Kelly Karpa is an associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine where she directs medical pharmacology instruction. The recipient of several prestigious pharmacology awards and known for her work in probiotics, Dr. Karpa was selected in 2013 as a Distinguished Educator by her colleagues at Penn State University College of Medicine.
As a Macy Faculty Scholar, Dr. Karpa is launching an inter-professional educational (IPE) program that teaches 3rd year medical students, 2nd year nurse practitioner students, and final year pharmacy students safe and effective medication prescribing. Dr. Karpa’s goal with this new curriculum is to help students transition between having “head knowledge” of drug facts to application of pharmacologic principles in the care of authentic patients. The IPE curriculum involves instruction and assessments with standardized patients and team-based learning to provide instruction pertaining to medication optimization, medication communication, medication and dose selection, medication monitoring, and medication intensification. Skills and behaviors learned in the classroom will be reinforced by practice with patients in the clinics/wards during clerkship rotations.
The Macy Faculty Scholars Program, supported by the Josiah Macy Foundation, provides two-year grants to innovative faculty leaders who are implementing reforms in health professions education to address the dramatic changes occurring in medical practice and health care delivery.
Dr. Karpa has been actively involved with ASPET and has co-chaired the Graduate Education and Recruitment Committee (GREC). In this role she has reviewed institutional and individual SURF applications and SURF travel awards and has served on several site-planning committees for the biennial National Directors of Graduate Studies meetings. Within ASPET, she was a 2012 recipient of a Pharmacology Educator Award and was inducted into the Academy of Pharmacology Educators in 2013. She has been an ASPET member since 2010.