Kristina Dzara, Ph.D., MMSc
Assistant dean, Scholarly Teaching and Learning; Director, Center for Educator Development, Advancement and Research (CEDAR);
Office of Faculty Affairs and Professional Development
Associate professor
Department of Family and Community Medicine
Education
MMSc
Harvard Medical School (2017)
Ph.D., Sociology
Southern Illinois University (2009)
M.A., Applied Sociology
University of Central Florida (2005)
Research Interests
- Educator development
- Educational scholarship
- Curriculum development
- Program evaluation
Labs and Facilities
Publications and Media Placements
Deena M. Hamza, Anna MacLeod, Jonathan Sherbino, Anthony R. Artino, Jr., Kristina
Dzara, Lauren Maggio, Robin Parker, and Lara Varpio. 2025. “Purpose Driven-Design:
A Case Report of a Knowledge Mobilization Portal.” Perspectives on Medical Education.
14(1): 570-577.
Samantha Scanlon, Kristina Dzara, and Rebecca Ronsley. 2025. “Current Approaches in
Development and Implementation of Medical Education Strategies Among Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
Fellowship Programs.” Pediatric Hematology and Oncology. 42(1): 27-36.
Aidan Ruth and Kristina Dzara. 2025. “Incorporating Structured Metacognitive Training
into an Undergraduate Anatomy Classroom.” Anatomical Sciences Education. 18(1):87-96.
Hermioni L. Amonoo, Margo C. Funk, Michelle Guo, Fremonta Meyer, Emma C. Deary, Kerri
P. McGrath, Kristina Dzara, Hadine Joffe, Robert Boland, and David Silbersweig. 2024.
“The Mentorship Families Program Model in a Residency Program.” BMC Medical Education.
24(1):1430.
Carlos Torres, Aisha James, K. Lamour, Kristina Dzara, and Ariel S. Frey-Vogel. 2024.
“Needs Assessment of Residents and Nurses for Interprofessional Care.” The Clinical
Teacher. 21:e13709.
Ariel S. Frey-Vogel, Kristina Dzara, Kimberly A. Gifford, Yoon Soo Park, Justin Berk,
Allison Heinly, Darcy Wolcott, Daniel A. Hall, Shannon E. Scott-Vernaglia, Katherine
A. Sparger, and Erica Y. Chung. 2024. “Development and Validity Evidence for the Resident-Led
Large Group Teaching Assessment Instrument in the United States: A Methodological
Study.” Journal of Educational Evaluation in the Health Professions. 21(3).
Zachary Whaley, Deanna Palenzula, Kristina Dzara, Lori R. Berkowitz, Joy Moses, Emil
Petrusa, and Roy Phitayakorn. 2024. “Characterizing the Role of Surgical Vice Chair
of Education: Stakeholder Needs and Current Practices.” Journal of Surgical Research.
293: 497-502.
Natalie Diacovo, Anisha Gundewar, Alexandra Wallace, Shannon Scott-Vernaglia, Kristina
Dzara, Michael Healy, and Ariel S. Frey-Vogel. 2023. “Giving Literal Thanks: An ACGME-Sponsored
Initiative to Bring Residents Back to the Bedside.” Journal of Graduate Medical Education.
15(6):728-733.
Christopher Moran, Kristina Dzara, Ariel S. Frey-Vogel, Michael Flaherty, Daniel Hall,
Benjamin A. Nelson, Katherine Sparger, Takara Stanley, Phoebe Yager, and Shannon Scott-Vernaglia.
2023. “Confidence of Faculty in Writing Letters of Recommendation for Pediatric Fellowship
Applicants.” Cureus (15)11:e49750.
Fischer Lees, Catherine Beni, Albert Lee, Patrick Wedgeworth, Kristina Dzara, Byron
Joyner, Peter Tarczy-Hornoch, and Michael Leu. 2023. “Uses of Electronic Health Record
Data to Measure the Clinical Learning Environment of Graduate Medical Education Trainees:
A Systematic Review.” Academic Medicine. 98(11):1326-1336.
Kristina Dzara, Caitlyn R. DePaula, and Erik K. Alexander. 2023. “Engaging Health
Professions Educators in a Virtual Initiative to Deliver Micro-Bursts of Professional
Development During COVID-19.” Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development.
10:1-9.
Michael S. Sinha, Kristina Dzara, and Stephanie K. Mueller. 2023. “AM Last Page: How
Male Allies can Support the Advancement of Women in Academic Medicine.” Academic Medicine.
98(9):969.
Ariel S. Frey-Vogel, Lori Pugsley, and Kristina Dzara. 2023. “A Nurse/Intern Partnership
Program Accelerates Positive Relationship Formation Between Pediatric Interns and
Pediatric Nurses. Academic Pediatrics. 23(2):225-232.
Kristina Dzara, Abid Khan, and Lori R. Berkowitz. 2022. “Vice Chairs for Education
as Servant Leaders.” Research and Development in Medical Education. 11:23.
Ariel S. Frey-Vogel, Kevin Ching, Kristina Dzara, Leah Mallory. 2022. “The Acceptability
of Avatar Patients for Teaching and Assessing Pediatric Resident Competence in Communicating
Medical Ambiguity.” Journal of Graduate Medical Education. 14(6):696-703.
Andrea Pelletier Johnson, Kristina Dzara, and Ilona Goldfarb. 2022. “Medical Students’
Intention to Change After Receiving Formative Feedback: Employing Social Cognitive
Theories of Behavior.” Medical Science Educator. 32:1447-1454.
Ivry Zagury-Orly, Magalie Cadieux, Melissa Campos-Zamora, and Kristina Dzara. 2022.
“AM Last Page: Effective Planning of a Journal Club in Academic Medicine.” Academic
Medicine. 97(9):1425.
Courtney Haviland, Janet Green, Kristina Dzara, Wendy O. Hardiman, Emil R. Petrusa,
Yoon Soo Park, and Ariel S. Frey-Park. 2022. “Psychological Safety Between Pediatric
Residents and Nurses and the Impact of an Interdisciplinary Simulation Curriculum.”
BMC Medical Education. 22:649.
Madeleine I. Matthiesen, Michael S. Kelly, Kristina Dzara, and Arabella Simpkin Begin.
2022. “Medical Residents and Attending Physicians’ Perceptions of Feedback and Teaching
in the United States: A Qualitative Study.” Journal of Educational Evaluation for
Health Professions. 19:9.
Marielle C. Young, Ian R. Roy, Ariel S. Frey-Vogel, Kristina Dzara, and Michael Pistiner.
2022. “Needs Assessment for an Infant and Toddler Food Allergy Curriculum for Pediatric
Residents.” Journal of Food Allergy. 4:10-13.
Kristina Dzara, Martin Pusic, Narath Carlile, Edward Krupat, and Erik K. Alexander.
2022. “Educational Adaptation to Clinical Training during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A
Process Analysis.” BMC Medical Education. 22:200.
Kristina Dzara and Holly Gooding. 2022. “AM Last Page: A Guide to Educational Pyramids
in Medical Education.” Academic Medicine. 97(2):313.
Kristina Dzara, Karen L. Bruynell, Erik K. Alexander, Caitlyn R. DePaula, and Subha
Ramani. 2022. “Global Med Ed Café: A Safe Space for Conversations.” The Clinical Teacher.
19(2):136-142.
Kristina Dzara, Brittany Star Hampton, Maya Hammoud, and Lori R. Berkowitz. 2021.
“Recommendations to Guide Vice Chairs for Education in Serving as Effective Leaders.”
Research and Development in Medical Education. 10:26.
Kristina Dzara, Amy Kelleher, and Subha Ramani. 2021. “Fostering Educator Identity
Through Social Media.” The Clinical Teacher. 18(6):607-613.
Trevin C. Lau, Kristina Dzara, Holly R. Khachadoorian-Elia, and Lori R. Berkowitz.
2021. “The Medical Education Roadshow: Delivering Faculty Development to Busy Clinician
Educators When They Least Expect It.” Journal of Continuing Education in the Health
Professions. 41(2):157-160.
Kristina Dzara, Ayres Heller, and Jennifer Kesselheim. 2021. “The COVID-19 Online
Learning Transition and the Plus/Delta Debriefing Model.” Journal of Continuing Education
in the Health Professions. 41(2):91-93.
Hinchcliff, Kaitlyn James, Kristina Dzara, and Lori R. Berkowitz. 2021. “Discriminatory
Ability of Milestones: An Analysis of Milestone Variability in an Obstetrics and Gynecology
Subspecialty.” Research and Development in Medical Education. 10:2.
Lori R. Berkowitz, Kristina Dzara, and Arabella L. Simpkin. 2021. “Building your “Educational
Peloton:” Cycling Together for Success During Uncertain Times." Journal of Continuing
Education in the Health Professions. 41(1):8-9.
Lori Pugsley, Ariel S. Frey-Vogel, and Kristina Dzara. 2021. “A Qualitative Investigation
to Identify Factors Influencing Relationship Formation Between Pediatric Nurses and
Pediatric Interns.” Journal of Interprofessional Education and Practice. 22(8):100404.
Elissa Hall, Justin D. Kreuter, Teresa Soro, Kristina Dzara, and Holly Gooding. 2021.
“Harnessing the Power of Social Media to Support a Professional Learning Network During
the COVID-19 Pandemic." Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions.
41(1):10-12.
Courtney Haviland, Alexandra Lucas, Yih-Chieh Chen, Jonathan Paolino, Kristina Dzara,
and Ariel S. Frey-Vogel. 2020. “Simulated Umbilical Venous Catheter Placement Improves
Resident Competence and Confidence.” Cureus. 12(10):e10810.
Magalie Cadieux, Melissa Campos-Zamora, Ivry Zagury-Orly and Kristina Dzara. 2020.
“Journal Club using Virtual Breakout Rooms: Interactive Continuing Education with
No Learner Preparation During COVID-19.” Journal of Continuing Education in the Health
Professions. 40(4):217-219.
Michaela Friesth and Kristina Dzara. 2020. “An Educational Evaluation of a Journal
Club Approach to Teaching Undergraduate Health Care Research.” Journal of Medical
Education and Curricular Development. 7:1-8.
Kristina Dzara, Donna T. Chen, Paul Haidet, Heather Murray, Sean Tackett, and Margaret
S. Chisolm. 2020. “AM Last Page: The Effective Use of Videos in Medical Education.”
Academic Medicine 95(6):970.
Ariel S. Frey-Vogel, Kristina Dzara, Kimberly A. Gifford, and Erica Y. Chung. 2020.
“The Development of an Instrument for Faculty to Assess Resident-led Large Group Teaching.”
Academic Pediatrics 20(4):442-447.
Teresa M. Chan, Kristina Dzara, Sara Paradise, Anuja Bhalerao, and Lauren A. Maggio.
2020. "Social Media in Knowledge Translation and Education for Physicians and Trainees:
A Scoping Review.” Perspectives on Medical Education 9(1):20-30.
Susan R. Hata, Kristina Dzara, Robert Meyer, Avram Z. Traum, and Shannon Scott-Vernaglia.
2019. “Promoting Emotional Well-Being Through an Innovative Personal and Professional
Development Curriculum for Pediatric Residents.” Medical Science Educator 29:899-900.
Kristina Dzara, Kathleen Huth, Jennifer Kesselheim, and Daniel J. Schumacher. 2019.
“Implementing Residency Programs of Assessment based on Milestones: Rising to the
Challenge.” Journal of Graduate Medical Education 11(4):439-446.
Kristina Dzara and Ariel S. Frey-Vogel. 2019. “Medical Education Journal Club for
the Millennial Resident: An Interactive, No Prep Approach.” Academic Pediatrics 19(6):603-607.
Catherine D. Michelson, Kristina Dzara, Subha Ramani, Robert Vinci, and Dan Schumacher.
2019. “Keystone: Exploring Pediatric Residents’ Experiences in a Longitudinal, Integrated
Block.” Teaching and Learning in Medicine 31(1):99-108.
Kristina Dzara and Jennifer Kesselheim. 2018. “AM Last Page: Going Up? Tips for the
Medical Educator’s Elevator Pitch.” Academic Medicine 93(12):1884.
Gaurav Jain, Kristina Dzara, Mir N. Mazhar, and Manisha Punwani. 2014. “Do Regulated
Resident Working Hours Affect Medical Graduate Education? Trends in the American Psychiatry
Board Pass Rates Pre- and Post-2003 Duty Hours Regulations.” The Psychiatric Bulletin
38(6):299-302.
Stephen Robinson, Nicole Roberts, and Kristina Dzara. 2013. “Residency Coordinator
Perceptions of Psychiatry Residency Candidates: A Pilot Study.” Academic Psychiatry
37(4):265-267.
Kristina Dzara, Joshua Sarver, Jeffrey I. Bennett, and Pravesh Basnet. 2013. “Resident
and Medical Student Viewpoints Toward their Participation in a Telepsychiatry Rotation."
Academic Psychiatry 37(3):214-216.
Kristina Dzara, Gaurav Jain, and Stephen Soltys. 2012. “The Self-Directed Structured
Summary as a Teaching Tool in a Psychiatry Journal Club." Academic Psychiatry 36(6):
490-492.
Gaurav Jain, Kristina Dzara, Jane P. Gagliardi, Glen Xiong, David S. Resch, and Paul
Summergrad. 2012. “Assessing the Practices and Perceptions of Dually-trained Physicians:
A Preliminary Report." Academic Psychiatry 36(1):71-73.
Jeffrey I. Bennett, Kristina Dzara, Mir Nadeem Mazhar, and Aniruddh Behere. 2011.
“A Preliminary Report on Resident Emergency Psychiatry Training from a Survey of Psychiatry
Chief Residents.” Journal of Graduate Medical Education 3(1):21-25.
Jeffrey I. Bennett, George Costin, Mehnaz Khan, Mir Nadeem Mazhar, Kristina Dzara,
Mary Conklen, and Jo Ann Hannig. 2010. “Postgraduate year-1 Residency Training in
Emergency Psychiatry: An Acute Care Psychiatry Clinic at a Community Mental Health
Center.” Journal of Graduate Medical Education 2(3):462-466.
Honors and Awards
- 2025 Excellence in Reviewing Award
Academic Medicine Journal - 2024 Certificate of Achievement
Innovations in Medical Education Conference
University of Southern California - 2022 Marie Hall Visiting Professorship
University of Texas Medical Branch
School of Health Sciences
Professional Organizations and Associations
- Harvard Macy Institute
- Society of Directors of Research in Medical Education