About the Physician Leadership Initiative
This initiative was developed in response to the need for organizational interventions into the physician wellness at USC. Given the stressors and rapid changes in the health care environment physician leadership inspired from both authoritative and non-authoritative positions are needed.
Meet the Program Directors
James S. Hu MD, EdD
James Hu, MD, FACP, is the director of the Sarcoma Program of University of Southern California, and is considered one of the nation's experts in the disease. Dr. Hu has more than 25 years of clinical experience in medical oncology and brings this acumen to the bedside. Dr. Hu also serves as the Co-Director of the Physician Leadership Program and the Adolescent Young Adult Oncology Program. His stewardship of these programs emphasizes not only the knowledge and skills needed to successfully navigate a rapidly changing health care environment, but also the motivation and understanding of one’s self to successfully lead change. As a former commander of a combat support hospital comprised of over 800 personnel, Dr. Hu has years of experience in the area of leadership. In addition, Dr. Hu has extensive formal training in leadership that includes training at the operational and strategic levels where he is a graduate of the Command and General Staff College and the United States Army War College, where he obtained a Masters in Strategic Studies. His interest in the Leadership field has resulted in his recent completion of a doctoral degree in Organizational Change and Leadership where his dissertation work entitled “The Role of Physician Leadership in Addressing Physician Burnout”, has formed the basis of the recently implemented Physician Leadership Program. This Physician Leadership Program applies Leadership Theory into Practice and serves as a model for change as each of the participants in the course develops adaptive plans to address a problem of practice of their own choosing. As a local Angeleno and USC alumnus, Dr. Hu is grateful for the opportunity to give back to his community.
Jennifer Phillips, DLS
Dr. Jennifer Phillips is an Associate (Teaching) Professor of Education at the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education. She joined USC Rossier in 2018 from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) where she served as an advisor for the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, now the Bureau for Humanitarian Affairs. In this capacity, Dr. Phillips coordinated lifesaving assistance to global governments and communities on behalf of the United States government in response to both natural disasters, including the Ebola Virus Disease response in Liberia, and manmade disasters, including in Iraq and Syria. Prior to working for USAID, Dr. Phillips worked in private technology development and was an active-duty commissioned officer in the United States Air Force. She is a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force Reserve.
Dr. Phillips entered the Air Force upon commissioning through the Reserve Officer Training Corps at Mississippi State University. She is a graduate of Air War College, Marine Command and Staff College, and Air Command and Staff College. She earned her doctoral degree from Georgetown University in Liberal Studies. She also holds a Masters in Military Studies (MMS) and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA). She has multiple deployments as both a military officer and as a civilian supporting combined, joint, and special operations forces, including the Philippines, Thailand, Ecuador, Iraq, Afghanistan, Qatar, Kuwait, Colombia, Liberia, and Ethiopia.
Meet the Faculty
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Janene Batten, EdD, Research and Education Librarian for Nursing
Janene is the Nursing Librarian for the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library. Her expertise is connecting people and ideas to ensure the inclusion of diverse perspectives. She consults and collaborates with clinical nurses on pressing clinical issues and helps world-class clinical nurse researchers with their research. She also works with faculty and students, supporting best-in-class scientific research and teaching in graduate programs.
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Patrick Cates, EdD, Marshall School of Business
Patrick Cates has worked at USC since 2008 and is the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs at Marshall. Prior to his current role, Patrick oversaw USC's Culture Journey and worked closely with leaders across the university to bring USC’s Unifying Values to life. Before that, he served at Marshall in various leadership positions, including as Chief of Staff to Dean Garrett. In addition to teaching BUAD 304 at Marshall, Patrick is an instructor for the EdD Organizational Change and Leadership program at the USC Rossier School of Education.
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Adrian Donato, EdD, Independent Consultant
Dr. Adrian J. Donato teaches graduate level courses in accountability, communication, learning and motivation, instructional design and technology, and building capacity for organizational change. His research interests focus on human performance technology, particularly the strengthening of executives in their transfer of knowledge, motivation, and organizational leadership skills to improve performance in complex tasks and solve intractable problems.
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Glenn Fox, PhD, Marshall School of Business
Dr. Glenn Fox is a faculty member at the University of Southern California's Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, in the Marshall School of Business. His current projects focus on neural systems for emotion regulation, high stakes training, and developing entrepreneurial mindset skills in founders and business leaders. Glenn received his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from USC, where he focused on the neural correlates of gratitude, empathy, and neuroplasticity. Currently, Glenn is the Director and Founder of the USC Found Well Initiative which aims to understand and promote entrepreneurial mindset in founders and business leaders.
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Donna Garcia, EdD, Office of the Vice Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs
Donna Garcia is the Assistant Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Faculty Development at USC. She brings over 20 years of expertise in higher education, primarily in academic and faculty affairs administration. Donna has focused on leading key initiatives under the Provost’s office. Her responsibilities include overseeing the university's process for academic program review, faculty development programs such as Dean Onboarding, Department Chair Initiative, mentorship development for newly tenured associate professors, awards and recognition.
Donna has integrated her extensive education and training into empowering and providing support to faculty leaders. She holds a BA in Sociology from UCLA, a MA in Higher Education and Student Personnel Administration from Teachers College, Columbia University, a MA in Marriage and Family Therapy from USC, and an EdD in Organizational Change and Leadership from USC. She enjoys working collaboratively across the university to create resources that enable faculty to do their best work.
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Courtney L. Malloy, PhD, Rossier School of Education
Dr. Courtney Malloy is Professor of Clinical Education and Chair of the Organizational Change and Leadership EdD at the USC Rossier School of Education. She teaches courses focused on research and evaluation methods, learning and motivation, and improving organizational performance. For the last 20 years, Dr. Malloy has consulted for a diverse range of clients across the nonprofit, corporate, philanthropic, government, and academic sectors. She has conducted numerous projects ranging from short-term institutional research projects focused on program improvement to multi-year, multi-site longitudinal studies designed to assess the impact of interventions on individuals and organizations. She has expertise in evidence-based organizational change and problem solving, research and evaluation design, quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis, data visualization and presentation, and training and capacity-building. Dr. Malloy earned her MS in Educational Psychology and Technology and her PhD in Education at USC.
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Alison Muraszewski, EdD, Rossier School of Education
Alison Muraszewski has spent the past decade teaching individuals of varying ages ranging from elementary to university students. She also supervises teachers working on their preliminary and clear California teaching credential. Prior to entering academia, Muraszewski worked in the mental health field as an intensive case manager for children ages one week to 21 years. Her research expertise is in effective instructional strategies for students with emotional and behavioral problems and factors that influence general education teachers to implement such strategies. Muraszewski earned an EdD in Educational Psychology from University of Southern California, a MA in Education from Pepperdine University, and a BA in Psychology from Dartmouth College.
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Maria Ott, PhD, Rossier School of Education
Maria Gutierrez Ott, PhD joined the USC Rossier School of Education in October 2012 as Executive in Residence, teaching graduate level courses and participating in Rossier initiatives. She currently serves as Professor of Clinical Education. Previously, Ott served more than seven years as Superintendent of the Rowland Unified School District, leading the district through major instructional improvement initiatives and modernization of facilities. She is nationally known for establishing partnerships with private foundations in support of Rowland Unified and its strategic plan and efforts to reach high levels of literacy and raise student achievement, placing Rowland Unified on the national stage and forefront of educational transformation movements.
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Erika Page, EdD, Rossier School of Education
Dr. Erika Taylor Page has led with stellar leadership, empathy, community impact and more across companies and communities from Disney, startups, nonprofits and boards. She has developed leadership and DEI frameworks and programs for Fortune 500 and start-up teams. She also teaches as an adjunct at USC, DEI and organization structures. Dr. Page has provided trainings and programs for the trainers, leadership and employees for employee empowerment, inclusion and diversity, DEIA, unconscious bias, inclusive ecosystems, and community impact. Not only does she train the next generation of leaders, she has also supported multiple youth programs at Nuleep, which include DEI awareness, support and community impact. Nuleep’s Hexagon program included top start-ups and nonprofits in the community, including HBCU.VC, Homeboy Industries, Electric Fish, Circular Fashion and Holliston Foundation, where students supported each organization to create impact.
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Kenneth Yates, EdD, Rossier School of Education
Kenneth Yates received his EdD in Educational Psychology from the University of Southern California and is a professor of clinical education at the USC Rossier School of Education.
His research interests focus on the use of cognitive task analysis (CTA) methods to capture the underlying knowledge and skills that experts use to perform complex tasks and solve difficult problems, and, further, to design instruction to effectively teach this expertise to others through media and technology. Recently, he has been researching the use of artificial intelligence to conduct CTA and the use of physiological sensors to measure cognitive load and emotional states during task performance. He has published in The Handbook of Training and Improving Workplace Performance, The American Journal of Surgery and Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science.
Yates has over 45 years of national and international experience in media and technology and has held executive positions at various electronic media companies and as a technology consultant on a number of USAID-sponsored international training and rule-of-law development projects in Indonesia, Afghanistan and Azerbaijan. He has also conducted cognitive task analysis to design U.S. government training programs for bilateral negotiations, leadership and counseling skills.