Longitudinal Programs: HEFP, PECP, CoMES

Health Educators Fellowship Program (HEFP)

The Health Educators Fellowship Program (HEFP) is designed to expand the teaching skills of faculty and enhance the educational mission of UTHealth Houston. This certificate program includes a collaborative relationship between McGovern Medical School, School of Biomedical Informatics, School of Dentistry, Cizik School of Nursing, and MD Anderson Cancer Center. The program accepts applicants every other year and the curriculum extends over an 18-month period (January 2024 – June 2025).

Purpose of the HEFP

The primary goal of the HEFP is to enhance and improve faculty knowledge, skills, and attitudes related to the scholarship of teaching and learning to enable them to make positive contributions to their department, school, and UTHealth-Houston.
Specifically, the fellowship is designed to increase fellows’:

  • Knowledge and ability to apply key educational principles and theories.
  • Skills in lecturing and facilitating student/resident learning in all educational venues.
  • Ability to design and evaluate programs and curriculum.
  • Interest in and ability to serve as an educational leader.
  • Self-reflection and readiness to benefit from constructive feedback from learners and peers.

Interested faculty must complete the online application:  https://apps.uth.edu/hefp/
Please submit your application and associated documents by Friday, October 27, 2023. Interviews will be conducted through November 30, 2023. Applicants will be notified of their selection by December 8, 2023.

For more information please contact:

Dr. Allison Ownby: allison.r.ownby@uth.tmc.edu
Dr. Peggy Hsieh: peggy.h.huang@uth.tmc.edu

Physician Educator Certificate Program (PECP)

Overview: The Physician Educator Certificate Program, launched in 2016, is an 8-month program designed to meet the growing demand for skilled and confident resident educators. Since its inception, the program has successfully graduated over 352 residents and fellows who have gone on to secure academic positions at esteemed institutions both in the United States and internationally. The program has garnered recognition for its ability to equip graduates with the necessary expertise and confidence to excel in their educational roles.

Program Goal: Residents and fellows play a crucial role in fulfilling teaching responsibilities. Considering the significant responsibilities of residents as teachers and the requirements outlined by the LCME and ACGME, it is essential to prepare residents to become effective educators. The goal of the program is to provide residents with the necessary knowledge, skills, and tools to excel in their teaching roles. The program is designed to equip residents with a robust foundation in pedagogy, encompassing educational theories and practices. By focusing on these areas, the program aims to empower residents to become impactful and successful teachers.

Program Outcome: Residents will develop the confidence and competence needed to become skilled educators.

Objectives

  • Facilitate large and small group discussions effectively using interactive teaching strategies
  • Provide meaningful feedback to learners
  • Develop awareness of own teaching strengths and weaknesses
  • Incorporate effective teaching techniques to engage learners

Course Topics

  1. Curriculum Design
  2. Bedside Teaching
  3. Enhancing Your PPT Slides
  4. Providing Constructive Feedback and Narrative Evaluations
  5. Flipping Your Classrooms with In-Class Activities
  6. Effective Teaching = Effective Learning
  7. Understanding Learner Motivation
  8. 6-55 Reflection as Learner and Educator

Requirements (Due May 1, 2024)

  1. Attend at least 6 of the 8 sessions
  2. Receive 2 peer observations of own teaching (clinic or lecture) and write a reflection paper (1-page/100-150 words) after EACH observation, based on the feedback you received.
  3. Submit a 6-55 Reflection (in-class activity)
  4. Revise your Teaching Philosophy as a final educational product

Program Duration: September 2023 through April 2024
Graduation: May 2024

Application Deadline: August 25, 2023
Apply HERE
     Documents to submit when you apply through the link:
1. Teaching Philosophy
2. Letter of Support from Program Director

For more information please contact:
Dr. Peggy Hsieh: peggy.h.huang@uth.tmc.edu

Community of Medical Education Scholars (CoMES)

The purpose of CoMES is to introduce medical school faculty to the basics of educational scholarship with an emphasis on active, hands-on learning and engagement with others who have similar scholarly interests. At the end of the program, participants will have completed a draft IRB protocol. CoMES sessions are held monthly from September through February; each class is 90 minutes long and meets virtually. Applications for the next cohort will open in July 2022.

Program Objectives

  • Determine a medical education teaching activity area and develop a narrowly focused research question
  • Demonstrate the ability to conduct a basic literature search with a focus on the educational literature
  • Examine examples of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods studies as presented in the medical education literature
  • Recognize the role of the IRB in governing ethical research practices
  • Outline a research design for investigating the research question
  • Determine appropriate methods for data collection and data analysis

Session Topics

  • Intro to scholarship of teaching and learning; writing a research question
  • IRB; conducting a literature review; conceptual frameworks
  • Research design- qualitative, quantitative, mixed; characteristics of successful projects
  • Evaluating a research article; basics of survey design
  • Data collection; scholarship as part of P&T
  • Data analysis; growth as a scholar

For more information please contact:
Dr. Samuel Neher: samuel.e.neher@uth.tmc.edu