Mark J. Di Corcia, Ph.D.

Biography

Mark J. Di Corcia, PhD, OTR is Assistant Dean for Medical Education and Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Florida Atlantic University’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine. In this position he will assist the Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education with educational policy, educational research, and ongoing accreditation with LCME standards. Dr. Di Corcia comes to FAU from Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM), where he served as the Vice Chair for Education for the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology since 2009. Prior to attaining his doctoral degree in health communication (Purdue University, 2009) he received a master degree in education (Seton Hall University, 2001) and a bachelor of science in occupational therapy (Kean College of New Jersey, 1986.) He is a licensed occupational therapist who practiced in the field of inpatient psychiatry and addictions recovery for nearly twenty years. He ended his clinical career as a Senior Therapist for the Department of Psychiatry before being promoted to the Manager of Behavioral Health and Psychiatry for Solaris Health Systems in Plainfield, New Jersey.

As a communication scholar, Dr. Di Corcia was trained in both humanism and the social sciences and has channeled his knowledge and expertise into creating a recognized curriculum for helping shape medical students’ understanding of professionalism and role recognition before the beginning of their clinical clerkships. He created a 4-Part Impression Management Statement that has been used to train clinical preceptors to give feedback as well as to train learners how to accept feedback using the principles of Impression Management Theory and Attribution Theory. He also created a curriculum that placed a greater focus on understanding privacy and communication skills training for medical students and residents. His scholarship in these areas has been presented at numerous conferences including the AAMC, CREOG, APGO, the National Communication Association, the European Association for Communication in Healthcare and the International Association of Relationship Research. This line of research has been published in The Permanente Journal and in a co-authored chapter on Teaching Behavioral Medicine: Theory and Practice in the 4th edition of Behavioral Medicine: A Guide to Clinical Practice. His co-authored work on changing the educational environment to better support professional identity formation is going to be published in the 2nd edition of Teaching Medical Professionalism: Supporting the Development of Professional Identity. Dr. Di Corcia serves on the American Medical Colleges MedEdPORTAL Editorial Board as well as he is the 1st Associate Editor in Communication Skills for MedEdPORTAL. He also serves as a reviewer for the Journal of Health Communication, Journal of Health Communication International Perspective, The Permanente Journal and the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Education

• 1986: B.S., Occupational Therapy, Kean College of New Jersey, Union, New Jersey
• 2001: M.A., Education, Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey
• 2009: PhD., Health Communication, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana

Work History

• 2015- Present: Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs and Associate Professor of Integrated Medical Science, Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, Florida Atlantic University
• 2009-2015: Vice Chair for Education and Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Indiana University School of Medicine
• 2011-2015: Affiliate Faculty Member, Department of Communication Studies, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
• 2004-2008: Research Assistant and Teaching Assistant, Department of Communication, Purdue University
• 2001-2004: Adjunct Faculty, Department of Communication, Kean University
• 2000-2002: Adjunct Faculty and Level II Fieldwork Resource Advisor, Occupational Therapy Program, Seton Hall University
• 1995-2000: Adjunct Faculty, Occupational Therapy Assistant Program, Union County College Clinical
• 2001-2004: Manager Behavioral Health and Psychiatry, Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center
• 1989-2001: Senior Occupational Therapist- Behavioral Health and Steps Recovery Unit, Muhlenberg Medical Center
• 1990-1992: Per Diem Occupational Therapist- Homecare Department, Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center
• 1987-1989: Staff Occupational Therapist, Department of Psychiatry, St. Vincent’s North Richmond Community Mental Health Center
• 1986-1987: Staff Occupational Therapist, Department of Rehabilitation, Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center

Scholarly Activity

Peer-Reviewed Conference Proceedings

• DiCorcia, M. J. & Learman, L. A. (in press). Changing the educational environment to better support professional identity formation. In R. L. Cruess, S. R. Cruess & Y. Steinert (Eds.), Teaching medical professionalism: Supporting the development of a Professional Identity (2nd ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Litzelman, M. A., Di Corcia, M. J., Cottingham, A. H., & Inui, T. S. (2014). Beyond the traditional curricula: Education for competencies in the social and behavioral sciences. In M.D. Feldman & J. F. Christiansen (Eds.), Behavioral medicine: A guide for clinical practice (4th ed.). Illinois: McGraw-Hill. ISBN # 9780071767705.
• Petronio, S., Di Corcia, M., & Duggan, A. (2012). Navigating ethics of physician-patient confidentiality: A communication privacy management analysis. The Permanente Journal, 16, 41-45.
• Harrison, T. R., Morgan, S. E., Chewning, L. V., Williams, E. A., Barbour, J. B., Di Corcia, M. J., & Davis, L. A. (2011). Revisiting the worksite health campaigns: Evidence from a multi-site organ donation campaign, Journal of Communication, 61, 535-555.
• Morgan, S. E., Harrison, T. R., Chewning, L. V., Di Corcia, M. J., & Davis, L. A. (2010, October). Worksite organ donation campaigns that work. Communication Currents, 5(5). Retrieved November 9, 2010, from http://www.natcom.org/CommCurrentsArticle.aspx?id=2147483755
• Morgan, S.E., Harrison, T. R., Chewning, L. V., Di Corcia, M., & Davis, L. A. (2010). The Workplace Partnership for Life: The effectiveness of high- and low-intensity worksite campaigns to promote organ donation. Communication Monographs, 77, 341-356.
• Harrison, T. R., Morgan, S. E., King, A.J., Di Corcia, M. J., Williams, E.A., Ivic, R.K., & Hopeck, P. (2010). Promoting the Michigan organ donor registry: Evaluating the impact of a multi-faceted intervention utilizing media priming and communication design. Health Communication, 25, 700-708.
• Harrison, T. R., Morgan, S. E., & Di Corcia, M. J. (2008). Effects of information, education, and communication training about organ donation for gatekeepers: Clerks at the Department of Motor Vehicles and organ donor registries. Progress in Transplantation, 18, 301-309.
• Morgan, S. E., Harrison, T. R., Chewning, L., Davis, L., Di Corcia, M. (2007). Entertainment (mis)education: The framing of organ donation in entertainment television. Health Communication, 22, 143-151.

Honors and Awards

• 2016 Krieger Visiting Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Women’s Health, University of Hawaii
• 2015 Outstanding Service Award, Office for Medical Student Affairs, Indiana University School of Medicine
• 2015 National Communication Association (NCA) Film Festival Honorable Mention
• 2014 Trustee Teaching Award. Indiana University Board of Trustees, Indiana University School of Medicine
• 2013 Indy Pride Gary Brackett Volunteer of the Year Award, Indy Pride, Inc.
• 2010-2011 Robert A. Munsick Scholar, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Indiana University School of Medicine
• 2008-2009 Bilsland Dissertation Fellowship, College of Liberal Arts, Purdue University
• 2007 Top Paper Award, Health Communication Division of the National Communication Association Annual Meeting, for “The workplace partnership for life: The effectiveness of high- and low-intensity worksite campaigns to promote organ donation”
• 2006 Top Paper Award, Health Communication Division of the National Communication Association Annual Conference Meeting, for “Entertainment (mis)education: The framing of organ donation in entertainment television”
• 2006 Interactive Media Format Award, Scholar to Scholar Session of the National Communication Association Annual Meeting, for “Entertainment (mis)education: The framing of organ donation in entertainment television”
• 1999 Rose Young Award, Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center
• 1999 The Mental Health Association Award, Union County, NJ

Presentations

• Pierson, R.C., Schnee, D.M., Di Corcia, M.J., & Litwiller, A.R. (2016, March). Development of a medical student online case study curriculum: Cases in obstetrics and gynecology (COGs). Abstract presentation to the Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology & Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics, New Orleans, LA.
• Panoch, J., Cegala, D.J., Lazarus, K., Bute, J.J., Di Corcia, M., McKenzie, F., Wieczorek, S.M., & Anderson, P. (2015, November). The PACE-talk module: Patient communication skills training for high school health and wellness classes. Film presented to the National Communication Association, Las Vegas, NV. (Honorable Mention)
• Petronio, S., Di Corcia, M. J., Sargent, J. E., Steuber, K. R., Bute, J. J., Caughlin, J. P., Child, J. T., Duggan, A. P., & Hammonds, J. R. (2014, November). Communication privacy management preconference “workshop” research ideas: Bringing the past forward. Preconference presented to the National Communication Association, Chicago, IL.
• Smith, R., Di Corcia, M., Litwiller, A., & Learman, L. L. (2014, February). APGO Medical Endowment Fund grant: A new way to evaluate clinical reasoning. Breakout session presented to the Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology & Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Atlanta, GA.
• Di Corcia, M., Reynolds, R., Cahill, E., Bylund, C., Sargent, J., & Bute, J. J. (2013, November). Connecting health communication and medical education scholarship: Opportunities abound at the Association of American Medical Colleges’ MedEdPORTAL. Panel presented to the National Communication Association, Washington, DC.
• Smith, R. P., Di Corcia, M., & Litwiller, A. (2013, March). Clinical reasoning evaluation on a dime: OSCE, script concordance, or something new. Breakout session presented to the Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology & Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Phoenix, AZ.
• Abernathy, M. P., & Di Corcia, M. (2013, March). Using communication OSCEs to assess resident competency and guide program curriculum. Poster presented to the Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology & Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Phoenix, AZ.
• Petronio, S., Duggan, A., Di Corcia, M., Sargent, J., Child, J., Bute, J., & Bach, B. (2012, September). Medical students’ first look at managing disclosure and confidentiality. Paper presented to the European Association for Communication in Healthcare International Conference on Communication in Healthcare, St. Andrews, Scotland.
• Petronio, S., Duggan, A., Di Corcia, M., & Bach, B. (2012, September). Navigating physician-patient confidentiality: Ethics of stakeholder disclosure challenges. Paper presented to the European Association for Communication in Healthcare International Conference on Communication in Healthcare, St. Andrews, Scotland.
• Di Corcia, M. (2012, July). Advancing applications of the Communication Privacy Management perspective: My way or the highway: Is resistance futile? Symposia presentation presented to the International Association of Relationship Research Conference, Chicago, IL.
• Kasper, K. M., Di Corcia, M. J., & Abernathy, M. P. (2012, March). The angry patient: Objectively evaluating obstetrics and gynecology residents’ perceptions of communication competency and professionalism. Poster presented to Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology & Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Orlando, FL.
• Litzelman, D. K., Cottingham, A. H., Di Corcia, M. J., & Inui, T. S. (2011, November). Impact of interactive mini-curriculum in family violence. Poster presented to Association of American Medical Colleges Annual Meeting, Denver, CO.
• Di Corcia, M. J., & Abernathy, M. P. (2011, March). Co-constructing reality: Interpreting student behavior and providing feedback. Breakout session presented to Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology & Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX.
• Mikhail, L. M., Di Corcia, M. J., & Marcus, P. S. (2011, March). Priming the pump: Teaching the learner how to learn. Breakout session presented to Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology & Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX.
• Di Corcia, M. (2011, January). Impression management: The foundation of professionalism from medical school through residency. Round table presented to Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics Faculty Development Seminar, Amelia Island, FL.

Memberships

• 2010–Present: Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics
• 2010–Present: The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
• 2009–Present: Indiana Occupational Therapy Association
• 2001–Present: National Communication Association
• Member Kappa Delta Pi Honor Society in Education
• Member Phi Kappa Phi Honor Fraternity