Director's Corner

Visiting the Professors

 By Adina L. Kalet, MD, MPH

As she anticipates going back on the road to do “visiting professorships,” Dr. Kalet honors two colleagues, professors who have made careers in medicine devoted to excellence and caring in medicine and medical education…

You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it (2:21).

The Ancient Jewish Text, Pirkei Avot, “Ethics of Our Fathers”

Over the next couple of weeks, I will be paying homage to Professors William T. Branch, Jr., M.D, MACP and Dave E. Kern, MD, MPH. Drs. Branch and Kern have each had a huge impact on the transformation of medical education over the past half-century. Ostensibly, I will be the one professing, since I have been invited to serve as the third annual William T. Branch Innovation in Primary Care Series Lecturer at Emory University School of Medicine, and then the inaugural David E. Kern Visiting Professor for the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. In the coincidental back-to-back scheduling of these visiting professorships, I have had the opportunity to study these two men and their inspiring careers.

Perspective/Opinion

NYU-UCSF Collaboratory to Advance URiM Faculty in Academic Medicine

By Richard E. Greene, MD, MHPE; Sarah Schaeffer, MD and Walter Parrish, MA

In this essay, principal investigator Dr. Richard Greene, Dr. Sarah Schaeffer and Mr. Walter Parrish describe their collaboratory project to cultivate the talent and expertise of faculty who are URiM to meet the critical needs of our patients and our learners…

Why Implement Underrepresented in Medicine (URiM) Leadership Programs?

In academic medicine, we have an urgent need to cultivate the talent and expertise of faculty who are URiM to meet the critical needs of our patients and our learners. While many institutions have implemented leadership development programs, few have implemented them specifically aimed at faculty who are URiM. Fewer still have been able to study the impact of these programs on the participants and the senior institutional leaders who sponsor such programming in more than one context. For this reason, we joined together as a collaboratory of experts in diversity, equity, and inclusion at two leading institutions, NYU Grossman School of Medicine (NYU) and the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine (UCSF). We planned to synch up and study the impact of two such programs.

Perspective/Opinion

Creating a Collaboratory to Map Medical Education’s Blind Spots

By Sean Tackett, MD, MPH; Yvonne Steinert, PhD; Cynthia R. Whitehead, MD, PhD; Darcy A. Reed, MD, MPH and Scott M. Wright, MD

In this essay, principal investigator Dr. Sean Tackett and team describe their collaboratory project to map the blind spots in medical education in order to create a shared model that would encompass the issues that require more attention and hold medical education back…

Thousand-Year-Old Parable

There’s a well-known parable where several blind men are told of a new animal called an elephant. Trying to understand what an elephant is, each touches a different part and comes to incorrect conclusions (touching a tail – “it’s a rope,” touching the elephant’s side – “it’s a wall”). They never come to understand the true nature of the elephant, but rather argue perpetually over who is right.

Perspective/Opinion

Transforming Healthcare Education by Educating Faculty Leaders in the Post-COVID Era

By William T. Branch, Jr, MD, MACP (PI of the grant); Corrine Abraham, DNP; Elizabeth A. Rider, MSW, MD; Debra K. Litzelman, MA, MD; Richard Frankel, PhD and Calvin Chou, MD, PhD

In this essay, principal investigator Dr. William Branch and team describe their collaboratory project to study professional identity formation and professional growth among faculty leaders, a group whose growth is seldom explored…

We are members of a group that has taught physician and interprofessional faculty leaders humanistic skills, values and attitudes using small group methods at more than 30 healthcare institutions. We have worked together for over 20 years to reach as many faculty as possible with our small group learning methods because we believe that great faculty role models ultimately influence students, residents, and others to treat their patients, colleagues, and themselves with compassion, appreciation, and respect. The idea of positive role models is based on the notion that the good components of the “hidden curriculum” have profound influences, and role models have their impacts within the hidden curriculum. Lately, we began to teach interprofessional groups. This has added new complexities and rewards to our teaching and facilitating, such as being able to help learners to overcome implicit bias toward other professionals. We have found the new challenges invigorating.

Perspective/Opinion

Laying a Strong Foundation: How Do Medical Schools With and Without Learning Communities Promote Character, Caring and Professional Identity Formation During Students' Pre-Clerkship Years?

By David Hatem, MD, Principal Investigator and Jennifer Quaintanace, PhD, Co-Principal Investigator

In this essay, principal investigator Dr. David Hatem describes his collaboratory project to assess the role of learning communities in the development of character, caring, and professional identity formation for undergraduate medical students…

Transforming Medical Education

We aim to develop a full picture of how learning community and non-learning community schools help or hinder PIF and suggest programs and approaches to help advance student PIF. This focus on PIF will transform medical education by putting this key outcome front and center, no longer a consequence of medical education, but a deliberate aim. The intent will be to depict PIF choice points and dilemmas designed to prompt student reflection, individually and with others so that PIF can be transformed from what has been a solitary process for many into a deliberate, purposeful, accompanied, facilitated and developmental journey.  

Perspective/Opinion

Cultures of Mattering in Healthcare Education

 By Julie Haizlip, MD, MAPP; Natalie May, PhD and Karen Marcdante, MD

In this essay, Drs. Julie Haizlip, Natalie May and Karen Marcdante describe their collaboratory project to explore cultures of mattering among medical and nursing students…

Why Does It Matter?

Many of us can remember a time during our educational journey when we felt superfluous, unimportant, or as if we were a burden. This feeling is identified as a state of “not mattering” and is, unfortunately, common during health professions training. When students feel that they do not matter, they become disengaged, learn less, are more likely to become depressed, and may even end up leaving their training program. On the other hand, when people feel that they matter, the opposite is true – they learn more, stay engaged, can pursue their passions and may exhibit less burnout. Thus, creating a learning environment that makes all learners feel like they do matter is the focus of a multi-institutional collaboratory entitled “The Culture of Mattering in Medical Education.”