Coaching has been shown to increase wellbeing, self-confidence and professional fulfillment. It also improves performance and provides students with tools they can use throughout their career.
What is the role of a coach?
Someone who can help you unlock your potential by providing structure and accountability in a longitudinal, nonjudgmental, supportive relationship.
What can a coach do for me?
A coach can assist with goal setting, increasing efficiency, time management and accountability to improve your effectiveness and enhance your performance.
Who are the coaches?
They are MD and DO faculty members at the John Shufeldt School of Medicine and Medical Engineering. They will not assess you during your medical school career.
What is my role in the coaching relationship?
You are the driver of the coaching relationship — you will work to recognize your strengths and gaps, set goals, experiment and reflect on the process as you work towards your goals.
Erik Maskin, DO, is a board-certified internal medicine-hospitalist and obesity medicine physician. He is the department chair of medicine at Honor Health John C. Lincoln Medical Center. He also serves as medical director for Acacia Healthcare Rehab, a skilled nursing facility, and for Osborne Health and Rehab, a facility specializing in bariatric care. His honor health responsibilities include strategic leadership for Honor Health Hospital System, integrating hospital initiatives and fostering a culture of evidence-based medicine, quality improvement and continuous professional development. His role also includes mentoring medical staff, advancing clinical standards and promoting patient-centered care. He is honored to serve as a professional development coach for medical students at the Schufeldt School.
Rama Kunkle, DO, trained at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed her internal medicine residency in Philadelphia in 2007. After residency, she moved to Phoenix and began practicing hospital medicine. In 2011, she helped develop the palliative care program at John C. Lincoln and has been practicing there since that time. She is now the medical director of palliative care services at HonorHealth. She also serves as co-chair of HonorHealth bioethics committee. When not working, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two daughters.
Rashad Saeed, DO, MPH, serves as HonorHealth’s medical director of occupational medicine and employee health. His medical background includes both family medicine and occupational and environmental medicine residencies, a master’s degree in public health, and he is a fellow in the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. His main roles at HonorHealth include providing strategic direction and guidance to implement new occupational health programs and to develop teams. Throughout his career, he has served as a mentor and coach to undergraduate and graduate students, medical students, and both new and graduated residents. “It is such an honor to serve as a professional development coach at the John Schufeldt School of Medicine and Medical Engineering. My professional and mentorship experiences will be helpful for our new medical students as they navigate this exciting path towards becoming physicians.”
Tiffany C. Pankow, MD, is a board-certified family physician and vice president and chief of caregiver wellness and patient experience at HonorHealth, where she provides executive leadership for initiatives focused on patient experience, workforce well-being and organizational culture. Her work centers on advancing evidence-based strategies that promote human flourishing in health care systems. She is honored to serve as a professional development coach for medical students at the Schufeldt School.
John Anthony Pope, MD, MPH, is a physician executive, certified coach and board-certified pediatrician serving as chief medical officer at HonorHealth Scottsdale Shea Medical Center. He leads multidisciplinary teams to advance quality, patient safety and clinical performance across a 450-bed medical center and the broader health system.
Dr. Pope also serves in HonorHealth network leadership roles, including patient safety officer and founder and co-director of the HonorHealth Physician Leadership Academy. He created the HonorHealth physician coaching program with a focus on leadership development, mindfulness and clinician well-being. He is the executive sponsor for the Honor in Pride people resource group.
Dr. Pope earned his MD from Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine, an MPH from the University of Arizona, and certifications from the Physician Coaching Institute and the International Coaching Federation. He completed pediatric residency at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and remains active in the American Academy of Pediatrics, including past leadership as president of the Arizona Chapter.
Outside work, he enjoys outdoor activities (hiking and biking) with his husband Greg, reading, cooking, traveling and spending time with his family.
Craig Norquist, MD, is an emergency physician, clinical informaticist, chief medical information officer and program director for the Clinical Informatics Fellowship at HonorHealth. He is board-certified in emergency medicine and clinical informatics and has held leadership roles in patient safety, emergency medicine and medical staff governance. Originally from the Midwest, he was born in Minnesota and raised in Illinois. Immediately after high school, he enlisted in the Navy and trained as a nuclear power plant operator. He later earned his undergraduate degree from San Diego State University, studying nutrition and biology with a minor in philosophy, before attending Harvard Medical School and completing his emergency medicine residency at Maricopa County, now the Valleywise/Creighton Emergency Medicine Program.
As CMIO and Clinical Informatics Fellowship director, he works at the intersection of technology and health care delivery, with interests in implementation science, research and process improvement. Outside of work, he enjoys cycling, endurance running, triathlons, reading and hiking.
