Curriculum Renewal CLOSE-UP

Sept/Oct 2023

Curriculum Renewal: Phase II

Welcome to Phase II of the Curriculum Renewal: Synthesizing, Defining, Designing. Since our last publication, there have been various teams working on synthesizing results from the past 18 months of community-wide input and exploration. As we continue to work through key strategic questions, we would like to provide updates on two initiatives that are helping to drive the rollout of this next phase. Keep an eye out for the next chance to participate in early 2024, where we will be seeking your input on proposed macro structures that will become the framework for the renewed curriculum.

Curriculum Renewal: Deep Topic Review

Clinical Skills and Professional Identity Formation (PIF)


On July 25, 40 faculty and staff from across the health system met at The U Club to do a deep dive on clinical skills and professional identity formation. Facilitated by Dr. Gabi Goldberg, Director of Clinical Skills, Dr. Ellen Pearlman, Associate Dean for Professionalism and Doctoring Skills, and Jeff Bird, Director, Educational Data and Analytics the following questions were discussed:


  • What do we know about our graduate’s preparation and performance in residency? Where do clinical skills live in our current curriculum?
  • What big idea would you recommend for supporting professional identity formation in our students? If you were going to design curriculum related to professional identity formation, how would you do it?


Working groups collaborated to think outside the box and make recommendations that are being incorporated into this phase of renewal.

Curriculum Renewal: Design Proposals

Refreshed Curriculum Design & Guiding Principles of Curricular Design


Students, faculty, staff, alumni, and interprofessional colleagues answered our call this summer to think beyond traditional approaches, challenge conventional methods, and propose innovative strategies to enhance the learning experience for our students. Twelve proposals were submitted and are currently under review. The Curious Questioning Team co-chairs and a small team of administrators discussed strengths/challenges and pulled together key questions that be addressed before moving forward. A small advisory group will meet over the coming months to think through overarching goals and how to accomplish them best, as well as reflect on our current Guiding Principles Curricular Design. In early 2024, we will be seeking community input on both drafted proposals and the Guiding Principles.

Curriculum Renewal: Speaker Series

Socially Accountable Admissions


On October 24, Dr. Shadi Aminololama-Shakeri, chair of the Admissions Committee at the UC Davis School of Medicine, joined us on Zoom to explore the paradigm of social accountability in admissions to enhance diversity, equity and justice. It was a robust discussion about organizational change principles to spur innovation and ways to develop an equitable medical education program. 

Curriculum Renewal: More Resources

Be sure to check out our Curriculum Renewal website for updates and future events.


For questions about Curriculum Renewal: Courage to Change, please contact [email protected].

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