Melinda Fiedor Hamilton, MD, MSc, is the director of the Pediatric Simulation Center of Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. She is also an assistant professor of Critical Care Medicine and Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and the associate director of the Peter M. Winter Institute for Simulation, Education and Research (WISER), supervising the area of Pediatric Simulation.

She received a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Wyoming and her medical degree from Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, Nebraska. Dr. Hamilton completed a residency in pediatrics at the Penn State School of Medicine/Hershey Medical Center and served one year as clinical instructor of pediatrics and chief resident. She completed her pediatric critical care fellowship at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and was a T32 National Institute of Health grant recipient through the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research in Pittsburgh.

During her Safar fellowship, Dr. Hamilton received a master's degree in medical education from the University of Pittsburgh School Of Medicine and she focuses her departmental work on education and the role of simulation in post-graduate medical education. She was the chief pediatric adviser for the beta-testing of SimBaby, Laerdal, at WISER and she is a facilitator for several pediatric simulation courses, including orientation courses for pediatric critical care nurses and fellows. Other simulation initiatives include pediatric difficult airway and pediatric procedural sedation courses. Dr. Hamilton’s medical interests include crisis team training for pediatrics and the organization of hospital crisis response.

Mindy and her husband Chip enjoy golf, visiting her home in Wyoming and their golden retriever, Bentley.

Simulation Specialists

Jon Mazur
mazurjf@upmc.edu
Jon Mazur is a simulation specialist at the Pediatric Simulation Center of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC as well as the University of Pittsburgh’s Peter M. Winter Institute for Simulation, Education and Research (WISER Institute). His responsibilities include operations and set-up of medical, audio/video, computer and other related equipment as needed for use in various simulation courses. He is responsible for preventive maintenance on the simulators. Jon also offers support during medical education courses for various departments including Anesthesia, Critical Care Medicine, and Emergency Medicine. Jon joined WISER after 15 years in the Purchasing Department at UPMC where he helped to implement an online purchasing and inventory control system. Jon’s educational background includes electrical engineering, technology and computer science.

Melissa Wanker

Nichole Erny

Larry Kobulinsky