A workshop on leadership for senior MD–PhD students

Figures & data

Fig. 1.  Schematic of MSTP leadership workshop timing within the MD–PhD training curriculum. Since 2006, the Vanderbilt Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) has hosted a leadership workshop biennially for MD–PhD students in their first and second years of graduate school (G1/G2; ‘Junior Leadership Workshop’). The MSTP Senior Leadership Workshop, held for the first time in August 2015, was attended by senior, clinical-phase Vanderbilt MD–PhD students enrolled in the final two years of medical school (M3/M4). M, medical school year; G, graduate school year.

Table 1 Likert-scale evaluation responses of 2015 MSTP Senior Leadership Workshop by student participants^a

Workshop activity	Well organized and executed?	Relevant to leadership concepts and skills?
Conflict Management Styles Quiz (pre-workshop survey)	4.47	4.56
Case Study #1: ‘Bottom of the Heap’	4.64	4.59
Didactic Session on Conflict Management	4.53	4.29
Case Study #2: ‘On the Road Again’	4.41	4.53
Dinner Discussion: Leadership in Academic Medicine	4.73	4.73

^aData represent mean responses using a five-item scale (1, strongly disagree; 5, strongly agree; n=17)

Table 2 Six-month follow-up survey administered to the participants of 2015 MSTP Senior Leadership Workshop

Survey question		Frequent themes in response
Please describe in what way, if any, the following have changed as a result of your participation in the MSTP Senior Leadership Workshop:	Your attitude about conflict in personal or professional situations	• Less likely to avoid conflict • More thoughtful about others’ perspectives and methods of managing conflict
	Your behavior in conflict situations	• More proactive in engaging in conflict resolution
		• Seeking the underlying cause of conflict, rather than taking it personally
	Your attitude about work–life balance	• Balance is important in order to be successful
		• Balance only gets more difficult as a career progresses, start forming habits now
	Your decisions about work–life balance	• More thoughtful about how to spend time professionally and personally
What additional behavioral or attitudinal changes, if any, have you made since the workshop in response to what you learned?		• More proactive about seeking guidance
		• More aware of each role on the team
		• More thoughtful about gender equality in science and medicine
What are the three most critical skills, behaviors, or insights from the workshop that have affected your professional or personal life?		• Skills in conflict resolution • Strategies for recruitment of laboratory personnel • Effective communication