Prior to becoming Associate Director, Dr. Palaganas split her time between helping launch the PhD in Health Professions Education program and leading educational innovation at the Center for Medical Simulation.

She is an advisor to Continuing and Professional Development in the development of online interprofessional education and the School of Nursing with simulation integration.

Dr. Palaganas has developed a passion for teamwork from her background as an emergency nurse, trauma nurse practitioner, director of emergency and critical care services, and faculty for schools of medicine, nursing, allied health, management, physician assistant studies, and emergency medicine. As a behavioral scientist and former clinical nurse and hospital administrator, Dr. Palaganas’ passion is in using health care simulation as a platform for interprofessional education. She served as a committee member of the Institute of Medicine's report on measuring the impact of interprofessional education on practice.

Dr. Palaganas’ primary role is to develop health professions educators in an IPE setting. She previously led CMS’s Instructor Course educating educators in simulation globally and is now developing the world’s first interprofessional virtual campus as the principal investigator of a board grant awarded by the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation.

Dr. Palaganas has shaped the field of simulation, leading the development of the Society for Simulation’s Accreditation and Certification Program. She is Editor-in-Chief in two award-winning textbooks: Defining Excellence in Simulation Programs, as well as Mastering Simulation. She urged the development of the recently released Society for Simulation dictionary, authored seminal articles, and co-authored field-changing research including the National League for Nursing study for high-stakes assessment using simulation. She has been an invited keynote speaker in over 20 countries.