The University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Medicine was a major presence at this year’s Canadian Conference on Medical Education (CCME), held in April 20 to 23 in Quebec City.
Administratively, many UBC members occupied leadership positions at the meeting, including:
- Geoffrey Payne, the Assistant Dean, Education and Research in the Northern Medical Program and Associate Professor of Physiology, chairing the session of the Collaborative for Research in Regional Medical Education;
- Angela Bennett, the Year 3 Program Manager, co-chairing the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC) Interest Group on Clerkship Meeting;
- Dave Lampron, Director of Technology Enabled Learning, chairing the AFMC Informatics Resource Group “Un-conference” and joint symposium entitled “Taming the paper tiger”;
- Linda Peterson, Senior Evaluation Advisor, chairing the AFMC Interim Review Coordinators Business Meeting;
- Derek Wilson, Associate Director of the Evaluation Studies Unit, chairing the Faculties of Medicine Program Evaluation Network Annual Meeting;
- Brenna Lynn, Executive Director of Continuing Professional Development, chairing the AFMC Standing Committee on Continuing Medical Education/ Professional Development Research Subcommittee Meeting;
- Joanna Bates, Director of the Centre for Health Education Scholarship, chairing the Canadian Centres for Research in Health Professions Education Annual Meeting as well as completing her official term as past president of the Canadian Association for Medical Education;
- And James Andrew, Aboriginal Student Initiatives Coordinator, chairing the meeting of the CAME Special Interest Group on Aboriginal Health Education.
In the scholarship domain, 160 UBC members were authors on 58 peer-reviewed presentations, including 28 podium presentations, 23 poster presentations, 6 workshops and one colloquium. Special kudos go to Brenna Lynn, who was a co-author on seven presentations and Gurdeep Parhar, the Acting Associate Vice President, Equity and Associate Dean, Equity and Professionalism, who was a co-author on six.
Glenn Regehr, Associate Director for Research in the Centre for Health Education Scholarship, was the recipient of the 2013 Canadian Association for Medical Education Ian Hart Award for Distinguished Contribution to Medical Education. In accepting this award, Dr. Regehr gave this year’s CAME invited address entitled, “The dangerous pursuit of independence.” He also was this year’s invited speaker at the Early Career Medical Educators Discussion Forum, where he offered advice to new members of the medical education community on the topic of “Pacing yourself: Productivity, burnout and saying no.”
For the 4th year in a row, Carol Ann Courneya, Associate Professor in the Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences, co-organized (with Pamela Brett McLean of the University of Alberta) “White Coat, Warm HeART,” showcasing art created by health sciences students, residents and faculty from across Canada. The purpose of the exhibit is to encourage exploration by medical students and professionals into the use of artistic endeavours to gain experiential understandings of their work and life through an emphasis on well-being, life balance, compassion, and creativity. The exhibit this year was curated with the help of Michiko Maruyama in the Northern Medical Program, who also exhibited two pieces. Ariel Liu, a student in the Island Medical Program, also had a piece in this year’s exhibit.
“CCME has become one of the world’s leading meetings for medical education, not only for the quality of research and scholarship presented, but also for bringing together a very diverse array of institutions and individuals into a strongly integrated conference,” says Kevin Eva, who will become Acting Director of CHES July 1. “That UBC was represented so well by so many faculty, staff, and students who attended speaks volumes about the leadership UBC is providing to the health professional education community nationally while simultaneously demonstrating the success of its efforts toward facilitating world-class educational scholarship.”