We are so excited to showcase some of our brilliant UME educators in the department of medicine and across our AHEC sites. For many of us there are certain teachers in our past who left a mark on our lives and are highly valued. For some they may be the reason you went into medicine or the specialty you are in. The DOM along with the AHEC sites have many highly regarded educators who are closely involved in teaching and mentoring our students. Thus, we want to feature some of our educators so that we can all get to know them better. We want you to meet Dr. Duncan Vincent, site director for clerkship at Greensboro.
Drs. Koyal Jain and Ashley HendersonÂ
Tell us a little about how you got interested in education and your background?
I am a former UNC resident and chief resident, now a clinical assistant professor in the DOM and working for Piedmont AHEC at Cone Health in Greensboro. I serve as the Associate Program Director for the Cone Internal Medicine Residency Program, a community-based residency program focused on training general medicine physicians to serve North Carolina communities. My year as a chief resident at UNC felt like a fellowship in clinical education. I was exposed to fantastic mentors, learned about the logistics of GME, and loved my experience precepting residents. Then one day Dr. Jim Bryan put his hand on my shoulder and told me that he just knew I was going to stay in academics, and with that the die was cast.
What is your role in undergraduate medical education?
I have worked with UNC students rotating at Cone since 2016. I share responsibility as site director for HISC students in Greensboro. I also help with CBLC and Individualization Phase students who rotate with our Internal Medicine Department.
AHEC sites have a huge role in teaching our UNC medical students. How do you envision ongoing collaboration between sites?
Through AHEC I have had the pleasure of working with colleagues across the state, who are caring for their communities and training the next class of physicians. I am consistently impressed by the quality of teaching that is happening in Raleigh, Wilmington, Asheville, and Charlotte. At these community-based sites students are exposed to high-value, evidence-based medicine. My hope is that more exposure to community-based residency programs motivates more fantastic UNC students to train at these sites and continue serving North Carolina communities. AHEC-based physicians do need more support to continue teaching, as the pressure of accounting for the productivity of every work hour grows. I think UNC can lead in thinking about how to recognize and compensate the next generation of teaching physicians who are employed by largely non-teaching organizations. I think there is a bright future in investing in community-based medical education at these sites.