Transformational Times
Words of Hope, Character & Resilience from our Virtual Community
Friday, January 22, 2021
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Director's Corner
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Adina Kalet, MD, MPH, and Kathlyn Fletcher, MD, MA: Discussing the Grandkids: If RBG and Antonin Scalia Can Find Common Ground, Then So Can We
Perspectives/Opinions
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Karen Marcdante, MD: How "Mattering" Matters
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Kurt Pfeifer, MD: Learning Communities & Academic Coaching: Professional Enrichment for Students AND Faculty
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Verna Monson, PhD: The Quiet but Powerful Transformation of Professional Identity: Coach as Facilitator
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Sandra Pfister, PhD: Supporting our Students (SOS): How Can We Best Help Learners Overcome Academic Hurdles and Setbacks?
Take 3
Transformational Snaps
- Jared Muench, M2 Student
- Nick Visser, M2 Student
- Glennie Whitfield, M1 Student
Poetry Corner
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Amanda Gorman: The Hill We Climb (excerpt)
Your Turn
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See how readers answered last week's prompt: What is your favorite thing about winter in Wisconsin?
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Respond to this week's prompt: What book are you reading right now, and would you recommend it?
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Respond to this week's character question: Who Nurtured Your Love of Learning?
Announcements & Resources
- Apply to the Kern Institute's Transformational Ideas Initiative (TI2) Seed Grant Program
- Register for Kern's Upcoming Virtual Events
- Kern National Network News & Events
- Sign-up for Movement & Meditation
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Director's Corner
Discussing the Grandkids: If RBG and Antonin Scalia Can Find Common Ground, Then So Can We
by Adina Kalet, MD, MPH, and Kathlyn Fletcher, MD, MA
This week, Drs. Kalet and Fletcher team up to argue that there are ways in which nurturing a patient-physician relationship resemble the healing our society needs today…
As clinicians, we learn to build rapport quickly. Most of the time this is easy. After all, people come to physicians and other health professionals seeking help or advice and are predisposed to trust us. Under most circumstances, we use our verbal and nonverbal skills to put the individual at ease and make an opening invitation, something along the lines of, “Tell me, what is going on?” or “How can I help?” to get the patient telling their story. Evidence suggests that establishing a narrative thread, by encouraging the patient to speak uninterrupted and actively listening is the most efficient way to get to the “heart of the matter.” It provides information for clinical reasoning and also establishes the therapeutic alliance needed to ensure shared decision making and a workable plan to address the issues that need tending. And, it usually takes under two minutes for the patient to come to the end of their story.
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Perspective/Opinion
How "Mattering" Matters
by Karen Marcdante, MD
It had been quite a week in the Pediatric ICU, lots of patients with complex issues and a few sad stories. One such story involved a young girl who had been injured in a car accident. We had just confirmed that she was now brain dead. I sat down with her mother to explain the findings. We spent some time talking about her daughter, who she was as a person, her joys and some of her challenges. As we walked down the hall, back to her daughter’s room, the mother reached out to hold my hand. We entered the room and shared a few tears as we knew what was to happen soon.
This day, while encompassing the hardest part of my job, stays with me. Why? I left that day, knowing that I had mattered, knowing that, despite this being one of the worst days of that family’s life, I had made a difference.
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Perspective/Opinion
Learning Communities & Academic Coaching: Professional Enrichment for Students AND Faculty
by Kurt Pfeifer, MD
Dr. Pfeifer, who is active in developing MCW’s learning communities and coaching programs, shares that the benefits of this work accrue to the faculty as well as the students…
Learning communities (LCs) are an educational concept that gained traction on college campuses in the 1980s and have since been adopted at the majority of U.S. medical schools. LCs utilize group-based activities to build interpersonal relationships, support educational objectives, and enhance personal and professional development. By maintaining continuity of facilitators (in most cases, faculty) and student group members, LCs provide a home for nurturing professional identity formation and a backbone for medical education in which the student is at the center of the process.
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Perspective/Opinion
The Quiet but Powerful Transformation of Professional Identity: Coach as Facilitator
by Verna Monson, PhD
Dr. Monson, whose work centers around Professional Identity (PI) formation and remediation coaching for medical students, writes about how the Professional Identity Essay (PIE) reveals students’ motivations and how coaching can guide students as they develop…
What does it mean to coach future physicians’ professional identity? Professional identity (PI) is the gestalt of how becoming a physician relates to our beliefs, assumptions, and values, many of which are implicit or unconsciously held. Gaining greater awareness about those assumptions and beliefs occurs along a continuum of increasing complexity over the arc of one’s career. PI can be developed through deep reflection, perspective taking, and immersive experiences that stretch our capacities to make sense of ourselves, the world around us, and our role as physicians. A self-defined PI means acting on our values because of who we are, not because of what is expected. PI growth is a quiet, but powerful, process of transformation that taps into individual motivations of learners. PI growth is about knowing one’s self and one’s role as a professional and acting upon one’s beliefs and values in alignment with the profession’s codes and expectations.
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Perspective/Opinion
Supporting our Students (SOS): How Can We Best Help Learners Overcome Academic Hurdles and Setbacks?
by Sandra Pfister, PhD
Dr. Pfister is course director for both the Principles of Drug Action course and the M2 Cardiovascular Unit. She shares her proactive approach helping students who are struggling with their coursework...
The first time I had to deal with a failing grade was when I was in my first semester of college and enrolled in the required Biology course for Science majors. I remember feeling like I was really well-prepared for the first exam until I ran into some classmates in the lounge of my dorm that were settling in for an all-nighter to study for same exam to be given at 8:00 a.m. the next morning. Somehow, they convinced me I wasn't prepared and should join them, which required drinking copious amounts of coffee (at that point in my life I had seldom drunk coffee; it was only something my parents did) and, of course, not sleeping. To make a long story shorter, I did quite poorly on the exam. That in itself was difficult for me as I had always excelled in all my science courses in high school. But maybe what was hardest for me were the words of the professor spoken in front of the entire class of 100+ freshman undergraduates. I remember so well him saying, "Your performance on this exam should be a time to reflect on your career choice. If you didn't do well, you probably don't belong in science."
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Take 3: Three Questions for
Mary Horowitz, MD, MS
about Her Experiences as a Mentor
Dr. Horowitz is a long-time MCW Faculty Member, Professor and Chief Scientific Director of the Center for International Blood & Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR). Dr. Horowitz has clinical and research interests in quality of life for transplant recipients and graft vs host disease, and has led incredible efforts in data sharing across bone marrow transplant centers nationally and internationally. She has been the recipient of the MCW Distinguished Service Award, the American Society of Hematology’s Mentor Award for Clinical Science and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation.
Dr. Wendy Peltier, Co-Editor of the Transformational Times, had a chance to sit down with Dr. Horowitz this week to discuss her experience with mentoring. Dr. Peltier asked these three questions:
- What has surprised you most, personally, in your many years of dedicated mentoring?
- What are some common mistakes to avoid for our junior faculty who are more novice in their mentoring skills?
- Can you share a story of a successful mentoring relationship you have had, and what made it work?
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This week, we are excited to share an excerpt from National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman’s Poem, “The Hill We Climb,” from the Presidential Inauguration on Wednesday, January 20, 2021.
The Hill We Climb (excerpt)
by Amanda Gorman
“And yes, we are far from polished, far from pristine, but that doesn’t mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect. We are striving to forge our union with purpose. To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters, and conditions of man. And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us, but what stands before us. We close the divide because we know to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside. We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another. We seek harm to none and harmony for all. Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true. That even as we grieved, we grew. That even as we hurt, we hoped. That even as we tired, we tried that will forever be tied together victorious. Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division.”
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My favorite thing is watching the Packers in the playoffs!
-Anonymous
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My favorite thing is driving through a winter wonderland like this.
-Joyce Lee, Medical Student
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My favorite thing is how excited my dogs are to play in the snow. This was Wyatt's first snow this year and he was unsure at first, but once he saw his big brother Harley running around and digging in the snow, he was ready to play too!
-Angela Parish, Staff
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I love everything about enjoying and embracing the outdoors during winter!
-Melissa Chiu, Chief Resident
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My favorite thing about winter in Wisconsin is the Northwoods. This area provides an endless supply of wintertime fun for all types of people. Cross-country skiing for those who want to be active outdoors in the winter. Snowshoeing for those who want to take things a little slower. Ice-fishing for the ice watching enthusiasts. And even just sitting inside with a cup of hot cocoa for those who hate the cold but love the look of the fresh fallen snow on the trees.
There is truly something for everyone in the Northwoods.
-Lauren Sikora, Medical Student
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My favorite thing is all the snow!
-Na Xiong, Medical Student
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My favorite is fresh snowfall in the evening, the reflection of the snow makes a magical scene to enjoy.
-Cheryl Knapp, Staff
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Respond to next week's reflection prompt:
What book are you reading right now, and would you recommend it?
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Call for Transformational Ideas!
How would you innovate medical education?
The Kern Institute's Transformational Ideas Initiative is a seed grant program to develop and test ideas, creating opportunities for students, staff, residents, fellows, and faculty to innovate the educational experience at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
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This year, we are looking for proposals that address one of the many changes we are currently experiencing - whether with curriculum revision, inclusion and diversity initiatives, or adapting to a more virtual environment - with a focus on ensuring that the voices of those most affected (students, staff, faculty, residents, fellows) are part of the creative process.
Teams will be guided through the development of their idea through a series of summer workshops led by trained professionals from the Kern Institute's Human-Centered Design Lab. Funding and deployment of each project will span the 2021-22 academic year, and budgets for each project will be individually granted based on the needs of each project.
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Kern Grand Connection Cafe
Medical School Admissions:
Past, Present, and Future
Please plan to join us for a Connection Cafe discussion with Jane Machi, MD, Assistant Dean of Recruitment and Admissions, and Alexis Meyer, MA, Director of Recruitment and Admissions at the Medical College of Wisconsin
Medical school admissions committees are charged with selecting students whose personal qualities and experiences align with the mission(s) of their schools and who will meet the needs of the diverse communities they will serve as physicians.
Join us as we discuss our holistic admissions journey at MCW, emerging trends in medical school applicants and matriculants, and enhanced/additional challenges the admissions community has encountered as a result of the pandemic.
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January 28, 2021
Live Virtual Presentation
4:00 - 5:00 pm CT
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Kern Grand Grand Rounds
Healing in the Aftermath of Hate
Please Please plan to join us for a unique Grand Rounds discussion with Pardeep Singh Kaleka, Executive Director of Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee, Founder of Serve2Unite, and published author of "The Gift of Our Wounds" and Arno Michaelis, author of "My Life After Hate" and co-author of "The Gift of Our Wounds."
When white supremacist Wade Michael Page murdered seven people and wounded four in a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin in 2012, Pardeep Kaleka was devastated. This tragedy followed by suicide would be one of the deadliest mass-murder hate crimes committed in US History. One of the victims that day was Pardeep’s father, Satwant Singh Kaleka. Meanwhile, Arno Michaelis, a former skinhead and founder of one of the largest racist skinhead organizations in the world, had spent years of his life committing terrible acts in the name of white power. When he heard about the attack, waves of guilt washed over him and he knew he had to take action to fight against the very crimes he used to commit.
In the aftermath of the Oak Creek shooting, Pardeep reached out to Arno for answers. What would follow this meeting was a journey of two men who breached a great divide to find brotherhood and love. In a world that seems to be tearing itself apart at the the seams, divided by identity, becoming more intolerant, xenophobic, and spiritually ill, it is essential that we remain committed to compassion. This talk will explore the role of both communal and individual trauma and healing.
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February 18, 2021
Live Virtual Presentation
9:00 - 10:00 am CT
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Well-Being Summit
Improving Institutional Culture to Optimize Well-Being in Academic Medicine
Everyone is welcome to attend. Please register by February 21, 2021
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February 25, 2021
Live Virtual Presentation
8:00 am - 12:00 noon CT
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KNN Discussion Series
Human Flourishing, Caring and Character in the Medical Profession: To What End?
Please plan to join us for this first session in a virtual panel series presented by the Kern National Network for Caring and Character in Medicine (KNN). Through this interactive discussion, you'll learn more about the interrelated concepts of caring and character within medicine and engage in a conversation with other healthcare professionals on the topic of promoting human flourishing.
Learning Objectives
- Appraise one’s own professional experience at the intersection of caring and character with human flourishing
- Assess the state of human flourishing in the health ecosystem
- Commit to next steps to advance human flourishing in one’s professional practice
Featured Speakers
- Andrea Leep Hunderfund, MD, MHPE, Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine
- John Luk, MD, Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin
- Bonnie Miller, MD, MMHC, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the KNN Program Office
- Moderator, Chris Stawski, PhD, Kern Family Foundation
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January 26, 2021
Live Virtual Presentation
4:00 - 5:00 pm CT
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The KNN’s mission is to promote human flourishing through the profession of medicine. Partnering schools include: Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine, MCW Medical School, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine |
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MCW COVID-19 Resource Center |
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The Transformational Times publishes weekly, delivering stories of hope, character and resilience to our virtual community. |
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Editorial Board: Kathlyn Fletcher, MD, Adina Kalet, MD, Wendy Peltier, MD, Julia Schmitt, Olivia Davies, Scott Lamm, Eileen Peterson, Sarah Torres, & Anna Visser
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