2023 Spring STAR Educator Recipient: Hema L. Navaneethan, MD
Hema L. Navaneethan, MD
Assistant Professor
Department of Pediatrics
Division of Complex and Palliative Care
Nomination Submission:
Dr. Navaneethan is faculty in the Division of Complex and Palliative Pediatrics. She serves as the education lead in Pediatric Palliative Care. In this role she has developed innovative curriculum for adult-trained fellows rotating in pediatrics. They are often nervous and apprehensive about interfacing with critically ill patients. She has been able to give them the knowledge that they need and model the skills necessary to care for these patients. Dr. Navaneethan also has developed a more robust curriculum for the pediatric-focused fellows to ensure their competency to lead Pediatric Palliative teams. She also serves as the director for medical student exposure to this topic. She supervises students as they rotate through the clinical service. She leads classroom and OSCE sessions for medical students. The quality of her skills as an educator has been validated by her outstanding evaluation by fellows, residents and medical students. Although she has only been with us two years, she has made a significant impact on education. She is a star in our division and her impact is across the medical education trajectory. I think that she is fully worthy of recognition as a Star Educator.