Educational leadership during a decade of medical curricular innovation and renewal

Abstract

Background: The past decade has witnessed successful expansion, distribution and curricular renewal at the University of British Columbia (UBC) medical school. The expansion and distribution of the medical program doubled enrollment and established the first North American medical school training students across multiple geographical locations. The more recent competency-based curriculum renewal demonstrates sustained innovation within UBC medicine.

Aims: This paper describes that a significant contributor to these successes has been a team of teaching faculty whose exclusive roles have been providing curricular support. Over the past decade, this group has evolved into a vital component of the day-to-day operations and performance of the distributed medical curriculum; they now provide continuity in leadership and innovation across multiple educational facets of the program.

Method/Results: This paper reports on the evolution and significance of these faculty members. The descriptions establish the success of an investment in teaching faculty and underscore the importance of engaging faculty whose primary commitments are to teaching, educational pedagogy, and student support.

Conclusions: This efficacious model of supporting and advancing a complex distributed medical program over more than a decade of pivotal change will be of interest to faculties and programs that are contemplating or navigating similar pursuits.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

The authors disclose that not all of the described contributions in this paper are their own, but highlight the contributions made by the following current and/or past teaching faculty members in the UBC medical program: Drs. Stan Bardal, Amanda Bradley, Dawn Cooper, Hanh Huynh, Pawel Kindler, Claudia Krebs, Victoria Monsalve, Karen Pinder, Jennifer Shabbits and Heather Yule. The authors apologize if we have inadvertently omitted anyone.

Notes on contributors

Karen E. Pinder, PhD, is a Senior Instructor in the Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences at the University of British Columbia. She is the Histology Director for the years 1 and 2 undergraduate medical curriculum and is also the Co-Director of the year 1 MEDD 411 (Foundations of Medical Practice I) course. She was the recipient of a 2015 Killam Teaching Award.

Jennifer A. Shabbits, PhD, is a Senior Instructor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the University of British Columbia. She has been teaching pharmacology and other health science disciplines at UBC since 2002. She is the Pharmacotherapy Theme Lead across all four years of the MD undergraduate program. Her commitment to students and medical education was recently recognized with a 2017 Killam Teaching Award.