These days we're all busier than ever -- wearing multiple hats, working to deadlines, dealing with changes in requirements that seem to come as quickly as COVID mutations. It's easy to become siloed in your job. I think that's one of the things that's fueling the burnout we see and feel. The Virtual Communities are a great way to stay connected -- not just with others, but with ourselves. Participating in the communities can put things in perspective, let you know if your "lens" could do with an adjustment. But it's also a welcoming place to float ideas.
Do you have a professional skill or area of expertise that might be of particular interest to your peers in this community?
I'm a neuroscientist with my undergraduate and early graduate education in linguistics and literature -- so I have a foot in both the science and humanities domains. I think that duality has shaped me as an educator. I'm the primary curriculum "mapper" here, which makes me the go-to person for the big picture. But I particularly enjoy working with colleagues to help them develop new ways to teach and learn. I also had the privilege of doing the Columbia workshop on Narrative Medicine a few years ago, and that experience continues influence my thinking about how we interact with medical education and health care. Beyond that, I'm a data-geek. I'm always looking for insight from the assessments we collect.
What should people in the virtual community contact you about?
I'm always happy to talk about learning and the evidence behind teaching and assessment strategies. Finding ways to take struggling students to the next level, how to meet today's students where they are with "outside" resources. I'm a newbie with PowerBI and would love to have folks share their expertise with me on using this resource.
What’s the best piece of professional advice you have ever received?
A quote shared with me from Daniel Burnham: "Make no small plans. They have no magic to move men's minds, and probably won't be realized." I'm a "blue sky" person, and proud of it.
What do you think is the best, most challenging, or most unique thing about working in academic medicine (or your field or specialty specifically)?
At this moment, there seems to be a generational mis-match in undergraduate medical education, maybe in GME. I don't know whether it's real or just feels that way, but we need to find a way to keep both students and faculty engaged.
What do you hope to gain from this online community?
Being in the community is automatically a gain for me. I'm always happy to talk about learning and the evidence behind teaching and assessment strategies. Finding ways to take struggling students to the next level, how to meet today's students where they are with "outside" resources. I'm a newbie with PowerBI and would love to have folks share their expertise with me on using this resource.
What’s the best piece of professional advice you have ever received?
A quote shared with me from Daniel Burnham: "Make no small plans. They have no magic to move men's minds, and probably won't be realized." I'm a "blue sky" person, and proud of it.
What do you think is the best, most challenging, or most unique thing about working in academic medicine (or your field or specialty specifically)?
At this moment, there seems to be a generational mis-match in undergraduate medical education, maybe in GME. I don't know whether it's real or just feels that way, but we need to find a way to keep both students and faculty engaged.
What do you hope to gain from this online community?
Being in the community is automatically a gain for me. What I hope is to give something TO the online community.
Did you have an unusual path to your current career?
I did my undergraduate degree in Russian Language and Literature, then started on a PhD in Slavic Linguistics. During that period of time I realized I was trying to understand the brain by understanding language, and that that was backwards. So I quit school, got a job working as a neuropathology technician for 5 years, catching up on basic science courses at night, then did the amazing Neurobiology Curriculum at Chapel-Hill. I was in the typical medical school research path and really discovered a passion for education while working with under-represented and educationally disadvantaged first year medical students. The winds of change in medical education -- EPAs, LICs, competency-based education, etc. -- lured me away from bench research.
Thinking about all conferences, workshops, webinars you have attended in the last few years, was there a speaker or session topic that stands out as your favorite?
There have been so many. Brene Brown's plenary at LSL last year, Bryan Stevenson's and Jon Meachem's plenaries pre-pandemic. I think what they have in common is they take us out of ourselves and help us the "big" issues as approachable and necessary.
How do you prefer to start your day?
2 cups of coffee, 5 Ken-Ken Daily puzzles, the NYTimes crossword, the WAPO/ LA Times crossword, and a browse through the Kindle daily deals. I'm an insomniac, so this still gets me to my office by 5 AM. I know once I get to work, there won't be any more "me" time.
How do you prefer to end your day?
A bit of reading of something NOT work related. A few years ago I realized that the stack of books I wanted to read was growing higher and higher. So I made resolution to read something just for me -- every day, even if it was just 1 page.
What’s the biggest misconception people have about your position?
That's easy -- that being the "Director" of the pre-clerkship curriculum means I have any authority of any kind!