Testimonials
It didn’t take long for me to realize my good fortune in meeting Jo Carubia. I met Jo at Penn State College of Medicine where she was serving as an Administrative Fellow. In my role as Vice Dean for Faculty and Administrative Affairs, I was charged with building coalitions with disparate groups of potential partners and problem solving in highly ambiguous situations. And I needed help! Jo quickly became a critical member of my team. From the first day we worked together, I felt privileged to work with her. Her energy was infectious and her intellect humbling. I could not have asked for a more capable team member.
I don’t know of a better person to apply mastery of the broad academic spectrum as a ghostwriter, developmental editor, and writing coach. Take it from someone who knows: working with Jo Carubia will be your good fortune, too!
Jo served as a champion and ambassador for the medical school – even though she is not as a physician or scientist. She modeled the application of humanistic values in a scientific and clinical milieu. In a very short time, it was clear she would continue to add value to the organization across its missions. No one was surprised when she was hired as Chief Academic Liaison Officer and appointed as an associate professor of medical humanities after completing the administrative fellowship. We all appreciated her authenticity, commitment, and integrity
Jo didn’t waste time in raising the visibility and presence of the college of medicine at the university level. In a very short time, she opened a college of medicine office at Penn State’s University Park campus. She went on to host a town meeting open to the entire university community as a means for helping community members understand the critical importance of academic medicine and science to the university community at large. We worked together to successfully integrate nursing students on the medical school campus as they took their place alongside medical students, graduate students, residents, and post-doctoral scholars. Jo was a unique asset to the medical school. As the breadth and depth of her knowledge and experience in academic medicine grew, she came to understand the full range of higher education including the traditional liberal arts focus, the research-intensive university environment, and the vastly different operation of a medical school and medical center.
Her writing skills positioned her to take the lead in developing a manuscript about the “near death” and subsequent resurrection of the medical school following a failed merger with a large health system. The resulting article was published in the premier peer review journal in academic medicine. This was no simple task as eight authors collaborated to produce the final product. Jo exercised her skills to make sure the article, “Reinventing the Academic Health Center,” communicated each of the authors’ visions and goals. The article been cited by other authors over 60 times.
R. Kevin Grigsby
Senior Director, Member Organizational Development
Association of American Medical Colleges