Annual Report AY 2007-2008
Center for Faculty Development at BIDMC
Annual Report AY 2007-2008
Summary of Activities
The Center for Faculty Development at BIDMC is dedicated to facilitating the academic advancement and careers of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center faculty to their fullest potential in the areas of patient care, research and teaching. This mission of CFD is supportive of the mission of BIDMC, which is “to provide extraordinary care, where the patient comes first, supported by world class education and research”. As such, CFD functions as a faculty advocate while supporting the role of department chairs and division chiefs. CFD assists in the areas of maximizing the potential of each faculty member by offering programs that enhance leadership skills, clinical and laboratory research skills, mentorship, teaching and clinical skills. In addition, CFD offers confidential counseling services to offer assistance in the academic promotion process and other important faculty concerns regarding their careers, and frequently serves in the capacity of an ombuds office. We provide a welcoming environment.
The CFD mission is also supported by three specialized committees that have been recently renamed to enhance their visibility and purpose: Committee for Women’s Careers (CFW), Committee for Investigators (CI), and Committee for Multicultural Faculty (CMF). Each committee is chaired by faculty who volunteer their time to this work, K. Babu Krishnamurthy, MD chairs the CWC and Sheila Thomas, PhD chairs the CI. Meetings are held monthly for each committee. The CMF is undergoing a major revitalization under new leadership, with Stephanie Hale, MD serving as chair and Vincent Smith, MD serving as the co-chair. They are new to this committee and are charged with reinstating the committee to its previous very active role in the BIDMC community in addressing the needs of the underrepresented faculty community and to work collaboratively with the resident committee under direction of the GME office. The success of the CMF will depend largely on the support from the minority faculty.
During the AY 2007-2008, approximately 75 faculty, post-doctoral fellows, residents and medical students arranged for a confidential appointment that ranged in topics from advice for an academic promotion, assistance with the curriculum vitae format, salary information, contract negotiations, career advice, employment options, reviews of grant proposals, work-life balance and survival skills in unpleasant work environments. Many additional contacts are made to the Center via email regarding a variety of issues from how to identify teaching opportunities at HMS to how to find a biostatistician for the research.
The CME approved courses this year offered by CFD include the Leadership Course for Junior BIDMC faculty. Forty clinical and basic science faculty attended in 2007, with representation from almost every department and near equal representation for men and women. To be accepted into the course a commitment to attend and to read in advance the case related materials is required. The course participants also participated in pre-course and post-course assessments that are collected as well as self-assessments that are for their personal use only. The participants also agree to complete a longer-term survey assessing the impact of the course on their career development. The immediate impact as measured by knowledge gained was present for each pre and post course variable measured. At the end of the course, the participant should be knowledgeable on the various types of leadership skills and when to adjust them, how to write a mission statement and create a vision for an organization, in sight into the several challenges of leadership, ethics, and opportunities for leadership in an academic medical environment. This course is offered annually in October. Speakers are alternated but have included the Provost, Chief Academic Officer, department chairs, CEO of a local biotechnology firm, senior BIDMC and CHB faculty and other members of HMS and HU leadership. A manuscript that evaluated the impact of the courses from the first years has been accepted for publication in Leadership in Health Sciences. A presentation on our leadership course was also made at the AAMC annual meeting in November, 2007.
The second CME course offered by CFD this academic year was “Establishing Yourself as an Independent Laboratory Investigator” in May 2008. While less structured than the leadership course in terms of self-assessments, this course offers the laboratory investigator information on hiring and firing responsibilities and assistance, the Harvard international office, ethics and scientific integrity, funding from peer-reviewed sources and industry and scientific authorship. The overall evaluations of the course are excellent. It is offered bi-annually, alternating with a similar course for the clinical investigator.
This year we offered for the first time a course specifically directed to the post-doctoral research fellows. The topics ranged from how to identify career opportunities, to interviewing skills and preparing your curriculum vitae, how to prepare and present your research in a “job talk”, to career choices in academia and industry. This half-day course was very well attended, indicating a real need for this type of information to be made available to our research fellows. The reviews again were excellent and it is our plan to offer this course during each academic year. A similar course was offered to the clinical residents and fellows two years ago in conjunction with the GME Office and it too was extremely well received.
The CFD offers a CME approved Seminar Series. These seminars are offered twice a month on average during the academic year and include a Visiting Professor Lecture sponsored by the Committee for Women’s Careers and a Visiting Professor Lecture sponsored by the Committee for Investigators. Topics this academic year included the essentials for scientific writing and writing workshops; the essentials for grant proposal writing and a workshop to review specific aims and abstracts; re-entry into the workplace; health and human rights; risk management topics; medical writing; end of life care and the role of the clinician. Approximately 600 attendances in total were recorded for the seminars and courses combined in this academic year.
The CFD serves as a focal point for academic and career development programs with the Office for Faculty Affairs at Harvard Medical School and the faculty and diversity development offices at the other major Harvard affiliated hospitals, including BWH, CHB, DFCI and MGH. Together the directors have formed one committee named CHADD, from which we work collaboratively on various programs and issues, including the HMS promotion process and academic advancement.
Each year this group sponsors and organizes a three-day leadership course for early to mid-career clinical and basic science faculty with leadership positions. This course is open to all HMS and Harvard affiliated hospital faculty and requires a strong letter of support by the department chair or division chief. Unlike the CFD sponsored course, a fee is also required. In general, the department pays the fee for their course participant.
CHADD also sponsors a mentorship course for mentors of faculty, residents, and research and clinical fellows and medical students, which was directed by CFD/BIDMC. Representation from BIDMC was equivalent to that of BWH, CHB and MGH in numbers of faculty attending from each hospital and number of speakers. A letter from the chair is not required and there is no fee for this one-day course. A pre-course and post-course assessment was completed by the participants that revealed a significant improvement from baseline knowledge in skills related to serving as a mentor.
In addition to these activities, CFD works collaboratively with CHADD in financially supporting HMS activities for underrepresented minority students, diversity awareness seminars and activities and seminars to enhance women’s careers.
Mentorship is a critical component for faculty and residents. CFD formally assists with identifying mentors for junior faculty on an as requested basis. We have a data base of senior and mid-level faculty who are willing to serve as mentors to junior faculty. CFD has also initiated an annual mentorship award called the “CFD Award for Excellence in Mentorship” at BIDMC. The 2008 recipients were Dr. George Blackburn, Associate Professor of Surgery and Dr. Christina Wee, Assistant Professor of Medicine. The nominations for the award are submitted from the BIDMC faculty, fellows, residents and medical students. All BIDMC research, clinical and teaching faculty are eligible. The recipient is selected by the CFD Mentorship Committee. A wall plaque, located in the Center for Education, displays the annual recipients.
A Recognition of Achievement Award is presented annually to recognize the accomplishments of women in teaching, research and clinical care. The Committee for Women’s Careers nominates and votes for the recipient. The awards are presented in October. The recipients of AY 2007-08 teaching, research and clinical care awards were Dr. Sheila Barnett, Associate Professor of Anesthesiology; Dr. Anne Nicholson Weller, Professor of Medicine; and Dr. Elizabeth Kass, Instructor in Medicine, respectively.
A renewed effort to address the diversity at the faculty level was recently initiated. CFD is a strong supporter of mentoring students and residents to encourage them to seek an academic career at BIDMC. We co-sponsored with the GMS Office a Welcome Reception to celebrate diversity at BIDMC for all underrepresented minority medical students who will perform their 3rd year clinical rotation here, the new residents and faculty. A presentation was made by Paul Levy emphasizing his support of increasing diversity at BIDMC as well as from Dr. Stephanie Hale, Dr, Vincent Smith, Dr. Alden Landry, chair of the resident diversity committee and Ediss Gandelman, Director of the Community Affairs.
CFD also has a strong commitment to research to assess the impact of our programs on the faculty as well as research on career development and career goals. We have two active research projects. The career satisfaction survey is anonymous and available on line to all faculty. The New Faculty Survey is for full time clinicians who have been hired since 2007. This survey is designed to be a longitudinal assessment of career goals, mentorship and accomplishments.
Plans for AY2008-2009
The goals of CFD for the next academic year include offering the leadership course for junior faculty, a course for the clinical research faculty and the CFD seminar series. In addition, we will continue our collaborative work with CHADD and HMS.
CFD will renew efforts to work more closely with the Center for Education activities and the GME office, particularly in the area of underrepresented minority resident and faculty programs. CFD has been approached to assist with developing a more visible support system for the post-doctoral fellows and we are in discussions as to how this might be implemented.
CFD is available to assist in the recruitment of faculty, especially women and minorities. We would be able to meet with the faculty and help answer any questions they may have in terms of working at BIDMC. Our Committee for Multicultural Faculty and Committee for Women’s Careers and the Committee for Investigators are available to assist in these matters.
The Career Success and Satisfaction Survey will be closed this Fall. The data will be analyzed and a report will be made available to the chairs. In order to have meaningful data, we need a 60% response rate. It would be appreciated if the chairs and division chiefs encouraged their faculty to complete the survey. A $100 gift certificate to the Harvard COOP is awarded to one out of every one hundred surveys completed.
To take the survey click on the link:
http://research.bidmc.harvard.edu/education/CFDSurveyMemo.asp
It will take about 20 minutes. It is an anonymous survey – results are not linked to your name and your entry is coded at the time you log on to the site.
The New Faculty Survey is a longitudinal study in career goals and impact of mentorship. For the first year, we had over a 70% response rate. We will begin sending the survey to the faculty hired in 2008 in the near future. Encouragement on your part for the new faculty to complete the survey is appreciated.
CFD has every interest in performing an assessment and impact measurement of its programs. The work described in this report is currently accomplished with a 0.5FTE director and a 0.5 Administrative Assistant. The director of CFD has received training for this position from the HMS Office for Faculty Affairs, Ombuds Office, and AAMC.
A fulltime program manager is needed to assist with the day to day activities, update print materials and the website and to allow us to not only focus on programmatic development and continuously enhance our services but also concentrate on the academics of careers advancement and career satisfaction such as we are doing with the faculty surveys.
Publications on our programs, such as the leadership course, serves to strengthen our image as committed to the careers of our faculty. This is an excellent recruitment strategy for both junior and mid-career faculty. Our goal as an institution is to present our faculty in the best possible light. CFD can help the department chairs and the institution accomplish that goal.
What is the financial benefit of the CFD to BIDMC? This is an important question for any institution. If CFD helps just one clinical or basic science faculty per year with the academic promotion process or any other matter that may be perceived as impeding their career here, and they decide to stay at BIDMC rather then transfer to another institution, we have saved the institution the costs of a recruitment package of approximately $500,000 per person. (Figure based on AAMC data on recruitment costs for basic scientists and clinicians.) This is more than three times our annual current operating budget for CFD. We certainly have helped with career and academic development for many more than person one per year. CFD has also been cited on several grant proposal applications as an institutional resource for the inclusion of women and minorities in faculty development programs, important for many training grants.
CFD is open to your ideas in terms of programmatic development and support services for our faculty. You are welcome to direct any thoughts or comments to me at any time.
Respectfully submitted,
Rosemary B. Duda, M.D., M.P.H.
Director, Center for Faculty Development
Associate Professor of Surgery, HMS
Surgical Oncologist, BIDMC
