Claudia S. Plaisted Fernandez, DrPH, MS, RD, LDN is Co-Director of Clinical Scholars. She is the co-author of It-Factor Leadership: Become a Better Leader in 13 Steps and an executive coach. Dr. Fernandez has led many nationally award-winning leadership programs focused on personal leadership development, innovation, and business skills for mid-to-senior level managers and leaders, including the ACOG National Leadership Institute, the Food Systems Leadership Institute, and the Maternal and Child Health Public Health Leadership Institute. She is certified in a wide range of leadership and psychological assessment tools, including 360 assessments and tools that focus on organizational culture, inter-cultural competence, emotional intelligence, conflict, innovation and change. She also uses a variety of interactive simulation-based training in her work around change, conflict, managing difficult conversations, collaboration and innovation. Dr. Fernandez is also a licensed and Registered Dietitian, and as such has a particular interest in leadership in healthcare systems and high-performing healthcare and public health teams. She earned her doctorate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.