About Us
Christner Strategies
Learn more about our team and how we can make LCME accreditation less scary.
Why Work With Us?
Your medical school’s reputation is one of its most valuable assets. Maintaining your LCME accreditation plays a vital role in keeping that reputation intact. We help remove the overwhelm.
All our experts have extensive expertise as leaders who have been personally responsible for and successful at accreditation. And – we doubt you’ll find anyone with more LCME experience than our CEO who led 2 schools off of LCME probation and has served on the LCME committee.
“Thanks to Christner Strategies and more specifically Jenny Christner, we were able to implement a new curriculum during COVID-19 and still received full 8 year accreditation with flying colors. From the planning to implementation and tweaking in-between, Jenny was always on top of things. She integrated herself into our community and set the right tone to ensure we were successful. Most importantly, she provided full package of services including consultants for the Mock Site Visit. We would HIGHLY recommend Christner Strategies for your accreditation needs.”
Roy Rai, MBA
Assistant Dean for Medical Education
Office of Medical Education
UC Davis School of Medicine
Our Team
Dr. Jenny Christner, CEO
Dr. Christner is a successful educator, researcher, leader, speaker and coach. She focuses on helping individuals and teams achieve their goals – something she has a lot of personal success doing.
Dr. Christner received her undergraduate degree from The Ohio State University and her medical degree from the University of Toledo. She completed her pediatrics internship and residency at the University of Michigan. Early in her career she was selected to become a National Faculty Development Scholar by the Academic Pediatric Association and completed advanced training in teaching and educational methods. She has since completed two additional training programs in Medical Education as well as a Certification in Research.
Dr. Christner has served in numerous education leadership roles in her over 20 years in medical education. These roles have spanned the UME-GME-CME continuum and include: Associate Director of the Pediatric Residency Program, Associate Division Chief of General Academic Pediatrics, Director of Medical Education for the Department of Pediatrics, Assistant Dean for Longitudinal Learning and Assessment, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education, Interim DIO of one of the largest GME programs in the country and Dean of a medical school. She is an expert in all accreditation – LCME, ACGME/CLER and Regional Education and served on the LCME committee. She has successfully helped 2 medical schools come off LCME probation. Dr. Christner currently serves as the Dean of the School of Medicine and School of Health Professions at a large academic institution located in Texas.
Dr. Christner has held a variety of national education leadership positions with organizations such as the Council on Medical Student Education in Pediatrics, the Alliance for Clinical Education and the American Association of Medical Colleges. She is also the recipient of several teaching awards.
Her personal hobbies include scrapbooking, acting and improv. She finds she is able to put those latter talents to good use in her speaking engagements. Additionally, one of her passions is seeing former students and colleagues succeed and find their own joy. Playing even a small role in that process feeds her soul.
Lisa Phelan, Senior Associate
Lisa Phelan has over 20 years of experience in accreditation with a particular specialty in LCME and Higher Education Accreditation. In May 2022, she retired from her role as the Director of Accreditation and Compliance for a health sciences university located in the northeast, a position that was created for her to help a program come off LCME probation. She is a highly capable project manager who has been responsible for managing all accreditation activities at her institution. She also proactively plans, communicates, monitors, and evaluates actions to comply with existing and new regulations, standards and other accreditation requirements.
Lisa’s organizational and process skills for managing accreditation are just some of the reasons why she has won both the President’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service at her institution AND the State University of New York Chancellors Award for Excellence in Professional Service. She is indeed the utmost professional and cares about everyone involved in a project. Her kind heart and ability to laugh and have fun in any situation really helps relieve some of the natural stress associated with accreditation.
Dr. Colleen Hayden, Associate
Dr. Colleen Hayden, EdD, has worked in medical education administration for over 17 years. Since 2017, Dr. Hayden has been the director of accreditation at two LCME-accredited medical schools, specifically being offered positions to help two of those institutions come off LCME ‘warning’ status. Those experiences and her expertise in medical education curriculum led her to her current position as the Associate Dean for Program Evaluation & Assessment at a large, Midwestern medical school.
Dr. Hayden has previously served on both the AAMC CGEA Executive Committee and the AAMC NEGEA Steering Committee. She founded the CGEA special interest group (SIG) for Program Evaluation and Accreditation and subsequently founded the NEGEA’s SIG for UME Accreditation and CQI (Continuous Quality Improvement). Dr. Hayden is also the founding chair of the Accreditation Preparation & Quality Improvement (APQI), a national community of practice for accreditation and CQI professionals.
Dr. Hayden received her master’s in leadership development in 2013 and her doctorate in education (EdD) in 2019. She has numerous regional, national, and international presentations and publications related to curricular assessment, workplace outcomes, and continuous quality improvement processes. She thrives on collaborating with colleagues to improve processes and outcomes across the medical education continuum.