Speaker Bios

Gabrielle Berger, MD

Andrea S. Christopher, MD, MPH, FACP

Andrea S. Christopher, MD, MPH, FACP, is a general internist and medical educator at the Boise Veterans Affairs Medical Center. She serves as Associate Program Director for the University of Washington Boise In‐ ternal Medicine Residency, as well as Stern Regional Faculty Educator and Clerkship Site Director for the UW School of Medicine. Dr. Christopher graduated from the University of Washington School of Medicine, with a clinical focus on Global Health. She trained at the University of Washington Internal Medicine Residency, serving as Chief Medical Resident for the newly formed UW Boise Internal Medicine Residency. She went on to complete a General Internal Medicine Fellowship at Harvard Medical School, with a focus on disparities in access to healthcare. During this time, she completed a master of public health degree at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Christopher’s passion for health equity motivates her interests in medical education and clinical practice. She works to translate her interest in health disparities into teaching physi‐ cian trainees how health policy and the social determinants of health impact clinical care of patients.

Heidi Combs, MD, MS

Heidi Combs, MD, MS, is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the UWSOM. She completed medical school and residency at the University of Washington. In her senior year she served as chief resident at Harborview Medical Center then joined the faculty upon graduation. From 2006 ‐2017 she was the Psychiatry Clerkship Director for the UWSOM. She has served as the Inpatient Psychiatry Medical Director at Harborview Medical Center from 2011‐2019. She was selected to hold the Stern Endowed Chair for WWAMI faculty development in 2019 and became the Vice Chair of Education for the Department of Psy‐ chiatry and Behavioral Sciences in 2020. Intensive inpatient psychiatric care is the focus of her clinical work.

Areas of interest are acute psychiatric care, management of psychiatric illness in primary care, and medical education. Publication focus is centered on medical education. She has received numerous teaching awards including the Distinguished Teaching Award from the School of Medicine in 2008, 2011, 2012 and 2013. In 2013 she received the Teachers Superior in Perpetuity award from the University of Washington becoming the third woman and only psychiatrist to receive this honor. Awards from the Department of Psychiatry in‐ clude the Chief Resident Teaching Award in 2006, the Outstanding Junior Clinician Teacher Faculty Award in 2008, the Academic Teaching Award in 2010, the Outstanding Junior Clinician Teacher Faculty Award in 2012 and the Gary Tucker Award in 2021. She was elected to the UW Chapter of Gold Humanism Honor Society in 2017. Nationally she received the 2018‐2019 Nancy C.A. Roeske MD Certificate of Recognition for Excellence in Medical Student Education, American Psychiatric Association. She is an American Psychiatric Association Fellow and a Distinguished Fellow of the Association for Academic Psychiatry.

Jay Erickson, MD

Jay Erickson, MD, grew up in rural Minnesota and received a BA in Chemistry from St. Olaf College. He received his MD from the University of Minnesota School of Medicine having attended the UM Duluth School of Medicine primary care track the first two years. He completed a Family Residency in Spo‐ kane in 1990 and moved to Whitefish, Montana.

Dr. Erickson is the Assistant Dean for the Montana WWAMI Clinical Phase at the University of Wash‐ ington School of Medicine and a Clinical Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the Uni‐ versity of Washington School of Medicine. In his dean position he oversees the clinical teaching oppor‐ tunities for WWAMI students in Montana. This includes first year preceptorships, the Montana RUOP (Rural Underserved Opportunities Program) between the first and second year of medical school and over 45 required clerkship opportunities in nearly 20 communities in Montana. He also oversees third year clinical Tracks in Missoula, Bozeman and Billings where students can complete all of their third‐ year training in Montana. Starting in 2008, he developed and helped initiate Montana TRUST (Targeted Rural Underserved Track), a comprehensive four‐year rural/underserved medical school curriculum. Annually, a select group of twelve Montana WWAMI students are admitted into TRUST. This program has received awards from both the AAMC and STFM. Since 1990, he has been a part of a 10‐person primary care group in Whitefish, Montana (pop. 8,000) where he still maintains an active part time clinical practice as a rural family physician.

Justin Frederick, MD

Justin Frederick, MD, is new to his role as CMO at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane. Prior, he served for five years as Program Director of its Radiology Residency program. He maintains an active practice in Neuroradiology as a partner and past executive board member of Inland Imaging.

A clinical assistant professor in the Department of Radiology at the UWSOM, Dr. Frederick was awarded one of six positions as the university’s Stern Distinguished Regional Faculty Educators in 2020. He also received Teacher of the Year Award for the Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center Radiology Residen‐ cy Program in 2016. As an independent speaker, Dr. Frederick has been invited as a guest lecturer to many events to             expound on the topic of integrative approaches to emotional well‐being.

Dr. Frederick earned his MD from the University of Virginia School of Medicine and Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology/Human Biology from Brigham Young University. He completed his neuroradiology fellowship at The Ohio State University Medical Center and residency in radiology at Wake Forest Uni‐ versity – Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina. Dr. Frederick has served on numerous boards and committees and is frequently consulted for his clinical and administrative expertise. He is passionate about communication, education and wellness and is enthusiastic to continue engaging in those activi‐ ties.

Laura Goodell, MD

Laura Goodell, MD is a Montana State University Bobcat and a Montana WWAMI alumni (E03). She completed her residency at the Montana Family Medicine Residency Program in Billings and served as chief. After practicing rural medicine in Dillon, Montana she moved to Bozeman to participate in academic medicine. She maintains a part time clinical practice at University Health Partners at Montana State University.

As a medical educator, she is committed to excellence as a clinical assistant professor. She teaches medical students in the Foundations Phase and supports WWAMI faculty as a STERN Regional Fac‐ ulty Educator. When she is not at work, Dr. Goodell is a mother, wife and adventurer. She is sup‐ ported by her husband Baldwin, son Oliver and daughter Beth.

Joshua Jauregui, MD

Joshua Jauregui, MD, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, UWSOM, is a clinician, educator and scholar dedicated to the excellence in and advancement of whole person care. His research focus is in undergraduate medical education and faculty development with an emphasis on professional identity formation, and the learning environment. He is the Associate Director of Health Professions Education Scholarship for the University of Washington Center for Leadership and Innovation in Med‐ ical Education (CLIME) and the Director of Student Programs in the Department of Emergency Medi‐ cine.

Chris Jons, MD, FAAP

Chris Jons, MD, is a palliative care physician and pediatrician in Missoula. He is the physician director for WWAMI‐Missoula. He graduated from Dartmouth Medical School and completed pediatrics res‐ idency at Maine Medical Center in Portland, ME, and fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine in Rochester, New York. Since 2018, he has served as the Tack Director in Missoula. He lives with his wife and two boys in Missoula.

Colette Kirchhoff, MD, FAAFP

Colette Kirchhoff MD, FAAFP, is a Board Certified Family Physician and Hospice Palliative Physician. She graduated from the University of Illinois Medical School and completed her family medicine residency at Northwestern University, both in Chicago. For 23 years she maintained an active practice in family medi‐ cine in Bozeman, and for 15 years she has served as associate director of Compassus Hospice. She helped design and implement a culinary medicine and resiliency curriculum for the Foundations Phase. She served on the Physician Health Committee for fourteen years, as well as the Physician Wellness Com‐ mittee for two years. She was trained in resilience techniques at The Upaya Zen Center by Anthony Back, MD, and Joan Halifax. Dr. Kirchhoff has presented numerous lectures on resilience and burnout. Addition‐ ally, she has presented lectures on death and dying, death with dignity, bias, and environmental health, not only at statewide conferences but also to hospice staff, the community, students and colleagues. Dr. Kirchhoff lives in Bozeman with her husband Steve of 39 years. She has 3 children and 2 grandchildren.

Susan Merel, MD, FACP

Susan Merel , MD, FACP, is a graduate of the University of Chicago Pritzer School of Medicine and completed internal medicine residency and a clinical geriatrics fellowship at the University of Wash‐ ington. She currently practices hospital medicine at the University of Washington Medical Center and palliative care at Harborview Medical Center. She is Associate Director of Medicine Student Pro‐ grams for the Explore and Focus Phase and Education Director of the Cambia Palliative Care Center of Excellence.

Gil Welch, MD

Gil Welch, MD, is with the Center for Surgery and Public Health Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He has worked for the US Indian Health Service, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and Dartmouth. For over three decades, he has been asking hard questions about his profession. His ar‐ guments are frequently counter‐intuitive, even heretical, yet have regularly appeared in the coun‐ try’s most prestigious medical journals as well as in national op‐eds. His most recent book is Less Medicine, More Health – 7 Assumptions that Drive Too Much Medical Care. Dr. Welch questions the assumption that more medical care is always better. His research has focused on the assumption as it relates to diagnosis: that the best strategy to keep people healthy is early diagnosis – and the ear‐ lier the better. He has delineated the side effects of this strategy: physicians test too often, treat too aggressively and tell too many people that they are sick. Much of his work has focused on overdiag‐ nosis in cancer screening: in particular, screening for melanoma, thyroid, lung, breast and prostate cancer.