Educator Highlight

Recognizing Excellence in Sustained Educational Partnership 

The UCLA Simulation Center's success is built on the dedication of faculty educators who consistently invest their time and expertise in training the next generation of healthcare professionals. The information below recognizes our most active teaching partners during the 2024- 2025 academic year, measured by total sessions taught and total instructional hours delivered. These educators represent the breadth of our collaborative network—spanning emergency medicine, obstetrics, pediatrics, anesthesiology, internal medicine, surgery, and nursing. Their sustained commitment to simulation-based education exemplifies the very best of UCLA's teaching mission.

Educator Spotlights

The UCLA Simulation Center's impact is driven by passionate faculty educators who champion simulation across the health sciences. These individuals exemplify excellence in teaching, innovation in curriculum design, and commitment to advancing healthcare education through simulation. Below we highlight the top contributors and some feedback from student and staff.

Antonio Pessegueiro, MD: Chair, MS2 Intersessions Course

With the introduction of DGSOM's HEALS curriculum in August 2021 came the need to choose a Director for the Intersession courses, a key component of the new second-year curriculum. It wasn't surprising when Dr. Antonio Pessegueiro was selected as he had previously served as Co-Chair of the Clinical Foundations course. As someone who graduated from DGSOM and went on to do his residency at UCLA, Antonio's close ties to the UCLA medical community made him a solid choice to help create and implement new Intersession courses. 

“I’ve always liked the transition period from the pre-clinical year to the clerkship year,” he says. “It is a transformative period for medical Antonio Pessegueiro students and I wanted to be a part of that.”

As a faculty member, he acknowledges how students' expectations have changed over the years. "I've seen learners change in terms of their needs and what they expect from their education, particularly regarding the learning methods that work best for them." Antonio has seen first-hand the value of simulation-based learning as an alternative to the old model of sitting in the lecture hall all day. “I’ve always been appreciative of the talents of the Sim Team and the SP program in creating these really authentic experiences that truly enhance the learning for our medical students.” As time has passed, Antonio came to realize more and more of the curriculum could be transitioned to simulation-based learning and so he has led that effort. Notable examples include curriculum centered on interprofessional teamwork and communication as well as ethics education, both of which have been transitioned to simulation-based activities. Antonio says students have expressed appreciation for this change and the opportunity it brings for more hands-on practice.

As with so many other courses, a challenge Intersessions faces is assuring an adequate supply of faculty members to help facilitate events with an eye toward keeping learner group sizes small. Antonio has found a valuable resource in the SP program. "The [trained] SPs have been able to provide valuable feedback to our students. This often means we don't need faculty members in the room which helps us mitigate some of our faculty resource needs throughout the year."

As a final thought, Antonio expresses gratitude for Rosenfeld Hall which affords the opportunity to have much of the Intersessions curriculum under one roof. "The opening of Rosenfeld Hall has been a blessing. It offers a variety of spaces that allows us to host widely-varied activities all under one roof. Time can be tight, but we can hold SP encounters on Level 1, then go downstairs to run simulations using high-fidelity manikins, then go upstairs to CASIT and practice Foley catheter insertion, NG tube insertion, and suturing. We wouldn't be able to do all of this as efficiently as we do now in Rosenfeld Hall if we had to find random spaces at other sites on campus."