Melissa A. McNeil, MD, MPH, is Professor of Medicine and the Associate Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine. Her research interests revolve around the development and evaluation of innovations in medical education and in the care of women. She is the director of the joint VA/University of Pittsburgh Women’s Health Fellowship and also serves as the Program Director for the NIH-sponsored Building Interdisciplinary Careers in Women’ s Health grant, which is an institutional career development award for faculty members interested in developing research careers in women’s health. She has more than 50 peer-reviewed publications on diverse topics ranging from the evaluation of women’s health educational efforts, the impact of women’s health fellowships on career trajectory, an evaluation of the implementation of new breast cancer screening guidelines, and the evaluation of burnout in medical residents, with a particular interest on gender differences in burnout.
Follow Dr. McNeil on Twitter @Missydoc0128.
Education & Training
- BA (Public Policy), Princeton University, 1976
- MD, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 1980
- Internship, University Health Center of Pittsburgh, 1981
- Residency, University Health Center of Pittsburgh, 1983
- MPH, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, 1993
Representative Publications
Bonifacino E, Follansbee WP, Farkas AH, Jeong K, McNeil MA, DiNardo DJ. Implementation of a clinical reasoning curriculum for clerkship-level medical students: a pseudo-randomized and controlled study. Diagnosis. 2019;6(2):165-172.
Exposure to a clinical reasoning curriculum was associated with superior reasoning knowledge and superior written demonstration of clinical reasoning skills by third-year medical students on an internal medicine clerkship.
Tilstra SA, McNeil MA. Update in women's health: evidence published in 2016. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2017;166(7):W48-W52.
This update includes new data on breast disease; updated recommendations on aspirin, statins, and calcium; hormone therapy; and clinical trials.
Spataro BM, Tilstra SA, Rubio DM, McNeil MA. The toxicity of self-blame: sex differences in burnout and coping in internal medicine trainees. Journal of Women’s Health. 2016;25(11):1147-1152.
A retrospective cross-sectional study found that greater use of self-blame as a coping mechanism may be a major factor in the higher rates of burnout and emotional exhaustion in women resident physicians as compared to men.
Spagnoletti CL, Spencer AL, Bonnema RA, McNamara MC, McNeil MA. Workshop preparation and presentation: a valuable form of scholarship for the clinician-educator. Journal of Graduate Medical Education. 2013;5(1):155-6.
This guide presents step-by-step tips for developing and presenting workshops for clinician-educators.
Click here for a more complete bibliography of Dr. McNeil’s works.
Research Interests
- Women’s health
- Breast cancer screening
- Contraception
- Medical education