Anna Lama, EdD

Associate Professor, Director of Assessment

Organization:

West Virginia University School of Medicine

Department:

Medical Education

Classification:

Faculty

• EdD, Univerity of Pittsburgh School of Education
• MA, West Virginia University School of Human Resources and Education
• BA, West Virginia University School of Music

[PEER REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLES]

Kiefer, C. S., Lama, A., & Shaver, E. B. (2025). A Thematic Analysis Exploring the Impact of a Rural Emergency Medicine Rotation on Resident Perceptions of Care and Readiness for Rural Practice. Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development, 12. https://doi.org/10.1177/23821205251405326

Lama A, Hedrick J. Beyond the handoff: A longitudinal approach to student feedback and coaching in the clinical clerkship curriculum. Med Educ. 2025;59(7):773-774. doi:10.1111/medu.15666  

Frey, J., Neeley, B.C., Casinelli, G., Paserba, B., Talkington, D., Sheehan, P., Lewis, J.W., Palmer, B., Lama, A., Adcock, A., Seachrist, E., Gauri, G.V., & Murray, A.M. (2025). Curriculum Innovation: Neuro Day: An Innovative Educational Intervention to enhance Interest in Neurology for Medical Trainees. Neurology Education. 4(2), e200207. DOI: 10.1212/NE9.0000000000200207

Cottrell, S. A., Hedrick, J. S., Lama, A., Sofka, S., & Ferrari, N. D., 3^rd (2024). The Urgent Need for Reporting Accurate and Fair Student Comparisons in the Medical Student Performance Evaluation. Journal of graduate medical education, 16(3), 257–260. https://doi.org/10.4300/JGME-D-23-00862.1

Lama, A. (2023). Reflective Teaching Journals as an Effective Embedded Formative Assessment of Teaching Skill Development Confidence in a Longitudinal Medical-Student-as-Teacher Elective. Medical Science Educator Journal. Nov 21;33(6):1493-1503. doi: 10.1007/s40670-023-01938-1

Lewis, J. W., Lama, A. M., Hogg, J. P., Boo, S., Tucker, E. S., Brown, C. M., Zdilla, M. J., Petrone, A., Lambert, H. W., Agmon, A., Billings, H., Roth, L., Patterson, B., & Palmer, B. (2023). Online interactive medical neuroimaging exercise to identify human brain structures. Annals of Anatomy Journal 249, 152101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aanat.2023.152101

Chen W, Berry A, Drowos J, Lama A, Kleinheksel AJ. Improving the Evaluation of Faculty Development Programs. Acad Med. 2021;96(10):1496. doi:10.1097/ACM.0000000000004151

Lama, A. M., Murray, A. M., Frey, J., Neeley, B., & Lewis, J. W. (2021). Using a Mock Rounds Model and Neurology Patients to Teach Neurological Exam Skills in a Medical Neurobiology Course. Medical science educator, 31(5), 1567–1573. https://doi-org.wvu.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s40670-021-01345-4

Frey J, Neeley B, Umer A, Lewis, J.W., Lama, A., Pawar, G., and Murray, A. Training in Neurology: Neuro Day: An Innovative Curriculum Connecting Medical Students with Patients. Neurology. 2021;96(10):e1482-e1486. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000010859

Lewis JW, Lama AM, Hurst PD, Paserba BA. Interactive Large Group Lecture Demonstrations: Dramatization of Medical Neurobiology Concepts to Improve Student Perception of Understanding Fluid Mechanisms of the Central Nervous System. Med Sci Educ. 2020 Apr 6;30(2):811-822. doi: 10.1007/s40670-020-00953-w. PMID: 34457738; PMCID: PMC8368693.

Lama A., Hogg J., and Olsen J. (2019). Perspectives from the other side of the screen: How clinicians and radiologists communicate about diagnostic errors. Diagnosis 7(1): 45-53.

Nield, L.S., Vallejo, M.V., Lama, A., M., Yoon, K.K., Carpenter, A.S., Baker, C.M., & Hobbs, G.R., (2018). Rate of plagiarism in personal comments essays of applicants to a U.S. allopathic medical school: An observational study. Journal of General Internal Medicine 6(8).

Cottrell S.A., Hedrick, J.A., Lama A., Chen B., West C.A., Graham L. Kiefer C., Hog J., and Wright M. (2016). Curriculum Mapping: A Comparative Analysis of Two Medical School Models. Medical Science Educator.

[PEER REVIEWED DIGITIAL MEDIA & EDUCATIONAL SCHOLARLY BLOGS]

Lama A. (January 21, 2025). Using ‘Forward Feeding’ to Support Student Progress. Harvard Macy Institute MedEdPearl. Click to read: Using “Forward Feeding” to Support Student Progress | Harvard Medical School Professional, Corporate, and Continuing Education

Lama A. (January 20, 2025). Why Professional Identity Formation Matters Now for Medical Educators. Harvard Macy Institute MedEdPearl. Click to read: https://learn.hms.harvard.edu/insights/all-insights/why-professional-identity-formation-matters-now-medical-educators

Lama A. (January 28, 2024). “Assessment. Reflective Journals are the Embedded Formative Assessment You Have Been Missing.” Harvard Macy Institute MedEdPearl. Click to read: Reflective Journals are the Embedded Formative Assessment You Have been Missing | Harvard Medical School Professional, Corporate, and Continuing Education

Lama A. (January 18, 2023). “ARCH: A Guidance Model for Providing Effective Feedback.” Harvard Macy Institute MedEdPearl. Click to read: The ARCH Guidance Model for Providing Effective Feedback | Harvard Medical School Professional, Corporate, and Continuing Education

Lama A. (January 18, 2022). “Earthquake of Thought as a Metaphor for Change Possibilities.” Harvard Macy Institute MedEdPearl. Click to read: Earthquakes of Thought as a Metaphor for Change Possibilities | Harvard Medical School Professional, Corporate, and Continuing Education

Lama A. (January 18, 2021). “Using Rapid Prototyping to Establish Virtual Interprofessional Communities of Practice.” Harvard Macy Institute MedEdPearl. Click to read: Using Rapid Prototyping to Establish Virtual Interprofessional Communities of Practice | Harvard Medical School Professional, Corporate, and Continuing Education

Lama A. (May 17, 2020). “A One Minute Pause on Mattering.” Harvard Macy Institute MedEdPearl. Click to read: A One Minute Pause on Mattering | Harvard Medical School Professional, Corporate, and Continuing Education

Lama A. (January 20, 2020). “About Learner Feedback: The Gift No One Likes to Give but Really Should.” Harvard Macy Institute MedEdPearl. Click to read: About Learner Feedback: The Gift No One Likes to Give but Really Should | Harvard Medical School Professional, Corporate, and Continuing Education

2023-2024 Faculty Award for Excellence in Interprofessional Education (IPE), West Virginia University Office of Interpersonal Education, in collaboration with West Virginia University Libraries. Read here.

Medical Education Scholarship Award (MESA) for Outstanding Presentation by an Early Career Scholar, Southern Group on Educational Affairs (SGEA), May 5, 2025. “The Role of Pre-Clerkship Quartile Rankings in Identifying At-Risk Clerkship Performance.”

Anna Lama, Ed.D., M.A., serves as the Director of Assessment for WVU Medicine and as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Education. She earned her doctorate from The University of Pittsburgh Department of Education in 2021 with an emphasis in higher education leadership.

Dr. Lama directs and teaches in the Medical Students as Educators (MSaE) electives, which prepare students to teach effectively and engage in educational scholarship. Her work focuses on supporting medical students as they develop from classroom learners to bedside teachers, emphasizing teaching skill development, faculty mentorship, and educational innovation.

Her research interests include faculty and student teacher development, curriculum design, and the science of teaching and learning. Dr. Lama has authored several peer-reviewed publications and presented nationally on medical student learning and educational scholarship.

In addition to her teaching and research roles, Dr. Lama serves as the faculty advisor--and fellow musician—for  the WVU SoM Med Music Outreach interest group.

Educational Leadership & Scholarship

Dr. Lama maintains a national presence in medical education. She currently serves as Communication Chair for The Generalist in Medical Education (TGME)  national conference and as Chair of the Southern Group on Education Affairs (SGEA) Students and Residents Interested in Academia (SRIA) SIG group. She is also co-editor of the Harvard Macy Institute MedEd Pearls for Faculty Development, a global online platform supporting faculty development educators.

Faculty Development Expertise

Dr. Lama regularly provides faculty development in areas including:

• Providing Feedback and Evidence-based Feedback Models
• Forward Feeding as Process
• Educational Innovations in the Classroom
• Professional Identity Formation Across the Continuum
• Evaluation and Assessment
• Building Scholarly Collaborations in Education Scholarship
• Qualitative Research Methods
• Designing Student-as-Teacher (SaT) Training Programs
• Enhancing Teaching Capacities through SaT Programs

Contact

Email: alama@hsc.wvu.edu.

Additional Links of Interest:

Medical Students as Educators (MSaE) | School of Medicine | West Virginia University

Medical Students as Educators (Virtual) | School of Medicine | West Virginia University

The Generalists in Medical Education – Collaborate, Innovate, Disseminate

The Southern Group on Educational Affairs (SGEA) | AAMC

Innovations in Healthcare Education Research | Medical College of Wisconsin