Medical Education

Leadership

Kurt Gilliland, PhD

Overview

The purpose of the Medical Education Scholarly Concentration is to develop a student’s skills in the fields of academic and clinical medical education and to introduce students to current research and emerging theories in medical education.

Program Structure and Highlights

The Medical Education Scholarly Concentration has elements throughout the entire TEC Curriculum. Note that students who are already in the Application Phase or Individualization Phase will be treated with flexibility regarding these requirements.

ALL PHASES (once accepted into the program)

Students will be expected to participate in the following longitudinal experiences:

• Attendance at 6 medical education events per year, including but not limited to informal monthly gatherings of scholarly concentration students and UNC SOM medical education seminars (e.g., Academy of Educator seminars). These gatherings will be opportunities for medical education students to:
  • Meet with the Medical Education Scholarly Concentration program director (who may not necessarily be their personal project mentor) about their project
  • Learn about general medical education topics
  • Be part of a medical education community with other Medical Education Scholarly Concentration students and faculty.
    

• Students are expected to participate in ONE of the following activities:
  • Teaching. Students will be able to apply the skills they have learned and gain experience teaching in a formal setting. These experiences may include but not be limited to the following: an undergraduate TA, a gross anatomy TA during the MS4 year, a TA in a summer program (e.g., MED), a guest instructor in OMED 152/153, or a tutor in the UNC SOM. Note that these teaching experiences must be preceded by a planning session with a faculty member and followed by personal reflection (possibly including journaling) and a debriefing with a faculty member.
  • Educational leadership. A student is expect to participate in educational leadership by serving as a Whitehead Medical Society representative, by providing leadership in SHAC, by serving on UNC SOM curriculum task forces, or by demonstrating some other form of entrepreneurship or innovation during the MD program.

Foundation Phase

Students will be required to complete ONE of the following:

• Elective OMED 152 (Introduction to Medical Education, 3 credit hours, spring of MS1 year)
• Elective OMED 153 (Educational Technology, 3 credit hours, fall of MS2 year)

Application Phase

See description of ALL PHASES above. Flexibility will be applied to those students in the Application Phase.

Individualization Phase

Students will be required to do the following:

• Complete an independent study and/or research project. This project may be distributed over the 14 months of the Individualization Phase or possibly condensed within a 4-week elective block under the advisement of a faculty member. Some students will begin their projects well before the Individualization Phase. The project will culminate in a paper and oral presentation to other Scholarly Concentration Program students. Ideally, the project will also be submitted to an academic society as an abstract for a poster presentation or oral presentation at a regional or national meeting (or possibly for publication).
• Assemble a portfolio of their work in the concentration. The portfolio could include items such as modules or curriculum products in addition to a report of their scholarly project, reflection on their experiences, evaluations of the student’s participation, journal entries, and summaries of any presentations given.