Kimberly D. Acquaviva, PhD, MSW, CSE joined the faculty of the University of Virginia School of Nursing on August 1, 2019, after 15 years at The George Washington University. As a social worker teaching within a school of nursing, Dr. Acquaviva’s scholarship is interdisciplinary and collaborative. Her scholarly work focuses on LGBTQ aging and end-of-life issues, and her clinical work has been with patients and families facing life-limiting illnesses in both hospital and hospice settings.  Her book, LGBTQ-Inclusive Hospice & Palliative Care: A Practical Guide to Transforming Professional Practice was awarded first place in the AJN Book of the Year Awards in the Palliative Care and Hospice Category. She is the host of em dash podcast, a show that explores the lived experiences of patients and healthcare professionals in the healthcare arena.

Dr. Acquaviva has a Ph.D. in Human Sexuality Education from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, an M.S.W. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice, and a B.A. in Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania College of Arts and Sciences. She is an AASECT-Certified Sexuality Educator.

Natalie May, PhD—who joined the School of Nursing faculty after more than 30 years as associate professor of research in the UVA School of Medicine—is a founding member of the UVA Center for Appreciative Practice. Certified as an appreciative inquiry facilitator and lead author of the book Appreciative Inquiry in Healthcare, she enjoys developing appreciative inquiry projects and teaching appreciative practice workshops at her home institution and beyond. 

She is an experienced qualitative researcher with extensive experience in grant writing, program and curriculum development, and program evaluation. Her current research projects include the Mattering in Medicine study and the Cultures of Mattering in Healthcare Education study, with colleague Julie Haizlip, MD, MAAP, and faculty from the Medical College of Wisconsin. Currently, she is interviewing UVA nurse managers as part of the Wisdom from Within study to examine how vital nurse managers cope and thrive in adversity and a part of the Medical Subspecialties HOME Team Program study for high-utilizer patients with hospitalist Amber Inofuentes, MD.

May was an investigator for the Wisdom in Medicine Project: Mapping the Path Through Adversity to Wisdom, a study funded by the John Templeton Foundation, co-author of Choosing Wisdom: The Path Through Adversity, and co-producer of the PBS film Choosing Wisdom. She co-developed and implemented an innovative curriculum for medical students, The Phronesis Project, designed to foster wisdom in young physicians. She implemented a similar Wisdom in Nursing program within the School of Nursing. 

With co-authors Dorrie K. Fontaine and Tim Cunningham, Natalie recently published the AACN award-winning book Self-Care for New and Student Nurses and is currently writing a new (shorter and less expensive!) version of the book, Self-Care for Nurses: Small Doses of Wellness, which will be available in spring 2023. May is the project manager for an HRSA-funded grant, Wisdom and Wellbeing Peer Support Training, designed for healthcare providers and first responders at UVA and across Central Virginia.

Courtney McCluney is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Darden School of Business and the Center for Interprofessional Collaborations (CIPC). This joint position allows Dr. McCluney to investigate positive organizational practices that facilitate the health and well-being of interprofessional medical teams. She draws on her training in qualitative, survey, physiological, and experimental methods to study how feeling that one matters at work and engaging in mindfulness practices reduce burnout and stress. In addition to improving the well-being of medical professionals, Dr. McCluney has published and presented internationally on diversity and inclusion, leadership, and health outcomes in organizations.  She received her PhD in Psychology (Personality and Social Contexts) at the University of Michigan and BA in Psychology and Interpersonal/Organizational Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Kathryn Mutter, MD, MPH is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine.  She is Course Director for the Transition Course and the Internship Readiness Course for rising clerkship and graduating fourth year medical students, respectively.  Her research interests include medical education and interprofessional education.

Dr. Dent's interest in interprofessional education arises in part from his role co-leading the introduction of structured interdisciplinary bedside rounding for cardiovascular patients in the "Rounding with Heart™" initiative. A practicing noninvasive cardiologist with extensive experience in medical education, he has recently focused on improving education in patient safety and quality improvement by engaging learners in these activities. He recognizes that almost all of his patient care activities necessarily rely on the contributions of a highly-coordinated, complex web of care team members, and that exposing our trainees to the interdisciplinary model during their time at the UVA Health System is critical to their future success.

Dr. Brashers is the founder of the Center for Academic Strategic Partnerships for Interprofessional Research and Education. She is known nationally for her service and scholarship in the area of interprofessional education and collaborative care. She served for many years as the Vice President for Interdisciplinary Care for the National Academies of Practice where she received the Nicholas Cummings Award for Contributions to the Interprofessional Healthcare Field. She currently is a Co-PI for several intra and extramural interprofessional education grants and serves as a consultant, editor, expert panel member, presenter, and workshop leader in many educational, clinical, and policy settings. Prior to her partial retirement in 2017, Dr. Brashers was a full-time faculty member of the Schools of Nursing and Medicine for over 20 years; she taught pathophysiology, immunology, pulmonary assessment, physical examination, and chest x-ray interpretation to graduate and undergraduate nursing students, medical students, and health professionals. She is a founding member of the UVA School of Medicine Academy of Distinguished Educators and is the first physician to be elected as an honorary member of the UVA Nursing Alumni Association.

Meg Norling served as the Program Manager for ASPIRE/CIPC from 2016-2019. She contributed to the mission of the Center in many ways; as grant coordinator for the "Creating a Culture of Safety" IPE/PSQI program, co-developer (with Tina Brashers) of the online IPE/PSQI Resource Manual, Nurse Planner for the interprofessional lunch trainings, co-host and planner for the biannual T3 Training Conferences, creator of the Center's newsletters, videos, and marketing materials, and administrator of the Center's day-to-day operations. One of Meg's last projects for the Center was the design and creation of this website, developed with Co-Director Julie Haizlip.