A series of events planned for May at OUWB will center on the school’s past, present, and future — and generally be geared towards reinforcing and renewing excitement about medical education.

The William Davidson Medical Education Month runs May 1 through May 30. Events are free and open to the OUWB community.

The theme of the month is “Transforming Medical Education.” It will feature a slew of events hosted by OUWB administrators, faculty, and staff, along with officials from other organizations and schools including Corewell Health, University of Michigan, and Stanford University, just to name a few.

Co-chairs for the month are Ann Voorheis-Sargent, Ph.D., director, Center for Excellence in Medical Education (CEME), and Sandor H. Shoichet, M.D., FACP, program director, Internal Medicine Residency and medical director, Outpatient Clinics, Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital, and associate professor, OUWB.

“As a lifelong medical educator, I want people who attend these sessions to come away with their sense of purpose reinforced and renewed…and to be excited about the fact that what we are doing matters,” said Shoichet. “We’re helping shape the futures of really talented, very committed, young physicians in training.”

According to Shoichet, the history of the series traces back to almost the beginning of the school itself.

It can be attributed to school officials like Robert Folberg, M.D., founding dean, and Linda Gillum, Ph.D., founding associate dean for Academic and Faculty Affairs.

Together, they decided to have a specific time dedicated to research and speakers from the medical education field who are invited to share their insights and expertise. By comparison, said Shoichet, other schools typically have a specific day set aside for such events. (This year marks the first time it was expanded to be a month.)

“We were audacious enough to have a whole week dedicated to medical education,” he said. “It was a way to sort of plant our flag in the center of the field and say, ‘Here we are.’”

The namesake of the month is the late William Davidson, a successful businessman and founder of Palace Sports and Entertainment. In late 2007, Davidson initiated plans to donate $1 million to Beaumont Health (now Corewell Health) with the express direction that the money be used to support medical education under the direction of his doctor and friend, Shoichet.

Planning for the series is done by a committee of OUWB administrators, faculty, and staff, and it begins in the fall. For this year, Voorheis-Sargent said the topic of “Transforming Medical Education” was established to address how medical education and medical students continue to evolve.

“Plus, (OUWB) is working on updating our curriculum so it’s very timely for us to have these conversations about what other schools have done and ways that we can transform,” she said.

The month’s keynote speaker, for example, will be Rajesh Magrulkar, M.D., Marguerite S. Roll Professor of Medical Education, clinical professor of Internal Medicine, and clinical professor of Learning Health Sciences, University of Michigan Medical School.

Set for May 14, Mangrulkar’s presentation will be held at Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital in Royal Oak. The title will be “Transforming Medical Education: How Do We Get There?”

The conversation will continue that day with a panel discussion on “Curriculum Transformation: Sharing Stories.” It will be facilitated by Robin Rivest, Ed.D., assistant dean, Medical Education, OUWB. Panelists will be Mangrulkar, Pierre Morris, M.D., associate dean, Clinical Education, OUWB; Gustavo Patino, M.D., Ph.D., associate dean, Undergraduate Medical Education, Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine; Eugene Yen, D.O., MPH, and Charity Yen, M.A., Assessment & Evaluation Coordinator, OUWB.

Following the panel, a session called “Transforming Curriculum Data at OUWB” will be hosted by Noah Pollock, M.S., director, Curriculum Data Management, OUWB.

Another highlight from the month, said Voorheis-Sargent, will be on May 15, when Folberg will lead a seminar called “OUWB: A Medical Education Masterpiece.”

“Dr. Folberg is going to share his expertise, but this also will be the first time he’s explained how the unique OUWB culture was established and sustained for over a decade,” she said. “We’re really excited about it.”

For a complete list of events, dates, times, and locations, please click here.

For more information, contact Andrew Dietderich, senior marketing specialist, OUWB, at [email protected].

To request an interview, visit the OUWB Communications & Marketing webpage.

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