Alice L. Walton School of Medicine Adds Three Assistant Deans to Its Leadership Team

Bentonville, Ark. (December 22, 2025) – Alice L. Walton School of Medicine (AWSOM) has announced the hiring of three new members to its leadership team. Joining AWSOM are Sarah Assem, MD, FACP, Assistant Dean, Clinical Education and Associate Professor, Medical Education; Carrie Elzie, PhD, MA, Assistant Dean, Accreditation and Institutional Effectiveness and Professor, Medical Education; and Elisabeth Schlegel, MS, PhD, MBA, MS (HPPL), Assistant Dean, Foundational Sciences and Professor, Medical Education.

Sarah Assem, MD, FACP, Assistant Dean, Clinical Education and Associate Professor, Medical Education

Before joining AWSOM, Dr. Assem was Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Program Director of Northwest Internal Medicine Residency at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. She also practiced clinically as an Internal Medicine Physician and served as the Medical Director of the Internal Medicine Clinic at UAMS Northwest. Before returning home to Northwest Arkansas in 2022, she taught medical students from the University of Washington and Washington State University. Dr. Assem also helped with the development and initial accreditation of the Legacy Salmon Creek Internal Medicine Residency and served as core faculty. Dr. Assem is board-certified in Internal Medicine with over 10 years of experience in hospitalist and general internal medicine. She is dedicated to advancing medical education in her home region to expand access to care.

Dr. Assem received a medical degree at Ross University School of Medicine in Miramar, Florida, and a bachelor’s degree in biology at University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.

Dr. Assem completed a residency in internal medicine at Kern Medical Center, an affiliate of the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, serving as Chief Resident her final year.

Carrie Elzie, PhD, MA, Assistant Dean, Accreditation and Institutional Effectiveness and Professor, Medical Education

Before joining AWSOM, Dr. Elzie was Professor of Foundational Sciences and Director of Faculty Development at Methodist University Cape Fear Valley Health School of Medicine in Fayetteville, North Carolina. She also serves as a Survey Team Member and Team Secretary for the Liaison Committee on Medical Education and a question writer for the National Board of Medical Examiners. She has research experience in humanism within medical education, gamification, virtual reality and student empathy.

Dr. Elzie received a PhD in pathology from University of Alabama at Birmingham and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina.

Dr. Elzie completed a medical education postdoctoral fellowship in gross anatomy at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. She most recently received a master’s degree in organizational leadership from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Elisabeth Schlegel, MS, PhD, MBA, MS (HPPL), Assistant Dean, Foundational Sciences and Professor, Medical Education

Before joining AWSOM, Dr. Schlegel served as Assistant Dean for Faculty Development and Professor of Medical Education at the newly established Western Atlantic University School of Medicine in Freeport, The Bahamas. There, she contributed to the development of the microbiology program and established both the Faculty Development and Medical Education Research and Academic Scholarship (MERAS) programs. She also represented the International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE) as an ambassador, promoting medical education collaboration across a broad region of the Caribbean.

Dr. Schlegel has more than 20 years of experience in designing and implementing educational curricula both nationally and internationally. She has held academic positions with the Partnership for Health Advancement in Vietnam (HAIVN) — a collaboration of Harvard Medical School and its affiliated hospitals — in Boston and Vietnam, as well as the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell in Hempstead, New York.

Dr. Schlegel earned a master’s degree in Genetics and a PhD in Microbiology Education from the University of Salzburg in Austria, an MBA from Post University in Waterbury, Connecticut, and a master’s degree in health professions pedagogy and leadership from Hofstra University.

Dr. Schlegel completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in herpes virology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City and the IM-REACH mentoring certificate program of IAMSE, where she remains an active fellow and member.

About Alice L. Walton School of Medicine

Founded in 2021, Alice L. Walton School of Medicine (AWSOM) is a nonprofit, four-year MD program that will enhance traditional medical education with the arts, humanities, and whole health principles. The School’s culture embraces self-care to empower students to care for their own well-being as well as their patients’. The School’s state-of-the-art medical education facility is under construction in Bentonville, Arkansas on the Crystal Bridges campus, home to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Heartland Whole Health Institute. The School has been granted preliminary accreditation status by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education.