VMASC WELCOMES NEW HEAD OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH CARE M&S RESEARCH
To hear Andrea Parodi speak about it, her path to associate professor of modeling and simulation research at Old Dominion's Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center (VMASC) was a natural progression.The former head of nursing research at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth and former program manager for Navy/Marine Corps Field Medical Technologies, Parodi believes the entire field of medical modeling and simulation is undergoing a similar evolution.
"Modeling the situation in a theoretical sense is the perfect solution. The problem is, the science hasn't gotten us to that end point yet. We need the design and development of more true-to-life types of tissue, organs and skill trainers that have the look and feel of the human. We also are continuing to promote the use of other modeling and simulation capabilities to test, evaluate and project the needs or outcomes of potential clinical interventions."
Parodi comes to VMASC following a 26-year career in the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps. She has a Doctor of Science degree in nursing from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and completed doctoral work in higher education leadership. Her dissertation focus areas were in health policy analysis and education. Her clinical focus has been in burns, trauma and cardio-thoracic surgery, and she has a master's degree in nursing (critical care) from Vanderbilt University.
Parodi got into modeling and simulation in 2001 when she was assigned to the Department of Modeling and Simulation at the Naval Health Research Center (NHRC) in San Diego. Her first assignment at NHRC had to do with modeling casualty management and designing surgical systems for casualty care. "I went on to develop models for special surgical system designs," she said.
After working side-by-side with VMASC faculty for several years, testing the effectiveness of using modeling and simulation for team training, it was suggested that Parodi apply for a faculty position at VMASC after she retired from the Navy. The rest, as they say, is now history as VMASC welcomes Parodi onto its faculty.