prefers to stay close to the ocean with her family. She enjoys being outside at the beach or on a trail, hiking, camping, reading, and cooking.

Project Name: Affirming Care Through Education: Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming (TGNC) People

Corinn Normandin, PharmD, BCACP, CDOE is a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in Primary Care and Supervisor for the Primary Care Pharmacy Team for Maine Medical Center and Maine Medical Partners. Dr. Normandin is originally from Rhode Island where she received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Rhode Island, College of Pharmacy. She then completed a PGY1 Pharmacy Residency Program with the University of Rhode Island and a PGY2 Ambulatory Care Residency Program at Maine Medical Center. She carries out her clinical work in chronic disease state management as the integrated clinical pharmacist at Portland and Falmouth Family Medicine Centers with a focus on diabetes management. In addition to her clinical practice, Dr. Normandin serves as the Residency Program Director for the PGY2 Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Residency Program and is Faculty for the Family Medicine Residency Program at Maine Medical Center. She is actively involved in the teaching of pharmacy students, pharmacy residents and medical residents. Dr. Normandin also serves as Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine and in the University of Rhode Island’s College of Pharmacy. Her research interests include interprofessional education, primary care innovation, and efficacy of group medical visits.

Project Name: From Clinician to Interprofessional Clinical Educator: A Curriculum for Pharmacy Residents

Elizabeth Eisenhardt, MD attended Dartmouth Medical School and completed her Internal Medicine training at Maine Medical Center. After completing a Chief Resident year, she joined MMP primary care while maintaining an educational role in the IM resident clinic. In 2014 she became the Site Lead and Clinic director for the Adult IM clinic, where she has a clinical, operational and educational role. She is also an ACGME Core Faculty Member. Her area of interest has been optimization of chronic disease management using Operational Excellence methodology.

Project Name: Creating and Maintaining a culture of resident involvement and engagement with Operational Excellence in an Ambulatory
resident teaching clinic

Dr. Liu practices adult inpatient medicine, which means that she take care of adults in the hospital who, for the most part, are unexpectedly sick. Dr. Liu’s position allows her the privilege of caring for Mainers from varied backgrounds and therefore she has the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life. This is a part of the job she very much enjoys. Dr. Liu believes that high quality health care is a right for all patients and strive to provide this for the people and families in her care.

Professionally, her interests focus on medical education and mentorship for both residents and medical students as well as helping hospital medicine develop better practices around geriatric hip fracture management.

Project Name: Returning to Curiosity

Malia Haddock, MS, PMHNP-BC received a BA in from the University of Michigan and MS in psychiatric mental-health nursing from the University of Southern Maine. In the intervening years, Malia initiated graduate studies at the Bryn Mawr College Graduate School for Social Work and Social Research, but returned to Maine prior to graduation and accepted a social work position with Preble Street. Since then, she has been a frontline social worker serving primarily adults experiencing homelessness, and created Homeless HealthPartners, a Maine Medical Center program and primary partner of the MMC-Preble Street Learning Collaborative. Her clinical and research interests involve engaging individuals who are excluded from health care due to psychiatric symptoms and social circumstance. She is a field instructor and preceptor for Bowdoin College, Tufts University, University of New England School and University of Southern Maine, and supports integration of interdisciplinary learners in the care of underserved patients at the MMC-PSLC.

Project Name: MMC-PSLC and General Psychiatry Residency Program Evaluation

Maria Egger, PA-C is a physician assistant with Maine Medical Partners Geriatrics since 2014, providing care in the postacute and long term setting.  Originally from New York, she obtained a BA from Cornell University and an MS in population genetics from New York University.  She has resided in Maine for over 30 years where she attended University of New England’s physician assistant program, then began her career practicing adult inpatient medicine at Central Maine Medical Center.  Prior to attending UNE she volunteered with MMC’s HELP program where she developed an appreciation for the adverse effects of delirium in older adults. Her clinical interests include interdisciplinary education and team building.  Since 2014 she has been lecturer and preceptor with UNE’s PA Interdisciplinary Geriatric Education Program.  In her free time she enjoys reading, fiber arts and spending time with family doing many outdoor activities particularly along the Down East coast.

Project Name: Postacute Care Interdisciplinary Delirium Education Program

Dr. Afari specializes in Cardiovascular Disease. In 2019, he completed a clinical and research fellowship in advanced heart failure and transplant cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Prior to this, he underwent 10 years of graduate medical education, culminating in board certifications in internal medicine, echocardiography, nuclear cardiology, and cardiovascular medicine. Dr. Afari’s clinical interests are focused on the management of patients with weak heart muscles, heart pumps, heart transplants, and specialized cardiac care for cancer patients. He also is a researcher (with multiple clinical and research awards, book chapters, and manuscripts), and enjoys teaching medical trainees. Dr. Afari looks forward to providing the best and most dignified care that Mainers deserve!

Project Name: Development of an Inter-Professional Curriculum in Cardiovascular Medicine Advanced Care Practitioners

Nora Fagan, RN, MSN, CMSRN is the Clinical Nurse Educator (CNE) for the medical and surgical oncology units at Maine Medical Center. Nora graduated from Dalhousie University School of Nursing in 2007 and received her master’s degree from Purdue Global University in executive nursing leadership in 2021.  Although a Maine native, Nora worked for many years in Canada until 2015 when she accepted a position at Maine Medical Center. She has taught for the University Of Maine School Of Nursing and has experience precepting in many different clinical specialties. Nora’s current role as a CNE has allowed her to develop educational series and programs for registered nurses such as the Surgical Oncology Series, a new graduate nurse support group and an IMC nursing series to name a few of her favorites. Nora has worked with the Hannaford SIM center team to help develop a continued educational SIM program for team development for the new oncology units in the Coulombe Family Tower. She is a member of the Oncology Nurses Association and a member of the Medical Surgical Nursing Association. Nora’s passion lies in interdisciplinary team focused education, intermediate care unit development and new graduate nurse program development.  She lives in Falmouth with her husband, three children and golden doodle.

Project Name: IMC RN Curriculum & Program Development

Dr. Harvey received her medical degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. She comes to MMP having recently completed her residency at the University of Michigan Health System, Department of Otolaryngology as Assistant Chief Resident. Dr. Harvey’s clinical interests include sleep medicine, rhinology, and otology, as well as medical education and simulation. In her spare time, Dr. Harvey enjoys spending time with her family, and enjoying the scope of activities that the four seasons of Maine has to offer.

Project Name: ENT For The Maine ED: Development of a Novel Curriculum for Emergency Medicine Providers Treating ENT Patients

Shelly Chipman, RN is the Nurse Educator for the Hannaford Center for Safety, Innovation and Simulation. She is a graduate of the University of Southern Maine with a BSN in 1989. Shelly went on to earn a master degree in nursing from the University of Phoenix, specializing in Healthcare Education. Shelly has been a staff nurse in the Special Care Unit at MMC since 1989 and continues to serve as a bedside clinician in addition to her Nurse Educator role.  Shelly has experience as a research coordinator, focusing on studies in critical care, as well as filling the role of the Unit Based Educator, for the Special Care Unit. Shelly is certified as an ACLS instructor and teaches several course a year for MMC, including the annual house staff course. Shelly has deep and comprehensive experience teaching in nursing and the pre-healthcare setting.  Her passion however, lies with Interprofessional Education (IPE). As the Nurse Educator for the simulation center, Shelly supports policies, processes and procedures for the creation of new curriculum as well as assisting simulation champions within MMC and faculty within Maine Health to develop educational curriculum, focusing on high fidelity manikin and skills based training.

Project Name: Interprofessional Debriefing: What increases engagement?