Biography

Dr. Sullivan is a graduate of the UMKC 6-year combined B.A./M.D. program. Upon completion of residency training at UMKC/Truman Medical Center, she worked in a community setting in Overland Park, Kansas (a Kansas City suburb). In community practice, she was actively involved in implementing trauma care at her hospital and received advanced training and practice experience in hyperbaric medicine. She returned to UMKC/TMC in 2003 and served as residency program director from 2004-2014 and then as the Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education from 2014-2019. In 2019 she was appointed the Associate Dean for Professional Development at the School of Medicine; implementing formal mentoring programs; development opportunities, including those that foster career progression; professionalism; and well-being for faculty.

Dr. Sullivan returned to TMC to pursue her love of teaching and influence emergency medicine residency training. She was appointed as a member of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Residency Review Committee for Emergency Medicine (RRC-EM) in 2011 and served a six-year term, including two years as the Vice-Chair. Dr. Sullivan believes that this national committee work has assisted residency-training programs at UMKC by understanding accreditation requirements and the future direction of graduate medical education. She served as an elected Missouri ACEP Councilor for 12 years. Dr. Sullivan received the UMKC EM Faculty Teaching Award for 2004 and the School of Medicine’s Alumni Achievement Award for 2007. She was honored to be the first-ever recipient of the R.R. Hannas Physician of the Year Award in 2016 for “exemplary clinical expertise, outstanding service to patients, and contributions to the specialty of Emergency Medicine in Missouri.”  In 2019 she received the Betty M. Drees Lifetime in Mentoring Award from the School of Medicine, an award that “acknowledges a faculty member who has made significant contributions to enhancing and developing the careers of faculty and trainees as a mentor.”  Outside of patient care, to have the opportunity to impact the development of learners and faculty in their careers has been the most rewarding aspect of her profession.