Transformation Journal
Volume 3 | Issue 2 | March/April 2019
Catherine Lucey, MD presents at the plenary session of Developing Medical Educators of the 21st Century


Professional Development Conference for Medical Educators a Huge Success
by Sandrijn van Schaik, MD, PhD

This February, over 130 medical educators came together in San Francisco for the second annual Developing Medical Educators of the 21st Century course . This course, offered by the University of California San Francisco in collaboration with the National Transformation Network, is for designed for educators seeking to grow their skills in curricular innovation and implementation and learn new approaches to clinical teaching to address contemporary issues in healthcare.

After the overwhelming success of the inaugural course in February 2018, the course directors, Patricia O’Sullivan EdD and Sandrijn van Schaik MD PhD convened a planning committee with members from National Transformation Network schools to create a whole new course agenda with new plenary sessions addressing hot topics and a balanced offering of workshops. Not only was the content different this year, we also tried new formats, including a pro-con debate with audience participation and an interview with Dr. George Thibault, past-president of the Josiah Macy Foundation.

As was the case last year, participants came from diverse educational backgrounds and settings and included faculty from leading academic centers and community-based teaching hospitals, as well as a few international participants. The energy and enthusiasm among participants were notable throughout the course, and they clearly enjoyed the engaging format of the sessions and the opportunities to create new networks and collaborations through small group work.
Presenting faculty at the course comprised leaders in medical education at UCSF and National Transformation Network schools, who addressed contemporary issues in medical education that affect learners from undergraduate, graduate and continuing medical education. Sessions offered at the course spanned a variety of topics including optimization of the learning environment, mindfulness, design-thinking, teaching clinical reasoning, mitigating bias, master adaptive learning and programmatic assessment, among others.

While we are still collecting evaluation data, we have already started planning for next year’s course, which will again take place in San Francisco, February 10-12, 2020. We hope to see all of there, and bring your colleagues and friends!
Photos courtesy of Mark Wooding, UCSF
MCW's 2019
Common Read

The Kern Institute is proud to sponsor the 2019 MCW Common Read. This student-led initiative strives to provide a foundation for conversations around change, compassion, caring, and character. This year's book is “In Shock” by Dr. Rana Awdish, which chronicles Dr. Awdish on her journey through a life-threatening medical emergency and its aftermath. Throughout the course of her journey, she flips the lens on the medical system and balks at the gaps in caring and compassion, while also questioning the competence of her physicians and caregivers. Caring, competence, and character dance in and out of this purposely raw novel, demanding readers take a critical look at themselves as practitioners.

Meet Dr. Rana Awdish!
Thursday, April 18, 2019 | 9:00am


The Kern Institute is excited to welcome Dr. Awdish to MCW on Thursday, April 18, 2019 for a Grand Rounds presentation and book signing. If you can't join us in person on April 18, please join us by

For more information, please visit  mcw.edu/commonread . Follow @mcwreads on Instagram and use #mcwcommonread on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!
Help Us Celebrate!
2018-19 MCW Kern
Innovative Ideas Initiative Celebration

Monday, April 29, 2019
5:00 - 7:00 pm
MCW Hub Cafe


Poster Presentations, Pinning & Reception
2018-19 MCW Kern
KINETIC3 Teaching Academy Celebration

Wednesday, June 5, 2019
3:00 - 4:45 pm
MCW Alumni Center

Oral & Poster Presentations, Pinning & Light Refreshments
Upcoming Events

MCW Kern Institute Grand Rounds Presentation
My Journey from Death to Recovery
by Rana Awdish, MD, Author of  In Shock
Thursday, April 18, 2019
9:00 - 10:00 a.m., HRC Auditorium, Medical College of Wisconsin


MCW Knowledge Now Presentation
Cognitive Load Theory in Planning Teaching & Learning Experiences
by Patricia O'Sullivan, EdD, UCSF
Monday, April 22, 2019
12:00 - 1:00 p.m., HRC Auditorium, Medical College of Wisconsin


Innovations in Healthcare Education Research Conference
Speak-Up in Challenging Clinical Education Environments
by Kristina Kaljo, PhD, Mike Lund, MD, Marty Muntz, MD, and Cassidy Berns, Kern Institute for the Transformation of Medical Education
Thursday, April 25, 2019
8:30 - 9:45am, Medical College of Wisconsin


Innovations in Healthcare Education Research Conference
Using Design Thinking to Create a Student-Centric Active Learning Experience in the QuIPS Pathway
by Cassie Ferguson, MD, Kern Institute for the Transformation of Medical Education
Thursday, April 25, 2019
3:00 - 3:10pm, Medical College of Wisconsin
L&S West Classrooms M2575/2585


Innovations in Healthcare Education Research Conference
A Taste of Design Thinking from Stanford with Six Pedagogical Levers to Create Successful Learning
by Chris Decker, MD, Cassie Ferguson, MD, and Julia Schmitt, Kern Institute for the Transformation of Medical Education
Thursday, April 25, 2019
3:30 - 4:45pm, Medical College of Wisconsin


Innovations in Healthcare Education Research Conference
Curricular Transformation Examples: Evidence, Risk & Opportunities
by Marty Muntz, MD, Jeff Fritz, PhD, and Sally Twining, PhD, Kern Institute for the Transformation of Medical Education
Thursday, April 25, 2019
3:30 - 4:45pm, Medical College of Wisconsin


Innovations in Healthcare Education Research Conference
Does Your Character Have Character? Building Character Through Medical Improv
by Erica Chou, MD, MaryAnn Gilligan, MD, Sara Lauck, MD, Kern Institute for the Transformation of Medical Education
Thursday, April 25, 2019
3:30 - 4:45pm, Medical College of Wisconsin


MCW Kern Institute Celebration!
2018-19 Innovative Ideas Initiative Celebration
Poster Presentations, Pinning & Reception
Monday, April 29, 2019
5:00 - 7:00 pm, Medical College of Wisconsin, Hub Cafe


MCW Kern Institute Co-Sponsored Speaker
Carrie Falk Memorial Lecture
What Are Doctors For? Therapeutic Relationships Through the End of Life
by Ira Byock, MD, Institute for Human Caring, Providence St. Joseph Health
Thursday, May 2, 2019
9:30 am, Froedtert Hospital Helfaer Auditorium
Join us, no registration required.


MCW Kern Institute Celebration!
2018-19 KINETIC3 Teaching Academy Celebration
Oral & Poster Presentations, Pinning & Light Refreshments
Wednesday, June 5, 2019
3:00 - 4:45 pm, Medical College of Wisconsin, Alumni Center
Book Suggestion

How Doctors
Think
by
Jerome Groopman, MD


The average U.S. physician determines the most likely diagnosis and best treatment within the first eighteen seconds of listening to a patient describe his/her symptoms. Often, decisions made this way are correct, but at crucial moments they can also be wrong -- with catastrophic consequences. In this book, Dr. Groopman explores how doctors can learn to be better listeners, avoid snap judgments, embrace uncertainty, communicate effectively, and deploy other skills that can profoundly impact their patient's health. This book describes the warning signs of erroneous medical thinking and reveals how new technologies may actually be hindering accurate diagnoses. 

Groopman draws on a wealth of research, extensive interviews with some of the country’s best doctors, and his own experiences as a doctor and as a patient. He has learned many of the lessons in this book the hard way, from his own mistakes and from errors his doctors made in treating his own debilitating medical problems.

To learn more about the book, click here to read a review by the Harvard Business Review.
Just in Case You Missed it...


MCW Kern Institute Cafe Presentation
Thursday, February 28, 2019
When Things Can't Be Fixed: Stories of Caring and Resilience
by Wendy Peltier, MD and Callisia Clarke, MD, Medical College of Wisconsin


MCW Kern Institute Grand Rounds Presentation
Monday, March 4, 2019
American Refugee: Dishwasher to Doctor
by Heval Kelli, MD, Emory University


MCW Kern Institute Connection Cafe Presentation
Thursday, March 28, 2019
What I Wish I Had Known Four Years Ago
by Zachary Helmen, Daniel Lee, Emily Navarrete, Jose Palomares and Liana Woodley - MCW Students
Transformation Journal is produced by the MCW Kern Institute and the Kern National Transformation Network
MCW Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Institute for the Transformation of Medical Education