Sofia Aliaga, MD, MPH, FAAP, has been named Director of Simulation, Experiential Learning, and Training (SET) for the UNC School of Medicine (SOM) and Director of Interprofessional Education and Practice (IPEP), UNC SOM. Dr. Aliaga will start her position as Director of IPEP, SOM on November 1 and Director of SET on December 1.
Sofia Aliaga, MD, MPH, FAAP, has been named Director of Simulation, Experiential Learning, and Training (SET) for the UNC School of as of December 1st. Of note, the SET Center was formerly known as the Clinical Skills and Patient Simulation Center. As the Director of the SET Center, Aliaga is responsible for the overall design, management, integration, evaluation, and enhancement of the Center. She will provide strategic and budgetary oversight, operational guidance, and program evaluation leadership for quality improvement.
In addition, Aliaga has been named the Director of Interprofessional Education and Practice (IPEP) for the School of Medicine. The Office of IPEP was established in 2018 to position the University at the forefront of a nation-wide movement to transform the way students are trained for the workforce and care for our communities. Nine professional schools (Adams School of Dentistry, Department of Allied Health, Eshelman School of Pharmacy, Gillings School of Global Public Health, Kenan Flagler Business School, School of Education, School of Medicine, School of Nursing, and School of Social Work) and the Health Sciences Library have directors who work with the Assistant Provost to develop an IPE framework to optimize care and improve population health. Among her responsibilities, Aliaga will maintain a school-wide IPEP committee, actively seek interprofessional education and practice opportunities for students, and work collaboratively with the UNC-Chapel Hill Office for IPEP.
Aliaga received her Doctorate of Medicine from Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru She completed her pediatric residency training at the University of Colorado. During her 3-year neonatal-perinatal medicine fellowship at UNC she also obtained Master of Public Health from the UNC Gillings School for Global Public Health. She remained at UNC as faculty and is now an Associate Professor in the Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine.
Aliaga has been a dedicated educator with a focus on simulation. She started her simulation career with a focus on team training and neonatal resuscitation for residents, fellows, and nurse practitioners. As an associate director of the pediatric residency program, she built a simulation curriculum including procedural training, interprofessional simulation experiences, and acute care skills. Her exposure to other simulation experiences at this time introduced her to interprofessional education. In 2015, she became the Co-Chair the UNC Children’s Hospital Simulation Committee which she still serves today. This work provided her an opportunity to partner with the Office of Interprofessional Education and Practice (OIPEP) to focus on interprofessional telehealth. From 2019-2021, Aliaga served as Vice Chair for the Healthcare Simulation in Pediatrics Learning Community for the Association for Pediatric Program Directors. The Learning Community is resource in simulation for residency and fellowship programs to help advance everyone’s work in simulation. She is currently the Chair of the Learning Community.
“Dr. Aliaga is an innovative educator and I am excited to see her selected for these roles. Like simulation, interprofessional education is a learning strategy used to improve collaboration and facilitate communication across professions, enabling students to learn from, with, and about each other. The opportunities to bring these two methodologies together only strengths the experiences for our medical students and it is exciting to think about the possibilities for collaboration with our colleagues across campus and within the health system. I continue to be impressed by the caliber of interprofessional activities coordinated by the SOM faculty,” said Dr. Meg Zomorodi PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN Assistant Provost for OIPEP