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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Lynne E. Wagenknecht, Dr.P.H., a professor of public health sciences and associate director of the Division of Public Health Sciences at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, has been selected as one of academic health’s most promising women leaders.

The Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program for Women has announced that Wagenknecht is one of 48 senior women faculty selected for the 2008-2009 class of ELAM fellows. ELAM is the only national program dedicated to preparing senior women faculty for leadership at academic health centers. The new fellows represent 46 medical, dental, and public health schools.

The ELAM curriculum includes traditional MBA training, such as in finance and organizational theory, that is oriented toward the academic health center environment. It also incorporates activities that enhance personal and professional development around leadership, career advancement, communication, and the use of new information/learning technologies. 

During their year with ELAM, fellows gain a broader and deeper knowledge of the challenges facing academic health centers through meetings with national leaders in the field, interactions with their peers in the program, and interviews with a wide range of senior officers at their own institutions.  Fellows also undertake a long-term action project that addresses an institutional need or goal while providing an opportunity for leadership and greater visibility.

ELAM’s mission is to increase the number of women at academic health centers in leadership positions and their success rate in attaining and remaining in these positions. Some 20 percent of its 520 graduates currently serve in the highest-level leadership ranks, from associate dean through university president.

 Wagenknecht is a graduate of Lenoir-Rhyne College and received a doctor of public health (epidemiology) from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is past chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Prevention.

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