Monday, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Sylvia Owusu-Ansah, MD, MPH, FAAP
Sylvia Owusu-Ansah, MD, MPH, FAAP, is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. As an EMS Medical Director, she bridges academic medicine and prehospital care. Blending clinical expertise with creative media, she served as a core medical consultant for Warner Bros./HBO Max’s award-winning medical drama The Pitt and created and produced the short film In Good Hands, an HBO Short Film Finalist. A breast cancer survivor, Dr. Owusu-Ansah champions health equity, using simulation to dismantle structural disparities and democratize lifesaving skills in vulnerable communities.
Monday, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
In Concert: Scripting Realism, Conducting Care, and Directing the Future of Healthcare Simulation
Medical simulation is an orchestration where clinical precision and human emotion must play in harmony. Drawing from her multi-lens journey as an EMS medical director, a Hollywood medical consultant for The Pitt, an award-winning filmmaker, and a breast cancer survivor, Dr. Sylvia Owusu-Ansah bridges the gap between technical rigor and raw humanity. This address explores how narrative media simulates structural care inequities, how personal vulnerability re-tunes clinical empathy, and how democratizing high-fidelity training out of the hospital walls directly empowers vulnerable neighborhoods to mend the broken chain of survival.
Presentation Objectives
- Integrate Narrative Media: Use film to simulate structural health inequities.
- Harmonize Empathy: Measure patient dignity alongside technical metrics.
- Democratize Training: Deploy simulation directly into vulnerable communities.
Tuesday, 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
Bob Armstrong
Bob Armstrong is Executive Director of the Sentara Center for Healthcare Simulation and Immersive Learning (SCHSIL) at the Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences (VHS) at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. He is also the Program Director for the National Center for Collaboration in Medical Modeling and Simulation, as well as Director of Corporate Relations at VHS. Bob is a Fellow of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare, and a former president of that same organization. He is a strong advocate for patient safety and healthcare training and education technologies around the world. Bob has a long history in training development across multiple industries. At SCHSIL, he leads a staff of 180 focused on creating and delivering high-quality healthcare training and educational simulation to undergraduate, graduate, and practicing healthcare learners. His Center utilizes several effective modalities, including in-person, virtual, immersive, and constructive simulations to create impactful learning experiences designed to meet critical learning objectives.
Tuesday, 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
The Only Thing Fast Enough - Modeling, AI, and the Future Role of Simulation Centers
Learning objectives are not derived from simulation; they are derived from clinical needs. Simulation is the modality that enables learning. Healthcare delivery is being re-instrumented by two distinct technologies: (1) computational modeling (CM) and (2) AI, each with distinct failure modes and literacy requirements. Foundational learning objectives are not being replaced by CM and AI but complemented and expanded by them, on a scale and schedule the healthcare field does not fully control. Academic curriculum revision, accreditation, faculty development, CE, and consensus standards are built over years; tool deployment takes months, model updates take weeks -- or occur continuously. No healthcare simulation accrediting or standards body currently addresses AI or computational modeling; this is not through inattention, but because consensus cannot move at the speed of these subjects. Academic and clinical simulation centers should take on the mantle of preparation related to AI and CM tools, alongside typical modalities.
Learning Objectives
At the conclusion of this Main Stage learning activity, participants will be able to:
- DISTINGUISH the characteristic failure modes of computational modeling from those of AI/machine-learning tools for two applications encountered in their own practice or training setting. (Analysis)
- APPRAISE the alignment between their simulation center’s current training cadence and the update cycle of at least one modeling- or AIenabled tool deployed in their institution. (Evaluation)
- FORMULATE one learning objective addressing calibrated reliance on a modeling- or AI-enabled tool for one existing simulation scenario in their own program. (Synthesis)
- DEBATE the proposition that simulation centers should expand their mission to include computational modeling and AI readiness, citing at least two arguments from each of the three contrasting positions presented. (Evaluation)
