Bio
Dr. Leonardo Aliaga is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Stanford University and a medical education researcher. His scholarly focus lies in error-based learning strategies, adaptive expertise, and clinical reasoning. He is co-Principal Investigator of The Right Kind of Reps, an AI-powered virtual patient simulator designed to accelerate diagnostic skill development through purposeful exposure to cognitive struggle and contrasting cases that sharpen pattern recognition. He has been invited to give international presentations and to lead an international symposium on error-based learning strategies. His research has been published in JAMA Network Open and focuses on designing instructional methods that harness errors as cognitive catalysts to deepen learning and develop adaptive expertise.
Dr. Aliaga is currently pursuing a Master of Health Professions Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where his thesis aims to establish a framework to help educators implement error-based learning strategies across diverse medical education settings. He collaborates with colleagues at UC Davis, Wake Forest University, the University of Toronto, the University of Washington, and University Hospital Basel, and is building the FERN: the Failure in Education Research Network.
Dr. Aliaga brings a unique background to his work, having trained in neurosurgery before transitioning to emergency medicine. That experience shaped how he thinks about expertise and the role of struggle in becoming a truly excellent physician. He also draws from his earlier career in fine arts and photography to shape his approach to teaching—grounded in visual clarity, storytelling, and helping learners “see” through the layers of clinical complexity. He’s known for delivering gritty, high-yield, and visually rich learning experiences that don’t steal the struggle but instead help residents turn missteps into mastery.
