Happy New Year! The new year (or really any milestone) is a great time to take stock of where we are and set goals and ambitions for the future. In this month’s newsletter, I’d like to share a little of what I see coming in 2025, and the goals I have for us educationally and as a team. I will focus primarily on Medical Education and the Office of Education Units in this newsletter to keep the length manageable. But I call your attention to the OT and PT Annual reports for great information about these outstanding programs that lead the nation in reputation and innovation. I intend to speak to graduate student education (master’s and PhD training) in an upcoming issue.
As I have said before, artificial intelligence (AI) will be a disruptive and transformative force, not only in healthcare but also in health professions education. It is difficult to predict how that disruption will unfold or what the future beyond a few years will look like because the technology is evolving so very quickly. What is clear is that AI has and will continue to be implemented in healthcare systems to support administrative efficiency, improve clinical care, and, hopefully, reduce unnecessary waste and burdens. In health professions education, we have a dual responsibility: to teach our learners the ethical and practical uses of AI so that they are equipped for the future of healthcare, and to explore, study, and make thoughtful decisions about the integration of AI into education itself by determining who, what, when, why, and how we want to use it in service of our mission.
To strategically move us forward with AI in health professions education, we have several new initiatives in 2025. Dr. Steve Lawrence is spearheading a working group to implement AI into the Gateway Curriculum. To support faculty in using AI in the teaching environment, the Academy of Educators has created an AI for Educators Workshop Series that runs through March. I am also planning a visiting professorship from Dr. Cornelius James (University of Michigan) in April that will focus on the impact of AI on clinical reasoning education (more to come soon).
Meanwhile, I encourage everyone to check out the growing body of resources available at the Center for Teaching and Learning on AI in education. I also encourage all educators and learners in the SOM to experiment with AI using our WashU Gen. AI resources or outside resources. Please remember, when using outside resources, it is vitally important that you do not enter any Washington University or secure data, including deidentified healthcare or learner data of any kind, into these platforms. Regarding administrative uses in education and scholarly work, OE will be partnering with Dr. Phillip Payne and I2DB to develop a strategic plan for AI integration in educational administration and teaching (clinical and classroom) early in 2025. As the details emerge, I will share more. Finally, for those interested in innovative AI use in education, please consider this call for LOI from Macy due Feb 3rd. Note there is no limit on the number of applications from any single institution, and that this call focuses specifically on MD education, with the opportunity to be inclusive of other professions.
While AI is an important focus for 2025 and beyond, there are many other important initiatives. In the MD program, we will be launching the final phase of the assessment dashboard which will soon be available to all phases of the curriculum, with Phase 1 having launched in fall 2023 and Phase 2 in spring 2024. Led by Drs. Carolyn Dufault and Amanda Emke and supported by a fantastic team of stakeholders within the Office of Education and external consultants from Technology Partners, this multi-year project sets us apart in the world of competency-based education. It allows learners, coaches, and competency committees to understand the performance and trajectory of learning, develop real-time individual learning plans, and make decisions about progression. While there have been hiccups along the way, we have learned so much from this project and achieved groundbreaking success. It also lays the foundation for AI integration into the dashboard to ease the work of competency committees, develop predictive analytics, and ultimately incorporate just-in-time teaching and coaching. While the assessment dashboard has focused on Gateway, the platform has the potential to be transferred to any competency-based educational program, including our own PT program and GME. Other IT projects, like Student Sunrise, data warehousing, etc., also support our ability to integrate AI and make better use of data for enhanced decision-making and scholarship.
With the retirement of Dr. Koong-Nah Chung, who ably led the Office of Medical Student Research for over 25 years, Dr. Terrence Kummer will assume the helm of an expanded Office of Medical Student Research and Scholarship. The new office will fully encompass the EXPLORE program, which provides training and mentorship in research, medical education, advocacy, global health, and healthcare innovation and leadership, as well as associated scholarship. It will also launch a new program in support of scholarship-related travel for medical students. This office will move under Dr. Nichole Zehnder, who will lead a new unit that encompasses academic support and career development, including Gateway coaching , support for UME and GME learner success, and disability resources for the School of Medicine.
Our recent experiences at AMEE and AAMC, where many of us presented our work, demonstrated that we are well on our way to being one of the nation’s most respected leaders in health professions education. In the coming months we will roll out system changes to support and build upon our capacity to produce and disseminate our scholarship so others can learn from the innovative work we do. To ensure our success, we will be primarily focusing our resources on areas of existing strength in scholarship, including competency-based education, assessment, professional identity formation, diversity and equity in education, and important innovations in our programs. As part of this, we have hired two exceptional new faculty in health professions education scholarship – Drs. Adam Wyatt and Deborah Engle. Stay tuned for more information to come about a new single-entry system that will streamline evaluation and scholarship-related requests and support.
In GME, new programs in Internal Medicine and a Transitional Year at Missouri Baptist were approved in 2024 and will match their first classes in 2025. The GME Consortium, under the deft leadership of Dr. Dominique Cosco, has been working diligently to maximize the educational and work experiences of our residents and fellows – look for more news on this in the coming months. This year’s work will also focus on preparing for our ACGME institutional site visit in 2026.
To support our success in all of these important initiatives, we will also be working on professional and team development. Keep an eye on this newsletter as well as the Academy calendar and the Faculty Promotion and Career Development calendar for opportunities. Within OE, individual units will be focusing on teamwork, collaboration, and communication as core development, ensuring we are working systematically together to move us forward as a team. Leaders of units will also be working to develop individual growth and development plans for every one of us.
The future is bright. We have much to look forward to in 2025 and beyond. And we will achieve so much together. Happy New Year!