Advisory Panel
HRRI Advisory Panel
Zubin Austin
Miguel Paniagua
Nancy Kirsch
Philip Dickison
Jennifer Garrett
About the HRRI Advisory Panel
Zubin Austin, BScPhm, MBA, MISc, PhD, FCAHS, is Professor and Murray Koffler Research Chair at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health – Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. His research focuses on the professional and personal development of the health workforce. He has published over 250 peer-reviewed manuscripts and authored five textbooks, including “Regulation in the 21st Century.” In 2017, in recognition of the global impact of his work, he was installed as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, one of the highest honors for health researchers in Canada. He is also the only University of Toronto professor ever to have received both the President’s Teaching Award for sustained excellence as an educator and the President’s Research Impact Award for the societal significance of his work. He has been named Professor of the Year by students on 20 separate occasions.
Miguel Paniagua has served as a Course Director, Clerkship Director, and Internal Medicine Residency Program Director at various points during his career in academic medicine prior to joining the staff of the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME), where he served as Associate Vice President for eight years. Miguel assumed the role of Vice President of Medical Education at the American College of Physicians (ACP) in 2022. Dr. Paniagua practices consultative Hospice and Palliative Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, is Adjunct Professor of Medicine in the faculty of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and also sees general medicine patients in an indigent clinic in South Philadelphia. He is the co-editor of the fifth & sixth editions of "Constructing Written Test Questions for the Basic and Clinical Sciences," the chapter on “Writing High-Quality Constructed-Response and Selected-Response Items” in Assessment in Health Professions Education (2nd ed.), and serves on the reviewer panel for the Journal of Medical Regulation (JMR).
Nancy R. Kirsch, PT, DPT, PhD, FAPTA, is a tenured professor of physical therapy and Chairperson of the Department of Rehabilitation and Movement Sciences at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. She currently serves on the Board of Physical Therapy Examiners in New Jersey. She previously served two terms as President of the FSBPT Board of Directors, and also previously served as President of the New Jersey Chapter of the APTA. She serves on the faculty of PROBE for ethics remediation. Her research interests are in professional development, remediation for practitioners with ethical practice concerns, and prevention of ethical and professional errors. Her presentations and publications focus on the development of moral reasoning for healthcare providers.
Jennifer Garrett is the Deputy Secretary at the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services. As gubernatorial political appointee, she oversees external relations and policy development and works to implement regulatory innovations to advance executive branch priorities. Under her leadership, DSPS has implemented voluntary surveys for physician and dental renewals and recently used the National Cross-Profession Minimum Data Set survey for key behavioral health professions. Prior to joining Governor Tony Evers’ administration, Jennifer worked in public affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Nursing. She has a bachelor’s degree in English and communication from Purdue University, and a JD from the Maurer School of Law.
Philip Dickison, PhD, RN, has been the Chief Executive Officer of the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) since October 2023. Previously, he had served as NCSBN’s Chief Operating Officer, a post he had held since 2017. In that capacity, he traveled extensively representing NCSBN across the globe. He has nearly four decades of experience in organizational leadership, strategic planning, and not-for-profit business operations working with government regulatory bodies, licensure testing, and educational institutions both nationally and internationally. Prior to his appointment as COO, he served NCSBN as chief officer, examinations, for 7 years. Dr. Dickison is a registered nurse with a lifelong dedication to patient care. Active in the certification and licensure community for more than 30 years, prior to joining NCSBN in 2010, he was director of health professions testing at Elsevier, Inc. and associate director at the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians. He also served 11 years in the United States Air Force as an emergency medical technician, paramedic, and a medical service specialist.