The Education Pillar of UNC SOM’s Strategic Plan, Accelerate Forward Together, awarded six teams with Curricular Innovation and Pilot Funding grants for FY26.
- Noor Dasouki Abu-Alnadi & Alexandria Kraus: Will implement a competency-based framework using myTIPreport, an EPA-based mobile assessment tool, to revitalize student and evaluator investment in serial formative feedback.
- Katie Hanlon: Will create targeted education and clinical experiences in rural clinics, aiming to prepare students for careers in these communities. The program includes preadmission outreach within the communities for prospective students, enhanced didactic coursework as well as require clinical rotations.
- Christine Lathren, Nadia Charguia, Valerie Glassman, Linda Gilkerson & Ashmita Chatterjee: Will address the issue of burnout leading to decreased empathy in patient interactions by refining and piloting a curriculum currently used in a collaborative project between Erikson Institute and the American Academy of Pediatrics for pediatric resident training called Self-Compassion-Based Facilitation of Attuned Interactions (SC-FAN).
- Tamara Strohm: Will address the application of Neurology material between the pre-clerkship and clerkship phases of the curriculum by developing 10 freely accessible Neurology Clinical Bricks—peer-reviewed, digital modules aligned with pre-clinical content—for the ScholarRx Community Bricks Library.
- Evan Raff, Emily Moorefield & Danielle Kapustin: Will transform embryology instruction using five interactive sessions woven throughout the Foundation Phase in the form of a longitudinal curricular component. Each 40-minute session will feature active learning through 3Dprinted models, animations, hands-on demonstrations, and immersive technologies such as virtual reality.
- Kelly Smith, Kathy Barnhouse, Kunal Patel, Catherine Coe, Kenan Penaskovic & Ben Shirley: Will develop a 4-week program in the summer of 2026 to provide supplemental instructional support during the MS1 summer.
Additionally, two teams were awarded with development grants for FY26:
- Raúl Necochea & Anne Drapkin-Lyerly: Will continue to build an SHS faculty mentorship program encompassing peer observations and meetings between new instructors and their mentors.
- Gina Donato: Will network with other Microbiology & Immunology educators at the bi-annual education workshop at AMSMIC.