June 10, 2005

Dear Faculty Member :

It gives us great pleasure to announce an exciting initiative in the School of Medicine to reorganize and invigorate the student advising system and the Clinical Skills curriculum, and we invite you to apply for this program. The School has committed more than $1 million annually to fund a system in part modeled on successful programs at other institutions *. The overarching goal of this undertaking is to enhance medical students' education and professional growth by:

-fostering longitudinal mentoring relationships with faculty;
-teaching and modeling professionalism, compassion, and patient-centered care;
-supporting faculty as they provide intensive instruction in the clinical skills of medicine;
-and building a network of connections for students to thrive within this educational and scientific community.

Our students consistently articulate a need for greater contact with faculty and their invaluable advice and counsel. In addition, upperclassmen can provide useful guidance to younger students but as our classes are horizontally stratified, there is little opportunity for such interaction. To address these issues, we will be instituting an advisory system in which each student will become a member of one of four “colleges”. Students and their advisors will meet individually and at college-wide functions throughout all four years of medical school.

Faculty are invited to participate in various ways. Twenty-four faculty will be recruited as the core group to serve in the colleges as mentors to students and as the primary teachers of Clinical Skills. In addition, other basic science and clinical and part-time faculty will also be welcomed to the colleges as faculty members. Those interested in playing a role but unable to make a significant time commitment will nonetheless enhance this emerging faculty-student community, by providing social contact and academic networking opportunities. This union of mentoring and teaching of clinical skills seeks to provide a foundation for the development of meaningful relationships, as students see role models for their emerging professional identity first-hand at the bedside with their advisors. It is also an opportunity to showcase to students the diversity that exists in our academic environment and to foster even more by welcoming role models from different backgrounds, specialties, experiences, and interests.

One of the most significant aspects of this initiative is that it will provide core faculty with the protected time needed to devote themselves to these new roles. The School is committed to support 20% of each of the core faculty's salary (based on gross salaries up to $180,000 similar to NIH salary guidelines for grant support).

The colleges initiative will also create opportunities for faculty for scholarship and academic productivity. Core faculty will be involved with curricular innovation, devising new content, evaluative strategies and outcome measures for clinical skills over the 4 years of medical school. They will also play a critical role in program development as the system grows and matures. In addition to these opportunities for the professional development of their faculty members, departments will also benefit from students having earlier and more extensive exposure to their disciplines.

Planning and leadership for this initiative has thus far been a collaborative effort including David Nichols M.D., Vice Dean for Education, Tom Koenig M.D., Associate Dean for Student Affairs, Pat Thomas M.D., Associate Dean for Curriculum, and Lorraine Racusen M.D., Year II Director and Professor of Pathology. Recently, a faculty search committee headed by Dr. Racusen selected Robert Shochet, M.D., to serve as Director of Clinical Skills and this new student advisory system. Dr. Shochet, currently on the part-time faculty at Sinai Hospital , will be joining us full-time on July 1. These individuals will coordinate a selection committee to review applications and conduct applicant interviews.

An application and a document detailing the specific expectations for the core faculty positions are available. Your completed application should be sent electronically to both Dr. Rob Shochet (rshochet@msn.com ) and Dr. Tom Koenig (tkoenig@jhmi.edu). Letters of support should be forwarded electronically to these addresses as well. The deadline for application submission is July 6, 2005. Interviews will be held in July on a rolling basis as applications are received. We plan to select core faculty by the end of July and assemble this group for meetings in August prior to new student orientation. Colleges teaching duties will commence with the upcoming academic year.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Dr. Shochet (410-601-6851) or Dr. Koenig (410-955-3416) by phone or email. The School is incredibly excited about the prospects of building this new system and collaborating with you in this process. We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

David Nichols, M.D.
Vice Dean for Education

Thomas Koenig, M.D.
Associate Dean for Student Affairs

Robert Shochet, M.D.
Director of Colleges Program

*For a detailed description of the University of Washington program, see EA Goldstein, et al. Acad Med. 2005; 80: 423-43.