Transformational Times
Words of Hope, Character & Resilience from our Virtual Community
Friday, March 12, 2021
Editor's Corner
  • Bruce Campbell, MD: The Transformational Times has a Birthday and I have an Insight

Readers' Choice Awards
  • Malika Siker, MD: Lessons on Resilience, Empathy and Magic from Life is Beautiful and Roberto Benigni in the COVID-19 Era | Published May 8, 2020
  • David Nelson, PhD, MS: The Gathering | Published May 22, 2020
  • Bruce Campbell, MD: Microagression | Published June 12, 2020
  • Himanshu Agrawal, MD: Being Human in Medicine: Fabulous Failures | Published September 4, 2020
  • Wendy Peltier, MD: What Better Time to Focus on Caring? | Published December 11, 2020
  • Adina Kalet, MD, MPH: Providing Space to Shed Tears may be Key to a Better, Post-COVID Future | Published February 5, 2021

Editors' Choice Awards
  • Ashley Hines: Dear White Colleagues | Published June 26, 2020
  • Cassie Ferguson, MD: The Messy | Published August 28, 2020
  • Leroy Seymour, MD, MS: On Inclusion, Diversity, and Why Black Lives Matter Too: What our MCW Community BLM Protests Mean to our Colleagues of Color | Published September 11, 2020
  • Ana Istrate, MD, MS: On Joy and Sorrow in Our Long Winter | Published December 30, 2020
  • Megan Schultz, MD, MA: Teaching is Love | Published January 29, 2021

Blog Readers' Favorites
  • Kathlyn Fletcher, MD, MA: A Personal Call to Action | Published June 12, 2020
  • Victor Redmon, MD: Why We Need More Black Physicians | Published August 7, 2020
  • Paul Bergl, MD: The Emotional Toll of Being a Health Care Provider During a Pandemic | Published October 16, 2020

Instagram Followers' Favorite
  • Olivia Davies: May I Drink Coffee? | Published September 18, 2020

Twitter Followers' Favorite
  • Scott Lamm: Post a Message of Gratitude on the MCW-Froedtert Skywalk | Published November 27, 2020

Your Turn
  • Respond to this week's prompt: What do you remember most about your match day?
  • Respond to this week's character question: What does fairness mean to you?

Announcements & Resources
  • Apply to the Kern Institute's KINETIC3 Teaching Academy
  • Register for Kern's Upcoming Virtual Events
  • Kern National Network News & Events
Editor's Corner
The Transformational Times has a Birthday and I have an Insight


by Bruce Campbell, MD

In this Anniversary Issue, we reprint some of the most important and popular essays published during the first year of the Transformational Times. Dr. Campbell, Editor in Chief of the newsletter, reflects back on its origins in March 2020, and believes it will offer a blueprint for the transformation of medical education and the culture of medicine for the coming generation…

This newsletter has been around for one year. Safe to say, more than a few things have changed over the months.
 
In March 2020, in-person classes were being cancelled, medical students were being sent home from their clinical rotations, and the pandemic was starting to become real. On March 16, Dr. Adina Kalet, Director the Kern Institute, presented her vision for a weekly email that would offer support and information to MCW and the wider community. She invited several of us to address a variety of topics, asking us how we might: 
 
  • Keep students connected now that they had been forced off-campus
  • Understand what Caring and Character look like during a public health emergency
  • Explore how faculty and staff are affected by the ethical issues inherent in balancing work, coronavirus exposure, family upheaval, PPE shortages, and child rearing
  • Support the “worried well”
  • See how the pandemic might reactivate old wounds
  • Find ways to best engage our audience
  • Discover what “transformation” looks like when everything is disrupted, and how we should take advantage of this disruption to reinvigorate medical education

The Transformational Times Editorial Team
Bruce Campbell, MD; Adina Kalet, MD, MPH; Julia Schmitt; Wendy Peltier, MD; Kathlyn Fletcher, MD; Scott Lamm; Olivia Davies; Sarah Torres; Anna Visser; and Eileen Peterson

Lessons on Resilience, Empathy and Magic from Life is Beautiful and Roberto Benigni in the COVID-19 Era

by Malika Siker, MD
Published May 8, 2020

The Gathering

by David Nelson, PhD, MS
Published May 22, 2020

Microagression

by Bruce Campbell, MD
Published June 12, 2020

Being Human in Medicine: Fabulous Failures

by Himanshu Agrawal, MD
Published September 4, 2020

What Better Time to Focus on Caring?

by Wendy Peltier, MD
Published December 11, 2020


Providing Space to Shed Tears may be Key to a Better, Post-COVID Future

by Adina Kalet, MD, MPH
Published February 5, 2021

Dear White Colleagues

by Ashley Hines
Published June 26, 2020

The Messy

by Cassie Ferguson, MD
Published August 28, 2020
On Inclusion, Diversity, and Why Black Lives Matter Too: What our MCW Community BLM Protests Mean to our Colleagues of Color

by Leroy Seymour, MD, MS
Published September 11, 2020

On Joy and Sorrow in Our Long Winter

by Ana Istrate, MD, MS
Published December 30, 2020

Teaching is Love

by Megan Schultz, MD, MA
Published January 29, 2021

A Personal Call to Action

by Kathlyn Fletcher, MD, MA
Published June 12, 2020

Why We Need More Black Physicians

by Victor Redmon, MD
Published August 7, 2020

The Emotional Toll of Being a Health Care Provider During a Pandemic

by Paul Bergl, MD
Published October 16, 2020

May I Drink Coffee?

by Olivia Davies
Published September 18, 2020

Messages of Gratitude on the MCW-Froedtert Skywalk

by Scott Lamm
Published November 27, 2020
The Year in Review
by Theresa Maatman, MD
The Year in Review
51 Issues Published
Over 6,000 Email Subscribers​


Broad Range of Contributors

125 Faculty Authors​
58 Student Authors​
23 Staff Authors​
13 Resident Authors​
10 Guest Authors
5 APP Authors

Respond to next week's reflection prompt:


What do you remember most about your Match Day?
Apply to the Kern Institute's 2021-22 KINETIC3 Teaching Academy

Applications are open to all
·     MCW Faculty
·     Senior Residents & Fellows
·     Graduate Students
·     Advanced Practice Providers
 
Applicants will be notified of acceptance by May 2021.
Orientation begins in July 2021.

This year's KINETIC3 program will offer two distinct tracks: Excellence in Teaching and Medical Educator. Both tracks will present a curriculum featuring evidence-based, learner-centric teaching strategies, and promoting active learning.
Kern Institute Grand Rounds
Compassionomics: The Revolutionary Scientific Evidence That Caring Makes a Difference

Please plan to join us for a Grand Rounds presentation with Stephen Trzeciak, MD, MPH, Professor, Cooper Medical School of Rowan University; Chair, Department of Medicine at Cooper University Health Care and co-author of Compassionomics: The Revolutionary Evidence that Caring Makes a Difference.

Recent reports indicate that health care is currently in the midst of a compassion crisis. But the pivotal question is this: Does compassion really matter? Of course health care providers have a moral imperative to treat patients with compassion, and compassion is a cornerstone of the “art” of medicine. But is compassion just in the art of medicine, or are there also evidence-based effects of compassion belonging in the science of medicine? And, what is the evidence? In this talk, Dr. Trzeciak will tell the story of his two-year journey through the data in the biomedical literature to test the hypothesis that compassion matters – for patients, for patient care, and for those who care for patients.
March 18, 2021
Live Virtual Event
9:00 - 10:00 am CT
Kern Institute Connection Cafe
Medical School Curriculum Innovations: Impact on MCW's Curriculum Plans

Please plan to join us for a Connection Cafe discussion with William Hueston, MD, Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education, and Associate Provost for Education at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

In this session, Dr. Hueston will review innovations in medical school curricula at several other U.S. medical schools and how those changes align with improvement in adult learning. Dr. Hueston will then review how these innovations were studied by the MCW Curriculum Exploration Committee, formulated into core principles for a new curriculum, and then used to build a new curriculum framework for MCW's School of Medicine.
March 25, 2021
Live Virtual Event
4:00 - 5:00 pm CT
A Night of Wonderful Stories
MedMoth Returns!


Join us for a night of wonderful stories by MCW Students, Residents, Fellows, Faculty and Staff.

We will be holding two preparatory workshops on Wednesday, March 17th and Wednesday, March 31st, hosted by the fabulous ExFabula. Sign up for the workshops here.

Everyone has personal stories worth sharing! Ex Fabula and the MCW MedMoth invite you to discover, shape, and share personal stories about your experiences in the world of medicine.
April 8, 2021
Live Virtual Event
7:00 pm CT
Kern Institute Connection Cafe
"Can I Tell You Something?"


Please plan to join us for reflections presented by a group of our 4th-year medical students.
April 22, 2021
Live Virtual Event
4:00 - 5:00 pm CT
MCW Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Medicine
4th Biennial Suicide Symposium

Addressing the role of clinical intervention and the experience of patient loss to suicide.
Register via Ethos: http://ocpe.mcw.edu/
Specialties - Behavioral Health - Suicide Symposium

For more information, please contact Kiara Bond
(414) 955-7250
April 28, 2021
Live Virtual Event
8:30 am - 12:15 pm CT
Kern Institute Grand Rounds
Advocacy on the Frontlines: Supporting LGBTQ Patients in Combat and Beyond

Please plan to join us for a Grand Rounds presentation with Jesse Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH, Director of the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin (AHW) Endowment and Senior Associate Dean and Professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin School of Medicine.

Dr. Ehrenfeld will discuss how advocacy can transform health care, health outcomes, and health equity in combat and beyond for LGBTQ+ patients and all marginalized populations.
April 29, 2021
Live Virtual Event
9:00 - 10:00 am CT
Podcast Interview with
Adina Kalet, MD, MPH

Dr. Kalet discusses her role as the Chair of the Robert D. and Patricia P. Kern Institute for the Transformation of Medical Education, whose focus is on character, caring and competence. She describes a recent request for proposal for medical education transformation collaboratories, talks about renegotiating the social contract, the Kern National Network and other topics with Preston Reynolds, MD, PhD, MACP.
The Transformational Times publishes weekly, delivering stories of hope, character and resilience to our virtual community.
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