Rabkin Fellowship
The Rabkin Fellowship in Medical Education was established in 1998 to provide faculty with an opportunity to develop the expertise and skills needed to launch or advance academic careers in medical education and/or academic administration. The Rabkin Fellowship is open to all faculty who have a primary appointment at Harvard Medical School and who currently teach at a Harvard-affiliated institution.
We are pleased to announce a call for applications.
Application deadline: Friday, February 26, 2010.
Fellowship awards will be announced in April 2010.
The Fellowship curriculum covers a broad spectrum of historical and contemporary issues in medical education, including topics such as: evolution and financing of medical education; skills needed for curriculum development and evaluation; application of adult learning theories to clinical settings; enhancement of teaching skills needed at the bedside, ambulatory, and classroom arenas; educational administration and leadership; relevance of the humanities to medical education; and self-reflection and professional self-renewal. Experiential learning is a key component of the fellowship.
Rabkin Fellows are required to undertake an analytic study, research, or an educational project focusing on an important issue in medical education. Fellows select a mentor to help guide their work in developing this project. The Fellows provide additional support and peer review for each others' projects over the course of the year. Rabkin Fellows present the results of their projects in a written report as well as orally at a concluding symposium.
Sixty fellows have graduated the Rabkin Fellowship Program to date including junior and mid-career faculty, representing thirteen departments from seven Harvard-affiliated hospitals. The Mount Auburn Fellowship in Medical Education was established in 1999 and follows the same curricular structure as the Rabkin Fellowship. In 2004 a modified version of the Fellowship was initiated at the Academy at Harvard Medical School.
The Fellows have welcomed the opportunity to grapple with medical education topics not typically considered in their usual roles within the academic medical center. Our aim is to have current and former Fellows feel part of a "learning and teaching community" which is committed to the goals of better teaching. The Fellowship provides an experiential learning laboratory in which the Fellows can implement the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed for organizational change and leadership with peer and faculty feedback and support. Many graduates of the program have subsequently led significant curricular and programmatic changes at their respective affiliated institutions. Moreover, a number of graduates have assumed educational leadership positions at the local, regional, and national levels.
C. Christopher Smith, MD and Lori Newman, MEd
Co-Directors, Rabkin Fellowship in Medical Education
