The Offices of Medical Student Education (OMSE) seeks a pulmonology expert to serve as a co-director for the Homeostasis Course during the second semester of Foundation Phase.
Homeostasis is the fourth medical science course in the Foundation Phase and includes nephrology and pulmonology content. This course is a 7-week course, the first 3 of which cover pulmonary content, that occurs yearly during the beginning of January. The Homeostasis course directors work with the Foundation Phase Medical Science directors, basic science coil directors, and administrative team to oversee the curricular content, organization, assessments, and evaluations for the course. The course director is expected to teach most of the content during the large group interactive sessions throughout the course. However, they are encouraged to collaborate with the medical science team to strategically identify and invite guest presenters to provide specialized expertise where necessary. The course director must be committed to curriculum evaluation with the aim of continual quality improvement. They report directly to the Medical Science directors and will engage in an annual review with the Assistant Dean of Preclinical Curriculum.
In Spring Semester 2026, the Homeostasis course occurs from Monday January 5 – Friday February 20th. The pulmonology content will be taught from Monday January 5 – Friday January 23rd.
The course director will partner with the existing Foundation Phase team with respect to the design, management, evaluation, and enhancement of the course. Responsibilities will include, but are not limited to the following:
- Outcomes: Develop, design, and implement course level objectives linked to the school’s educational objectives and competencies and align course content with SOM objectives.
- Content and Assessment: Develop curricular content, methods of pedagogy and medical student assessment that are appropriate for the achievement of the course and school’s educational objectives using USMLE Scholar Rx as the primary content source. This includes working with the medical science directors to create the NBME exams. Additionally, the course director will work closely with the Case Based Learning (CBL) leaders to refine the CBL cases and the Clinical Reasoning Exam (CRE) as needed.
- Integration and Coordination: Sequence course content with an eye towards integration with other Foundation Phase Courses.
- Review and Improvement: Participate in regular review and revision of the course using multiple measures including national norms of accomplishment and student feedback under the auspices of the Foundation Phase Committee and Education Committee. Work closely with the Foundation Phase team to continually improve and innovate the course.
- Supervision and Teaching: The course director is expected to teach most of the course specific clinical content themselves and work closely with the foundational science coil directors to ensure inclusion in teaching of the foundational science material. The course director is encouraged to work with the medical science team to identify guest presenters to help cover content that the course director feels would be better taught by a different educator; however, the course director is ultimately responsible for all content. All large group teaching must be done using the Peer Accelerated Learning model or other interactive methods agreed upon by the medical science team.
- Administration: Ensure that SOM educational policies are being followed within the course e.g., formative feedback, narrative assessment, grade timeliness, etc.
- Work with Medical Science directors to create remediation and make up academic plans for students needing to make up or repeat the course during the summer.
- Update teaching materials yearly and ensure content taught by others is updated regularly.
- Review all Scholar Rx Bricks assigned for the course and work with the Foundation Phase team to modify Bricks as necessary.
- Serve on the Foundation Phase Committee as a voting member.
- Attend all Foundation Phase meetings (currently scheduled for the first Thursday of the month from 3:30-5pm).
- Communicate and implement decisions made at Foundation Phase meetings with relevant instructors in the course.
- Ensure the Foundation Phase team is well-informed of policies and plans and provide support as necessary.
- Hold regular office hours and communicate with students who need additional assistance regularly.
- Attend at least 3 PALS in the fall 2025 and attend at least 2 CBL sessions in the fall of 2025 in preparation for teaching in the spring of 2026.
Preference will be given to candidates who are clinically active in adult and/or pediatric pulmonary medicine and who have undergraduate teaching experience. The co-course director will receive 15% salary support up to an educational salary cap on an annual basis. Ideal candidates will be interviewed with a final selection being made by late August. Nominations and applications (including a CV and letter of interest) will be accepted by Kathleen (Kathy) Barnhouse, Assistant Dean for Preclinical Curriculum (Kathleen_barnhouse@med.unc.edu) until 5 pm on July 11th, 2025. By applying for this position, candidates agree to a review of all relevant teaching evaluations. Statements of support from the appropriate division chief/chair will be solicited from select candidates after an initial review. This is an at will position and performance will be reviewed yearly by the OMSE.
Please direct all questions about this position to Kathy Barnhouse.