Our Team

Joni M. Maga, M.D.

Senior Managing Director

Joni M. Maga, MD serves in several UHealth and University of Miami Miller School leadership roles. She currently serves as Vice President of the UMHC Medical Staff, as well as, Vice Chair of Quality and Process Improvement in the Anesthesia Department. Additionally, she holds a role within our medical school as a Longitudinal Clinical Educator. She recently served as Chief of Service at both the University of Miami Hospital and the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. She has proven herself as a transformational leader with a long-standing reputation of facilitating high levels of collaboration and productivity amongst staff and colleagues by blending emotional intelligence, tenacity, and servant leadership. In addition to her Operations and Implementation prowess, she has extensive knowledge and understanding of Health System Science and Operating Room Management Research. She is an Associate Professor of Clinical Anesthesia and serves as an American Board of Anesthesia oral board examiner. Dr. Maga earned her undergraduate degree from the Youngstown State University, medical degree from Northeast Ohio Medical University and completed her residency training at Case Western Reserve University/MetroHealth.

Danielle Bodzin Horn, M.D.

Senior Director for Research and Development

Danielle Bodzin Horn, M.D. is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine (UMMSM) and Program Director of the Division of Interventional Pain Medicine Fellowship at Jackson Memorial Hospital (JMH/UMMSM). She oversees and guides all research projects conducted at the Center for Patient Safety.

Dr. Horn has conducted research in many areas of patient safety and quality improvement. She has contributed to numerous publications including, but not limited to those focused on the improvement of the readability of online patient education materials, alarm sounds and noise fatigue in a simulated clinical setting, operating room acoustics, and monitoring of end-tidal carbon dioxide at the onset of emergent trauma surgery. She is passionate about employing research and inquiry to continue to optimize patient safety and advance the application of simulation in medical education.

Dr. Horn earned her Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Psychology from the University of Florida where she graduated summa cum laude and subsequently earned her Doctor of Medicine (MD) from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. She completed her residency in Anesthesiology at JMH/UMMSM where she was awarded the honor of chief resident and then continued her training at JMH/UMMSM to complete her fellowship in Pain Medicine. She is double board-certified in Pain Medicine and Anesthesiology by the American Board of Anesthesiology.

Daniel Perez, M.D.

Director, Simulation Education

Dr. Daniel Perez is the Director of Simulation Education at the Center for Patient Safety. He leads the Center’s educational initiatives by implementing curricula that integrate patient safety principles into training programs for medical students, residents, fellows, and other healthcare professionals. He also serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Pain Management, and Perioperative Medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

Dr. Perez obtained his medical degree from the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He then returned to Miami and completed his Residency in Anesthesiology at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Following residency, he completed a fellowship in Regional Anesthesia and Acute Pain Medicine at the University of Miami and Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Dr. Perez provides clinical care at the Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital where he works closely with medical students, residents, and fellows. His clinical interests include trauma anesthesia, trauma resuscitation, regional anesthesia in the trauma setting, acute pain management of trauma patients, simulation, and education.

Ilya Shekhter, MS, MBA, CHSE

Director of Simulation Operations

A Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator, Ilya Shekhter has been overseeing simulation programs at the UM-JMH Center for Patient Safety since 2004. In his position, Ilya trains faculty and staff on the set-up and maintenance of patient simulators and associated IT and audiovisual systems, curriculum development, and applications of simulation technology. He works with physician and nurse educators from different clinical departments to help them create simulation courses based on the curricular needs of their learners. To date, Ilya has run thousands of simulation-based training sessions. He contributes expert knowledge and experience in the practical design, implementation, maintenance, and evaluation of simulation-based medical learning systems. Ilya has published over 20 journal articles and book chapters and presented his work at national and international meetings on simulation and medical education. He has also served in leadership roles in the Society for Simulation in Healthcare and the Florida Healthcare Simulation Alliance. Ilya’s educational background includes biomedical engineering and business administration.

Christina M. Matadial, M.D.

Director, Maintenance of Certification in Anesthesiology (MOCA) Simulation Program

Publications

Dr. Matadial attended medical school at the University of the West Indies Medical Sciences College in Kingston, Jamaica, and after 2 years of anesthesia training in the British system, she decided to continue her training in anesthesiology at Jackson Memorial Hospital. After completing her residency in 2001 she continued at the University of Miami (UM) as faculty, splitting time between UM and the VA. In 2006 She became a full-time VA physician to assume the position of Anesthesia Service Chief.

Her interests in Medical Simulation as part of her academic mission led her to join the simulation faculty of the UM/JMH Center for Patient Safety and she is currently the Course Director for the University of Miami Maintenance of Certification in Anesthesiology (MOCA) Simulation Program. Her other interests lie in the history of medical education and most recently, legal medical education. To that end, she completed her certification in Law and leadership in Healthcare Administration from the Mitchell Hamline School of Law in 2019. Dr. Matadial is a Clinical Associate Professor of Anesthesiology at the University of Miami. She was appointed as a part II Board Examiner for the American Board of Anesthesiology in 2010 and served as a part II examiner from 2012-16.

Dr. Matadial assumed the role of National Program Director for VA Anesthesia in August 2020, in the Office of Specialty Care Services, Washington DC. She serves field-based in Miami.

Monica Alba-Sandoval, M.D.

Director of Pediatric Simulation

Dr. Monica Alba-Sandoval joined the University of Miami in July 2014, as an Assistant Professor in the Division of Critical Care. Prior to her joining our institution, she was on faculty at University of Florida and the University of Illinois at Peoria. She received her medical degree at the Universidad Nacional in Colombia. She trained in Pediatrics at Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn, New York and pursued her Pediatric Critical Care Fellowship at the University of Florida at Shands in Gainesville.

In 2017, in recognition of her dedication and accomplishments in house staff simulation, she was appointed to the inaugural role of Simulation, Innovation and Technology Director for the Department of Pediatrics. Dr. Alba-Sandoval also serves as Associate Fellowship Director for the Pediatric Critical Care Program and Course Director of the Senior Capstone Course for Residency Transition, or “Residency Boot Camp”. For the past four years, she has served as faculty at the Annual Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Boot Camp held at CHOP’s Center for Simulation, training the national cohort of entering PICU fellows. She leads several Train-the-Trainer courses and QI projects and participates in Board Review and OSCEs, serving as a program facilitator.

Dr. Alba Sandoval’s clinical work is in the PICU, with an emphasis on cardiac care. She has received numerous teaching awards, including the Worley-Tamer Award in both 2018 and 2019. In addition, Dr. Alba is the incoming Pediatrics residency Program Director since June 2020.

Roxanna Araya, BA

Training Specialist

Roxanna joined the UM-JMH Center for Patient Safety team in 2003. Her contributions to the team stem from her degrees in psychology and marketing along with an extensive background in healthcare. She coordinates the Annual Patient Safety Courses consisting of over 400 trainees, faculty members, and volunteers. She also facilitates various training programs including the invasive bedside procedural training program for residents as well as schedules instructors and manages the data collection process. In addition, Roxanna developed and maintains the Center’s website, monitors the Center’s budget, supervises expenses, and processes reimbursements for the team. She may also participate as a standardized patient during simulation-based training sessions to then offer her perspective to the team from a patient’s point of view. Roxanna is also the Maintenance of Certification in Anesthesiology (MOCA) course coordinator.

Tiffany Carty

Office Coordinator

Tiffany joined the UM - JMH Center for Patient Safety team as the Office Coordinator in 2021. The first point of contact for the instructors and learners that visit or call the Center, she provides administrative support for the Center’s day-to-day operations, creates content for CPS social media channels and communicates with other departments within the medical center.  Tiffany is currently pursuing a master’s degree in public relations.

Maureen Fitzpatrick, MSN, APRN-BC

Research and Education Specialist

As a Research and Education Specialist, Maureen collaborates with physicians, nurses and educators to design, develop, and implement simulation training programs. As a Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner and Expert Witness, she and Dr. Andrew Ta (Chief of Emergency Services and Medical Director of the Emergency Care Center at JMH) designed and implemented a simulation program to cross-train and assess ECC personnel in the area of sexual assault examinations and treatment. It is the first training program of its kind in the United States.

Other responsibilities with the team include research in patient safety and education, grant and proposal writing, preparation and presentation of professional manuscripts and abstracts for journal papers and conferences. She has co-authored numerous articles on patient safety, hand hygiene and simulation training.

Maureen has ten years of experience as a nursing faculty instructor, teaching graduate nursing students in the Family Nurse Practitioner program, as well as several years experience in Faculty Practice with Nurse Practitioners and Physicians in Family Medicine. She also worked for many years as a staff nurse in intensive care units and labor, delivery, post-partum and newborn nursery units.

Anthony Royero

Simulation Technologist

Anthony Royero currently serves as a Simulation Technologist with the UM-JMH Center for Patient Safety team, where he focuses on advancing healthcare practices through simulation-based training initiatives. Previously, Anthony spent 5 years at Tech My Home as a Data Technician, specializing in designing and implementing home automation solutions. His experience includes installing, configuring, and maintaining smart home systems to optimize residential living environments. Anthony holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Miami, with emphasis on GIS software and sustainable development. He is passionate about leveraging technology to enhance patient safety and improve healthcare outcomes.

Sebastian Zambrano

Research Support Specialist

Sebastian joined the UM-JMH Center for Patient Safety in 2024. His role entails reviewing study progress to identify opportunities for improvement and recommending effective solutions, collaborating with principal investigators (PIs) on grant proposal preparation, and contributing to the publication and presentation of key research findings. Additionally, he oversees the writing, editing, and submission of materials to academic journals and conferences. His responsibilities also include maintaining research databases and managing the collection, analysis, and synthesis of data. He began his journey at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in June 2023, working at the John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics to implement clinical research. His background includes designing and conducting behavioral research studies and receiving training in data science, including statistical analysis, data visualization, and data wrangling. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Honors in Psychology with High Distinction (the best designation awarded) from the University of British Columbia.