Ivette Motola, MD, MPH, FACEP, FSSH

Dr. Ivette Motola is Professor of Emergency Medicine and Professor of Medical Education at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, where she serves as Associate Director of the Gordon Center for Simulation and Innovation in Medical Education. For over 18 years, she has led the Prehospital and Emergency Training Division, advancing simulation-based healthcare education and driving system-level improvements in patient safety and clinical performance.

An internationally recognized leader in simulation-based healthcare education (SBHE), Dr. Motola’s work focuses on the design and implementation of innovative, evidence-based curricula for healthcare professionals across the continuum of care. She has developed and led numerous interprofessional training programs for prehospital providers, hospital teams, and military medical personnel, with particular expertise in team training, crisis resource management, and feedback and debriefing. Her work emphasizes the integration of simulation as both an educational strategy and a tool for health system improvement, including rapid response team training and the use of in situ simulation to identify and mitigate system vulnerabilities.

Dr. Motola serves as Medical Director of the internationally disseminated Advanced Stroke Life Support® (ASLS®) program, which has trained tens of thousands of healthcare professionals worldwide. Building on this foundation, she led a strategic collaboration with the American Heart Association and industry partners to develop ASLS® Blended Learning and Essential Stroke Life Support (ESLS®), innovative programs that leverage adaptive learning technologies and virtual patient simulations to enhance early stroke recognition, decision-making, and systems of care. These programs represent a significant advancement in scalable, technology-enabled medical education with global reach.

Her research and scholarly work focus on the effective use of simulation and technology for skills acquisition and retention, interprofessional team performance, clinical decision-making in high-acuity settings, and program evaluation. She has served as Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator on multiple federally and state-funded grants, including support from the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, state agencies (DOH, DOE, etc.), and Foundations.

Board certified in Emergency Medicine, Dr. Motola is a Fellow of both the American College of Emergency Physicians and the Society for Simulation in Healthcare. She continues to practice clinically and remains deeply committed to educating the next generation of healthcare professionals. Her work exemplifies the transformative potential of simulation to improve clinical excellence, strengthen healthcare systems, and ultimately enhance patient outcomes worldwide.