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Faculty & Staff

Natalie kirilichin, program Director ​

Dr. Natalie Kirilichin

Dr. Kirilichin is a board-certified attending emergency medicine physician and assistant professor with the George Washington University Department of Emergency Medicine. Her other education leadership roles include directing the GW MFA Postgraduate Health Policy Fellowship and the Health Policy Scholarly Concentration Program at the School of Medicine. Dr. Kirilichin is also a clinical public health mentor. 
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Dr. Kirilichin received her undergraduate degree (BS, Biology) from Georgetown University and remained at Georgetown’s School of Medicine to complete her MD. She earned her MPH from the GW Milken Institute School of Public Health and completed residency at University of Chicago Hospitals. During her two year health policy fellowship at GW, she worked for the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) on mental health and substance abuse legislation. She went onto become a medical advisor for National Safety Council, a nonprofit that eliminates preventable deaths through leadership, research, education and advocacy. 

Dr. Kirilichin is also active in organized medicine serving as Immediate Past President of the DC American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) and as a member of the Pain Management and Addiction Medicine Section. Finally, Dr. Kirilichin sits on the Advisory Committee for DC Health’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP).

janice blanchard, course faculty

Dr. Janice Blanchard

Dr. Blanchard, MD, PhD is a Professor of Emergency Medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine and an Adjunct Affiliate Researcher at RAND. Originally from the South side of Chicago, where her family still resides, she completed her MD from Harvard Medical School and her PhD in health services research from the RAND Graduate School. She is a mixed methods health services researcher and has worked on a number of projects related to racial disparities in medicine. Her research interests are how health policy intersects with medicine, behavioral health and racial disparities. She has written extensively on how COVID had highlighted the role of social determinants of health contributing to racial disparities. Her work has been featured on both mainstream media outlets and academic medical journals including National Public Radio, CNN, the Baltimore Sun, the Hill and the Baltimore Sun. In addition to her research work, she continues to practice clinical medicine in the emergency department in Washington DC.   

guenevere burke, course faculty

Dr. Guenevere Burke

Dr. Burke is co-director of the Atlantic Fellows for Health Equity, and an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the George Washington University (GW).  In these roles, she leads medical education and interdisciplinary graduate programs in health equity, health policy and healthcare technology. Dr. Burke holds a faculty appointment in health policy and management at the Milken Institute School of Public Health. 
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Dr. Burke is a board-certified emergency physician who provides clinical care in traditional and telemedicine encounters. She supports telemedicine programs in chronic disease management for urban underserved and is past president of the District of Columbia American College of Emergency Physicians. Dr. Burke completed fellowship training in health policy at GW, medical education at UCLA and residency training at the University of Southern California, where she served as chief resident. She holds an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and previously worked in international healthcare consulting and hospital finance prior to her career in medicine and education.

marisa dowling, course faculty

Dr. Marisa Dowling

Dr Dowling, MD, MPP is currently the GW Health Policy Fellow for the Class of 2021. She graduated from Stanford University with a B.A. in Human Biology. She then attended Duke University for medical school and completed her Emergency Medicine residency at the University of Maryland. Dr. Dowling also holds a Master in Public Policy degree from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Her prior policy experiences include: working for two think tanks during the Affordable Care Act debate and enactment (including publishing peer-reviewed articles), working at state (Massachusetts Health Policy Commission) and federal health agencies (Emergency Care Coordination Center, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality), and leading quality improvement and Emergency Medicine professional groups.

As a Health Policy Fellow, Dr. Dowling splits her time between working clinically in local Washington, DC Emergency Departments and in health policy placements. In her current policy placement, she serves U.S. Representative Robin Kelly (Illinois' 2nd Congressional District), assisting with COVID-19 response, health disparities, and telehealth legislation, among a variety of health policy topics.

​James scott, course faculty

Dr. James Scott

Dr. Scott has been on the faculty of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the George Washington University for 33 years. He served as Dean of the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) from 2003 to 2010. Previously he served as student clerkship director, residency director, Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education, and Assistant Dean for Student Affairs in the SMHS.

Since stepping down as dean, Dr. Scott has devoted his time and energy to improving medical education in Africa.  He served as Senior Academic Adviser to the Global Health Service Partnership, a program that places U.S. medical educators in African medical schools. He was one of the principal faculty members on the Medical Education Partnership Initiative, to improve the quantity, quality and retention of doctors in sub-Saharan Africa. He is founder of synDRME.org, a Website dedicated to delivering high quality medical educational resources to medical schools in resource-challenged parts of the world. He is also the co-director of the health policy fellowship for residents that has trained over 500 residents from GW and Children’s National Medical Center.

Jamar slocum, course Faculty 

Dr. Jamar Slocum

Dr. Slocum, MD, MBA, MPH is a clinical assistant professor of medicine at George Washington University (GW). He practices hospital medicine and serves as faculty for the Atlantic Fellows for Health Equity and Beyond Flexner Alliance.

During the course of his career, he has combined his skills and experience in clinical medicine and public health to build a healthcare system that is based on equity and prevention. He is a former board member of the Tennessee Health Campaign, one of the leading non-profit advocacy organizations working to ensure affordable and high quality health care for all Tennesseans. Jamar completed his residency training in internal medicine at Brown University in Providence, RI and fellowship training in general preventive medicine at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins.

Leigh anne butler, course academic advisor​ 

​Leigh Anne Butler

With over 25 years of experience in graduate and postgraduate medical education at the George Washington University, Leigh Anne Butler currently works on domestic programs in the Department of Health Policy and Management primarily in the area of health workforce equity. Her current projects include coordinating all three arms of the Atlantic Philanthropies award, the Beyond Flexner Conference along with the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation Awards program for the conference, and a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant on social mission metrics.   ​

andrea jenkins, program Manager

Andrea Jenkins

Andrea M Jenkins, MPH, BS, is an Institute Associate for the Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity in the Department of Health Policy and Management. In her role, Ms. Jenkins serves as the Program Manager and Engagement Officer for the Residency Fellowship in Health Policy (RFHP) and Institute Associate for Strategic Partnerships for Social Mission Alliance (SMA)​. She formerly served as the Program Coordinator for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) sponsored Office of Minority Health Minority Leaders Development Program inaugural 2022-2023 cohort.

Ms. Jenkins started her undergraduate degree at the University of New Mexico as a pre-med student, later relocated to the Metropolitan area, and completed her BS in Biology at the University of the District of Columbia in Washington, DC. Ms. Jenkins developed a more in-depth interest in Public Health after working for over 14+ years at the George Washington University Hospital in the emergency department, developing a passion for advocacy, policy, and reform. Ms. Jenkins then decided to pursue her Master of Public Health. Ms. Jenkins earned her Master of Public Health from George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health. Ms. Jenkins plans to continue her education by pursuing her DrPH to further her efforts in helping promote a more diverse workforce and health equity for all.

Vikas Choudhary

Vikas Choudhary

I’m Vikas, a current Master’s student in Interaction Design at George Washington University, where I’m exploring how storytelling, design, and technology can intersect to create more equitable and human-centered systems—driven by the belief that design, when rooted in empathy and equity, can be a powerful tool for social change.
Most recently, I collaborated with the Friends General Conference (FGC Quakers) on a narrative storytelling project focused on inclusivity and community-building—an experience that reinforced my belief in design as a catalyst for social connection and empowerment. I’ve also contributed to a research paper titled “The Use of Extended Reality and Computer Vision to Aid Reminiscence Therapy in Persons with Dementia,” which explores how emerging technologies can serve memory care in more compassionate ways.
Prior to graduate school, I worked across a variety of creative and strategic roles—from leading digital media campaigns to supporting nonprofit outreach initiatives—gaining insight into how thoughtful communication can shape public understanding and build trust across diverse audiences.