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Say hello to our featured member Mark Hernandez

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Mark Hernandez

Our association is a robust and diverse set of educators, researchers, medical professionals, volunteers and academics that come from all walks of life and from around the globe. Each month we choose a member to highlight their academic and professional career, and see how they are making the best of their membership in IAMSE. This month’s Featured Member is 2021 IAMSE Annual Program Chair, Mark Hernandez, PhD.

Mark Hernandez, PhD
Associate Professor of Physiology and Pharmacology
Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine

How long have you been a member of IAMSE?
I have been a member of IAMSE since 2009.

Looking at your time with the Association, what have you most enjoyed doing? What are you looking forward to?
I have always enjoyed meeting new colleagues at the annual meetings, who I get to see again later in future meetings. This year I will complete my role as Chair of the 2021 Program Committee and as a member of the Board of Directors. (These roles have been) the most meaningful as I have been able to contribute despite the challenges and disruptions caused by the global pandemic, and the rapid changes impacting health sciences education. I am looking forward to a successful 2021 Program that will inspire all to re-engage in the dialogue for the future of health sciences educators. With leaders based in 5 different countries, the team worked very hard to plan a program that will be unique and inspiring. I will also look forward to and continue to engage at IAMSE events after the 2021 Annual Meeting as a member in different ways by presenting work and continuing to follow the webinar series.

Looking ahead to #IAMSE21, what opportunities will attendees see in this virtual meeting that they have not seen at an IAMSE meeting in previous years?
I think this will be a unique meeting as we believe the meetings after 2021 will have an in-person component, but which will also have a virtual option for those who are not able to attend. This program is about health sciences educators and students. We want to engage the students more than before as they will be our future educators. We also want to engage the audience located in different time zones. When the World Cup or Olympics take place every four years, we all look forward to live experiences, staying up late and getting up early to watch the events live as the replay is just not the same experience. However, at the IAMSE meeting, those who want to watch the recorded sessions can still engage live with the plenary speakers for a Q&A live forum later in the evening at 6:00 PM ET. This is a unique opportunity for IAMSE to engage live audiences in the Asia-Pacific region.

In addition, we will also have one of our IAMSE members who is a licensed and very talented yoga instructor provide virtual mindfulness exercises. These sessions will be held throughout the week to create a relaxing experience via Zoom after the long day of sessions and networking to prepare us for the next full day of virtual events.

What session or speaker are YOU most looking forward to this year?
Similar to the analogy of the World Cup or Olympic Games we all want to see the plenary talks and sessions, but it is really about the new presenters who will surprise us with enlightening talks and poster presentations. I am looking forward to all the sessions, poster sessions, and in particular, the plenary talks. 

My own personal favorite speaker will be the one delivered by Dr Hirumi (aka 2c). He is a professor of Instructional Design and Technology at the University of Central Florida and will bring a unique perspective as evident by his impressive portfolio. I have met 2c before and engaged in dialogues about the direction of medical education. Sometimes it seems when the medical education world rapidly transitioned to emergency remote teaching due to the pandemic, there were some theories that perhaps worked. I look forward to learning what Dr. Hirumi has learned during the past year to support education theories to share with the IAMSE audience.

What interesting things are you working on outside the Association right now? Research, presentations, etc.
My other personal interest as an educator is international medicine and global health. I am currently serving as Clerkship director of International Medicine Elective, and in a year when world travel was disrupted, we designed a contingency plan for our 4th-year medical students which involved bringing the educators domestically and from abroad, via Zoom, to a virtual global classroom, since our students were not able to travel. Participation in this course will help our students interested in global health prepare for future travel abroad as clinicians when international travel resumes. This is another reason my other favorite plenary speaker is also Camille Bentley from Rocky Vista University who will share with us about the challenges we face in education and the opportunities in Global Health.

Anything else that you would like to add?
I hope the camaraderie and connections we make in the Virtual 2021 Meeting are fruitful for the years to come later in Denver, Cancun and beyond.  

The IAMSE 2021 Virtual Annual Conference will be held June 12-17. For more information about the week of events, and to register, visit www.IAMSEconference.org.

Reminder* #IAMSE22 Pre-conference Faculty Development Course Abstracts Still Being Accepted

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Proposals are still being accepted for Saturday Professional Development Workshops for the 2022 IAMSE meeting. The annual meeting will be held in Denver, Colorado, USA from June 4-7, 2022.

Proposals will be accepted through July, 1, 2021. The IAMSE Professional Development committee will review all proposals and select 3-4 full-day workshops and 6-8 half-day workshops for the meeting.

A Pre-Conference Faculty Development Course is 3 or 6 hours in length and enrollment is limited. Instructors are asked to combine appropriate amounts of didactic presentation with significant “hands-on” opportunities for participants. For the participants, a certificate of attendance will be available after completion of the course if needed. IAMSE Saturday Professional Development Workshops focus on career/professional development, and the workshops should be useful for advancing the career of the attendee. The broad umbrella areas of focus for these workshops include:

  • Leadership/Advancement as a Medical Educator
  • Research/Scholarship/Publications
  • Instruction/Assessment
  • Technology

Saturday Professional Development Workshops proposals must include the following information:

  • Title of the workshop
  • Name and e-mail of organizer
  • Facilitator(s) information
  • Summary of the workshop and how it will advance the career of the attendee
  • Length of the workshop
  • Level of the workshop (introductory/intermediate/advanced)
  • Who should participate

All abstracts must be submitted in the format requested through the online abstract submission site found here. 

If you have any questions about submitting your proposal, please contact IAMSE via email at support@iamse.org.

Submit Your Abstract

Where to Find Quick Help During the #IAMSE21 Virtual Conference

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As we put the finishing touches on the 25th Annual IAMSE Meeting, we would like to extend a sincere THANK YOU to the volunteers, attendees, speakers and sponsors that have already made our event a success.

The IAMSE Administrative Office will have limited availability on June 11-18, 2021 while facilitating the meeting. Response times may be delayed as we remotely staff the virtual event. Need help in a hurry? Here are the best ways to find answers to your questions.

Event FAQ
Looking for information on how to register as a student, how to switching sessions once the conference begins, or how to view the plenary sessions after they go live? Quickly find answers on the Event FAQ page.

IAMSE 2021 FAQ

Virtual Help Desk
Can’t find your session links? Not sure how to navigate your Event Hub? Need help finding the Oral presentations? IAMSE Admin are ready and waiting to answer these questions and more at the Virtual Help Desk. Beginning Thursday, June 10, we encourage all registered attendees to visit us and ask any questions about the meeting, sessions, technology and any other aspects of this year’s virtual conference! Admin will be available on June 10-11 from 8AM – 9AM and 3PM – 6PM Eastern.

Virtual Help Desk

IAMSE Membership Information
Looking for information on how to join the Association or need to pay your member dues? Check the Member page!

Membership Info

When all else fails, reach out to support@iamse.org. We will respond to your questions as quickly as we can.

IAMSE 2021 Info

IAMSE Administrative Office Closed Monday, May 31st

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The IAMSE Administrative staff will be unavailable on Monday, May 31st in observance of Memorial Day in the United States. We will resume normal business hours on Tuesday, June 1st.

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A Medical Science Educator Article Review From Dr. Louis B. Justement

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This review was written by Louis B Justement, PhD, a member of the IAMSE Publications Committee, and was first published online on August 14th, 2020 in Medical Science Educator. The article is titled “Addressing Implicit Bias in First-Year Medical Students: a Longitudinal, Multidisciplinary Training Program” and was written by Megan Ruben and Norma S. Saks, Medical Science Educator (2020) 30:1419-1426.

Implicit bias continues to present a significant challenge with respect to the practice of medicine and contributes to decision-making on the part of physicians that in turn contributes to health disparities experienced by individuals from diverse backgrounds. This problem has been recognized in the medical community and calls have been made to address implicit bias in medical education. However, many efforts to address implicit bias fall short in terms of not only raising awareness of implicit bias by trainees, but in terms of actually changing the degree of implicit bias that individuals experience. This is in part due to the fact that, although efforts may be relatively successful in terms of raising an individual’s awareness of implicit bias, it is extremely difficult to impact in a meaningful way the level of implicit bias that any given individual has towards those from different groups/backgrounds.  This is likely a reflection that changing one’s level of implicit bias requires a long-term, sustained set of interventions in which one’s awareness of implicit bias is constantly being raised through a diverse array of activities/experiences. 

Although the issue of implicit bias has been raised in medical education and is an issue that is of great significance with respect to addressing health disparities, the inclusion of implicit bias training as a single unit or class in the curriculum is most likely not sufficient to change the overall impact that implicit bias has on the practice of medicine. In the study by Ruben and Saks a multidisciplinary, longitudinal intervention was created to reduce implicit bias towards skin tone, to raise awareness of implicit bias and to determine whether exposure to the intervention, which took place during the first year of medical school would result in changes in implicit bias among the participants. The program used a multidisciplinary approach in which students were expected to visit an art museum and then participate in a medical anthropology lecture followed by a sociological discussion pertaining to implicit bias in medicine. In parallel, the investigators assessed implicit bias in a control group that did not participate in the program.  The investigators took the Harvard Implicit Association Test for Skin Tone and took a survey to assess awareness of implicit bias before and after the program.

The study demonstrated that both the experimental and control group of students exhibited a clear bias towards light skin and that this bias was not significantly impacted by participating in the program. Although, a power analysis supported the conclusion that those in the experimental group were trending towards a decrease in their implicit bias towards light skin. All participants indicated that they were aware of implicit bias, but importantly, the results suggest that those who demonstrate a stronger bias tend to be less willing to recognize implicit bias in themselves. A promising result of the study was that those who were in the experimental group expressed a much more developed and complex understanding of what implicit bias is and how it affects health care than those in the control group.

In conclusion, this study demonstrates that medical students are aware of implicit bias, but that individuals may not necessarily be willing to acknowledge their own implicit bias. The study further demonstrates that even with a year-long, multidisciplinary program, it is difficult to alter the degree of implicit bias on an individual basis, but with a sustained approach, it is possible to begin to impact the degree to which individuals understand how implicit bias plays a role in their decision making and that of the medical community at-large. This study supports the conclusion that isolated classes or units offered once within the overall medical curriculum are not likely to significantly impact implicit bias and its contribution to health disparities. Rather, there needs to be a focus on integrating implicit bias training throughout the curriculum and to utilize a range of approaches to foster student exploration of their own implicit biases.

Louis B. Justement, PhD
Professor, Department of Microbiology
Director, GBS Immunology Theme
Director, Undergraduate Immunology Program
University of Alabama at Birmingham

Congratulations to the #IAMSE21 Travel Award Winners

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We would like to extend our congratulations to two Junior Faculty and ten students who have been awarded the 2021 IAMSE Travel Award. These awards support junior faculty and aspiring educators to attend the IAMSE Annual Meeting. Made possible in part by Aquifer, each award is meant to cover expenses related to attendance at the IAMSE annual meeting, such as conference registration, lodging, and airfare. While we are not holding an in-person event in 2021, funds will be made available to attend a future IAMSE annual meeting.

The awardees for 2021 are:

Junior Faculty

  • Kyle Bauckman Nova Southeastern University Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Allopathic Medicine
  • Jorge Cervantes Texas Tech University Health Sciences Cente

Students

  • Lindsey Ades Carle Illinois College of Medicine
  • Samantha Benevides Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University
  • Zachary Bennett Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University
  • Shahar Laks Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University
  • Anna McKenzie Medical College of Georgia
  • Ellen Ribar University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
  • Michael Sandak Mercer University School of Medicine
  • Tanner Stumpe Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University
  • Moira Sullivan Medical College of Georgia
  • Jessica Zimo University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Congratulations to this year’s award winners. We look forward to seeing you in the future.

Register for #IAMSE21

Have an Announcement? Share it in Medical Science Educator!

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In every issue of Medical Science Educator, we publish an announcements section. In this section, we share information that is of interest to the readership of the journal. Individual IAMSE members wishing to post medical education related announcements in the Journal are invited to send their requests to the Editorial Assistant at journal@iamse.org. Announcements may be IAMSE-related, announcements from other medical education organizations, medical education conference information or international issues affecting medical education. Announcements will be published at the Editor’s discretion.

Deadline for inclusion in the next issue: June 15, 2021

Thank you,
Peter GM de Jong, PhD
Editor-in-Chief

Submit Your Manuscript to Medical Science Educator

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Medical Science Educator, the peer-reviewed journal of the International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE), publishes scholarly work in the field of health sciences education. The journal publishes six issues per year by Springer Publishing. We welcome contributions in the format of Short Communication, Original Research, Monograph, Commentary, and Innovation. Please visit our website www.medicalscienceeducator.org for a more detailed description of these types of articles.

I look forward to receiving your submissions.

Thank you,
Peter G.M. de Jong, PhD
Editor-in-Chief

Join us for the IAMSE 2021 Fellowship Program!

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The International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE) is pleased to announce the launch of the newly revised Medical Educator Fellowship (MEF) Program. In addition to updates to the existing program to enhance engagement, mentorship, and collaboration, IAMSE will now offer members and non-members the option of completing the MEF Program 100% virtually, from any location around the globe.

The primary goal of the MEF is to support the development of well-rounded healthcare education scholars through a program of targeted professional development and application of learned concepts to mentored research projects. The program is designed for healthcare educators from all backgrounds who wish to enhance their knowledge and productivity as educational scholars.

As a prerequisite, applicants are required to complete the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE) Essential Skills in Medical Education (ESME) Program.

Applications for the next cohort
will be accepted until July 1, 2021.

2021 MEF Info

IAMSE 2021 Fellowship Program Kick-Off Meeting
Presenters: Amber Heck and Kelly Quesnelle
Date and Time: Tuesday, July 27, 2021 from 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM (EDT) 

Join IAMSE Educational Scholarship Committee Chair Amber Heck and IAMSE Publications Committee Chair Kelly Quesnelle as they welcome the 2021 cohort of the Medical Educator Fellowship participants. This workshop will be a virtual session run through Zoom. A camera/microphone will not be required for attendees, but a microphone is encouraged to communicate with other mentors/mentees.

Medical Educator Fellowship Details

For questions about the Fellowship or how to register, please contact support@iamse.org. We thank you for your interest and look forward to supporting you in achieving your professional goals in educational scholarship.

Register for the 2021 MEF

Focus Session Spotlight: Case-based Learning: Choose Your Case Wisely

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The 25th Annual IAMSE Meeting will feature a host of new focus sessions throughout the entire conference. One of our first-time workshops is Case-based Learning: Choose Your Case Wisely. This 90-minute course will be given on Monday, June 14 and will be led by Dolgor Baatar, Eustathia Lela Giannaris, Mohammed Khalil, Vaughan Lee, Priti Mishall and Saskia Richter.

Virtual Conference Info

Case-based Learning: Choose Your Case Wisely
Presenters:Dolgor Baatar – Kaiser Permanente Bernard J Tyson School of Medicine
Eustathia Lela Giannaris – University of Massachusetts Medical School
Mohammed Khalil – University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville
Vaughan Lee – University of South Alabama College of Medicine
Priti Mishall – Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Saskia Richter – University of Delaware
Date and Time: Tuesday, June 15, 2021, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM EDT 

Case-based Learning (CBL) has been used as a teaching and learning method in many professional training disciplines especially in business, law and medicine. Despite the wide use of cases in various disciplines, there have been limited studies and research on strategies of case selection and development. The purpose of this session is to provide structure and format to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of clinical cases used in medical curriculum.

Full Session Info

For more information on all our focus sessions, and to register for the 25th Annual IAMSE Meeting, please visit www.IAMSEconference.org.

Register For #IAMSE21

Focus Session Spotlight: Design, Develop, Deploy & Evaluate Technology Enhanced Learning in MedEd

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The 25th Annual IAMSE Meeting will feature a host of new focus sessions throughout the entire conference. One of our first-time workshops is Design, Develop, Deploy and Evaluate Technology Enhanced Learning in Medical Education. This 90-minute course will be given on Monday, June 14 and will be led by Scott Border and James Pickering.

Virtual Conference Info

Design, Develop, Deploy and Evaluate Technology Enhanced Learning in Medical Education
Presenters:Scott Border – Southampton UK
James Pickering – University of Leeds (UK)
Date and Time: Monday, June 14, 2021, 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM EDT 

Many medical science educators have adopted the creation of bespoke interactive and engaging online supplementary learning resources for integration into face-to-face delivery as a way to create blended learning curricula. Although many of today’s students appear to have a growing preference for utilizing learning resources that are visually appealing with moving images and audio explanations, the theoretical basis and supporting evidence for this approach to curricula delivery is often set aside from student expectations and perceptions of enjoyment. Over the past decade, both session leaders have gained considerable experience in creating simple yet effective and efficient resources that provide flexible and student-centered learning. Using screencasts and mixed reality resources as the mode of technological innovation, digital media (either screen-captured drawings or holographic imagery), with accompanying narration, have been shown to be overwhelmingly popular with students around the globe. Importantly, even though these resources have proven to be popular with students they are also designed cognisant of the relevant evidence-based theories such as cognitive load and cognitive theory of multimedia learning. Using our experience of designing, developing and evaluating the efficacy of such resources, this session will provide colleagues with tangible examples of ways to create such resources, how to develop them with a student-centered approach.

Full Session Info

For more information on all our focus sessions, and to register for the 25th Annual IAMSE Meeting, please visit www.IAMSEconference.org.

Register for #IAMSE21

Say hello to our featured member Laura Bauler

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Our association is a robust and diverse set of educators, researchers, medical professionals, volunteers and academics that come from all walks of life and from around the globe. Each month we choose a member to highlight their academic and professional career, and see how they are making the best of their membership in IAMSE. This month’s Featured Member is Laura Bauler, PhD.

Laura Bauler, PhD
Western Michigan University Homer Stryker MD School of Medicine
Assistant Professor in the Department Biomedical Sciences and Department of Medical Education

How long have you been a member of IAMSE? 
I only recently joined IAMSE, starting in 2020 after transitioning my career to a medical education focus. 

Looking at your time with the Association, what have you most enjoyed doing? What are you looking forward to? Committee involvement, conference attendance, WAS series, manuals, etc.? 
Joining IAMSE during the pandemic was one of the best things that I did for my career. I have greatly enjoyed learning from the Winter and Spring Seminar series as well as participating in the IAMSE CafĂ© discussions. IAMSE has such a vibrant, active community that is so welcoming to new educators and new ideas. I also look forward to my first IAMSE conference and to finding an opportunity to become more involved in the IAMSE community. It is so nice to have finally found a group of like-minded colleagues, that I can learn from and collaborate with. 

What interesting things are you working on outside the Association right now? Research, presentations, etc.
One of the projects I am currently working on explores the impact of peer evaluation on medical student learning and growth. As educators we have very structured interactions with our students, limiting our feedback for learners to the aspects that we can directly observe. In contrast, peers often interact in diverse settings (both in and out of the learning environment), giving them unique and valuable perspectives that can be used to help each other grow professionally. 

Another project I am working on that enables me to use my Microbiology knowledge, is a research study examining the impact of Chlamydia infection on birth outcomes. Chlamydia is one the most prevalent bacterial sexually transmitted infections worldwide but is largely asymptomatic. Thus, unless we test for it, many people don’t know they are infected. For individuals with limited access to or distrust of the healthcare system, an undetected infection with Chlamydia can have lasting impacts, especially on fertility and birth outcomes. Better understanding of the factors that impact infection and the outcomes that result can help us re-think how we take care of our community and improve healthcare.

Tell me a little bit about the oral presentation that you will be presenting at the Annual Meeting in June titled “FACTORS IMPACTING THE RAPID TRANSITION OF ANATOMY CURRICULA TO A VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT.” What really excites you about this topic and about presenting it at #IAMSE21?
In collaboration with Dr. Wendy Lackey-Cornelison and Dr. Kate Lesciotto, we conducted a survey of anatomy educators to better understand how anatomy education and the educators themselves were impacted by the rapid transition to online learning. Since anatomy is largely taught in a hands-on, interactive manner, shifting to a mandatory virtual environment had huge impacts on how we deliver that education. Our research explored factors in the pre-COVID environment that impacted how difficult the transition to online learning was for educators. A couple of factors identified that impacted the transition difficulty include the educational pedagogy used by educators as well as their length of teaching experience. COVID has presented us with challenges that will have a lasting impact on the teaching environment. We are excited to share this study with the IAMSE community because the lessons we have learned in this study will help educators to better design and prepare for the future of medical education. We look forward to all the wonderful feedback and discussion that will result from sharing our research with the IAMSE community.

Anything else that you would like to add? 
I want to thank all my IAMSE colleagues. For me, participating in IAMSE over the last year has been incredibly valuable, helping me learn, grow, and connect with fantastic people, especially valuable during a time when traditional social interactions have been so limited.

For more info on sessions, presentations and to register for #IAMSE21 visit www.IAMSEconference.org.