Member Spotlight

Member Spotlight: Kelly Shaw, PhD

Dr. Kelly Shaw is helping shine a light on an often-overlooked issue in medical training: financial insecurity among residents and fellows. Drawing on CHARM-informed work and research highlighted in a recent AMA article showing nearly 1 in 7 trainees experience food insecurity, Dr. Shaw is raising awareness within her rural institution, where these challenges are often assumed to be rare. Through real conversations with learners, she underscores how financial strain can shape training experiences, from supporting family to making difficult personal trade-offs. She embraces her role as an “agitator,” pushing institutions to recognize and address these hidden challenges. [Read the AMA Article]

Member Spotlight: Elisha Brownfield, MD

Q: What drew you to CHARM, and how long have you been involved?
A: “I was actually drawn to CHARM through my work in the coaching community. I underwent coach training with Andrea Sikon and her team at Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Excellence in Coaching and Mentoring, many of whom are CHARM members. Right around a year ago I reached out to CHARM’s team, and then I realized that I knew other colleagues there in the Internal Medicine and educational fields. Heather Farley was MUSC’s Chief Well-Being officer at that time and when I mentioned CHARM, she told me that we had an institutional membership and wholeheartedly supported their work.”

Q: .In what ways has CHARM supported your work, professional growth, or connection with others in the field?
A: “In many ways, I am a CHARM “infiltrator” as I am not technically in a well-being space at my institution! I have been engaged in leadership development at MUSC for about 12 years and over that time found great value in coaching for leaders. I had been searching for a community of coaches who were interested in critically evaluating that value and sharing best practices. In CHARM, I have found people who are intellectually curious, are actively involved in disseminating the scholarship of coaching and interested in the well-being of our health care professionals. As the quality of leadership is tied directly to the well-being of the people being led and coaching can enhance the quality of leadership, the people of the CHARM coaching community have been a wealth of knowledge and professional partners to me that I have not found anywhere else. I feel like that professional growth is allowing me to positively impact the quality of leadership and thus well-being at MUSC.”

Q: What is your favorite part of your current role?
A: “While I continue to enjoy being a practicing general internist and teaching residents and medical students, one of my favorite parts of my role in strategic leadership development has been the opportunity to watch the growth and progress of leaders who have been in our programs. It is my hope that by providing the opportunity for professional development, our team is contributing not only to individual leaders, but also the organization and ultimately the patients and learners that we serve.”