My academic interest is in medical education in the domains of Direct Teaching, Curricular Development and Design, and Educational Administration and Leadership. Over the past 20 years, I have been involved in the instructional development, curriculum design, and educational administration and leadership of several courses for the pre-clinical Curriculum for the UCSF Medical School. In the BRIDGES curriculum, I was involved in several F1 design committees, was a "Sprint Chair" for an ad hoc committee to develop the blueprint for the organizational structure for the Coaches in the BRIDGES curriculum, and helped design the day-by-day, hour-by-hour curriculum for the ABC Course. The ABC Course is a wholly integrated course of cardiology, pulmonary, erythropoeisis, coagulation and bleeding disorders. In the design of this course, our team developed the overall calendar, recruited lecturers and small group facilitators, and created on-line videos, multiple supportive self-assessments, and summative assessment materials. The course was launched in the fall of 2016 and we continue to revise the course based on feedback.
Prior to this I was the Co-Chair of the Organs Block, the Metabolism & Nutrition Block, and the former Integration & Consolidation Block, and was involved in the de-novo curriculum design of 3 of the 8 required block courses of the Essential Core Curriculum for first and second year medical students. The Organs Block was a 14-week comprehensive course that covered Cardiovascular Medicine, Pulmonary, and Nephrology for 1st year medical students. The Metabolism & Nutrition Block was a 7-week comprehensive course that covered Gastroenterology, Nutrition, and Endocrinology. As with all the courses of the Essential Core, anatomy, histology, physiology, pathophysiology, epidemiology, genetics, pharmacology, biochemistry, radiology, culture, behavior, medical anthropology, lab medicine, and medicine were presented in an integrated fashion.
I have mentored over 25 students in curriculum projects, which to date, we have co-authored 24 cases and multiple web-based teaching modules, in addition to a variety of smaller but valuable projects. Several modules have been adapted for use at: University of Colorado Medical School, Muhimbili University College of Health Sciences, Tanzania, and University of Alberta Hospital, Canada. Work has been presented at the WGEA conference and also at http://www.aamc.org/mededportal.
I have been a committee member of the National Board of Medical Examiners; USMLE Step 1 Test Material Development for Physiology and Cell Biology, and since 2012 have chaired this committee.