Our association is a robust and diverse set of educators, students, 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 Gabi N. Waite.
Gabi N. Waite, Ph.D.
Vice Chair of Education; Professor of Physiology and Immunology
Geisinger College of Health, Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine
How long have you been a member of IAMSE?
I have been an IAMSE member since 2004. IAMSE was instrumental in helping to inspire my change from a bench researcher to a passionate educator and more recently administrative leader in education.
Looking at your time with the Association, what have you most enjoyed doing? What are you looking forward to?
I most enjoy being a part of an international community of like-minded medical educators, scholars, colleagues, and friends who together have a critical role in the way medical science education evolves. I am proud of IAMSE’s growth and adaptability, and I look forward to the day that we become an even more inclusive group of global health science educators that learn from each other.
Tell us about your Oral Presentation “Integrated but Separate: How to Enhance Recognition of Discipline Core Concepts in Horizontally & Vertically Integrated Curricula.” What got you interested in this topic? What do you hope your attendees will get out of your presentation?
The key idea originated with the need to improve immunology education in our curriculum and could not have developed without a strong team effort from the basic science faculty at Geisinger. I would also like to give all due credit to my colleague Dr. Youngjin Cho who steered an effort to develop a four-step strategy based on identification, application, and vertical and longitudinal integration of immunology core concepts. This program which we implemented at Geisinger was very successful. When we recently were asked to design and implement a new 18-month phase 1 medical curriculum within 6 months, a small leadership team of educators, including Dr. Cho, used this model to integrate all basic science disciplines into our new Total Health Curriculum.
What workshop, session or event are you most looking forward to in Cancun?
As every meeting, I am overwhelmed by preselecting the topics since so many of them sound interesting. I am looking forward to hearing about the balance between standardization and individualization of medical education, to learning how basic science education can be tied to patient outcomes, and to seeing examples of how the medical education community responds to a renewed understanding of inclusiveness. And all this in a beautiful setting – it is definitely something to look forward to.
What interesting things are you working on outside the Association right now?
There are too many projects to describe in detail, however, for one example, I am a co-author of a mentorship framework for basic science faculty that has been published in the IAMSE manual. We recently participated in the inaugural IAMSE mentoring certificate program and plan to stay involved in the years to come. Also, we recently started a medical education research group that involves students and faculty of six participating institutions. It is growing quickly with many evolving projects.
Anything else that you would like to add?
IAMSE is poised for continued growth, diversity, and success while maintaining a culture of intimacy. I count it a privilege to be a small part of such a vital organization.
Want to learn more about Gabi’s Oral Presentation during the IAMSE 2023 Annual Conference? Click here for more information on that program and the hundreds of other presentations happening live in June in Cancun, Mexico!