Medical Educator Program for Fellows

Overview

The Medical Educator Program for fellows is a year-long, longitudinal program. It is designed to help fellows become expert clinical teachers in the classroom, inpatient, and ambulatory settings.

The program is built on five pillars:

• Core curriculum - Monthly, interactive small-group seminars led by expert faculty provide in-depth exploration of foundational and advanced topics in medical education.

• Direct observation – Fellows participate in both peer-observation and observation of master teachers in various environments. By stepping out of the clinical learner role, fellows can focus on the teaching techniques and strategies used by master teachers. This serves as an important tool for learning new techniques and developing their own teaching styles.
  Fellow teaching as part of the Medical Educator Program.

• Deliberate practice of teaching – Fellows choose from a variety of teaching opportunities. These experiences are observed by program faculty, who provide timely and actionable feedback. Examples include:

  • Clinical teaching: Working with medical students or internal medicine trainees in subspecialty clinics or on inpatient services
  • Precepted didactic teaching: Leading resident report, resident noon conference, Indian Health Service conferences, division conferences
  • Teaching in the Harvard Medical School curriculum: Includes the first-year Practice of Medicine course and pathophysiology courses
  • Community education: Leading sessions in collaboration with the Blum Center for Community Health and disease support groups

• Mentorship – Fellows meet regularly with program faculty for mentorship and reflection.

• Community – Fellows from multiple subspecialty divisions come together to form an educators’ community and a learning home for those with a strong interest in medical education.

While scholarship in medical education is an important skill for medical educators, it is not a required component of the program. This flexibility allows fellows to engage in research projects in their subspecialty divisions. However, fellows who are interested in exploring medical education research projects will be supported by program faculty in their projects.