Leadership Appointments Announced at Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

Two appointments have been announced that will strengthen the education mission at Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Monica L. Lypson, MD, MHPE, a national leader in medical education now at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., has been named vice dean for education. Jonathan (Yoni) Amiel, MD, who served as interim co-vice dean for education since January 2020, has been appointed to a new role as senior associate dean for innovation in health professions education at VP&S. The appointments were announced by Anil K. Rustgi, MD, interim executive vice president and dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine.

In making the announcement, Rustgi thanked Amiel and Lisa Mellman, MD, for their leadership as interim co-vice deans for education. “Both are exceptional leaders, administrators, educators, mentors, and physicians whose commitment to VP&S and Columbia University is inspiring.”

Mellman, the Rudin Professor of Psychiatry at CUMC, will continue her position as senior associate dean for student affairs. 

In Amiel’s new role, he will convene stakeholders across VP&S, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and the university to envision the emerging new roles of health care leaders (and those outside of health care) and design the interdisciplinary training they will need to lead change; integrate faculty development for educators in the health professions in partnership with the Office of Faculty Professional Development, Diversity and Inclusion, the Provost's office, and our clinical partners; mentor faculty in educational innovation and scholarship; and represent Columbia in national organizations (including the AAMC), foundations, and government to help shape policy in health professions education. 

This position will build on Columbia’s unique institutional resources in health care, business, law, journalism, and beyond to establish VP&S as a national leader in cutting-edge health professions education.

Amiel, associate professor of psychiatry and senior associate dean for curricular affairs, is a leader in the field of competency-based medical education and holds important leadership positions with the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Gold Humanism Honor Society. A graduate of Yale College and VP&S, he joined Columbia’s psychiatry faculty in 2011 after serving as chief resident in psychiatry at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. 

Lypson is professor of medicine, vice chair for faculty affairs, and director of the general internal medicine division at GW. At GW, she supports the academic careers of faculty members in the department by developing programming that helps each individual navigate professional development. 

Before joining GW, Lypson coordinated a Department of Veterans Affairs’ education program as director of medical and dental education. Until she joined the VA, she was a professor of medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School, where she also served as assistant dean for graduate medical education and interim associate dean of diversity and career development.

As vice dean for education at VP&S, Lypson will oversee all aspects of the MD program, including admissions, financial aid, student affairs, curricular affairs, and student research. She has pledged to help foster a diverse and inclusive learning environment and to work collaboratively across CUIMC to ensure that learners engage in interprofessional didactic and clinical educational activities that address societal needs and promote equitable, high-quality health care for all patients. 

Lypson, a graduate of Brown University, received her MD degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and her master of health professions education degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is board-certified as a general internist who completed her training in the internal medicine-primary care residency program at Harvard Medical School and as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at the University of Chicago.

Her research interests include health professional trainee assessment, historical and contemporary trends in medical education, academic leadership, and the underrepresentation of minorities in academic medicine. Several of her invited presentations and papers have focused on clinical performance assessment of medical students and residents and on faculty development on issues of diversity and narrative assessment.

She has pursued multiple professional development programs, including the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine program at Drexel University. She has been an Aspen Health Innovator at the Aspen Institute in Washington since 2018. She currently is president-elect of the Society of General Internal Medicine. 

She is the new associate editor for the journal Academic Medicine and recently co-authored an article titled “Learning From the Past and Working in the Present to Create an Antiracist Future for Academic Medicine.”

“Columbia and VP&S are fortunate to have identified a candidate of Dr. Lypson’s caliber, enthusiasm, and vision to fill this important role of vice dean for education,” says Rustgi, who appointed a search team led by Rita Charon, MD, PhD, chair of the Department of Medical Humanities & Ethics at VP&S. “Our medical school will only become stronger with Dr. Lypson’s leadership.”

 “I am honored to be appointed vice dean for education and look forward to applying my career-long work that focuses on the continuum of learning and workforce development for the diverse teams of the future,” says Lypson. “The vice dean must ensure that Columbia graduates are ready for the practice and science of medicine now and over the arc of their careers, and guarantee a diverse and inclusive learning environment across the continuum to assure equitable and quality health care for all patients.

“My scholarship has been driven by my interactions with students and the educational environment and highlights discovery and health system science to articulate innovative strategies for learning. At Columbia, I will work collaboratively to ensure that learners across the Columbia University Irving Medical Center campus engage in inter-professional didactic and clinical educational activities, and that learning is addressing societal and patient needs. The Vagelos Education Center emphasizes simulation, arts, humanities, and inter-professional education and helps situate VP&S as a leader in cutting-edge health professions education.”

Lypson will join Columbia June 1.