Medical Education

The goal of the Medical Education Scholarly Concentration is to help residents and fellows develop essential skills for being a successful, innovative medical educator (curriculum design, evaluation of learner performance, program evaluation, educational leadership, and educational scholarship), and explore if this career path fits their scholarly interests.

Curriculum Development/Educational Scholarship

Residents and Fellows with a special interest in educational scholarship and educational leadership are encouraged to join the Medical Education Scholarly Concentration. In this concentration, residents gain foundational skills in curriculum design, program evaluation and educational scholarship during a 2-week block rotation (PGY-2 year for residents, 1st or 2nd year for fellows). Residents and fellows also gain practical experience designing, implementing and presenting their own scholarly project in medical education, and are supported in their learning through individualized mentorship, didactics, small group sessions, and "works-in-progress" feedback sessions with their peers and Scholarly Concentration leaders.

Educational Leadership/Scholarship

All residents in the medical education scholarly concentration participate in the 2-week Educational Leadership and Scholarship block during their PGY2 year. This block is a distinguishing feature of our program and is considered by many residents as one of the most influential and meaningful aspects of their training experience at Stanford. During this rotation, residents are introduced to luminaries at the School of Medicine and are exposed to the myriad of career and leadership opportunities in academic medicine. Residents also gain practical experience learning about an Educator Portfolio and build skills in leadership through reflection on their leadership styles and approach towards conflict management, as well as instruction on how to lead change and be a good mentor. Residents are given additional time, mentorship and curriculum to further develop and begin implementing their scholarly project.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Becky Blankenburg, MD, MPH

Becky Blankenburg, MD, MPH is the Assistant Dean of Graduate Medical Education and the Associate Chair for Education for the Dept of Pediatrics. Becky is the Past President of the Association of Pediatric Program Directors, and her educational research interests focus on building a more diverse, inclusive and equitable learning environment and helping learners develop a sense of belonging, professional identity formation, and competence through longitudinal coaching and scholarly mentorship.

Carrie Rassbach, MD, MA(Ed)  

Carrie Rassbach, MD, MA(Ed) is the Program Director for the Pediatrics Residency Program and Combined Pediatrics-Anesthesia Residency Program. She is a Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Hospital Medicine. Her educational interests include coaching, assessment and professional development of both learners and faculty. More She is the past Fellowship Director for the Pediatric Hospital Medicine Fellowship at Stanford and past Director of the Pediatrics Residency's Coaching Program. Nationally, she is the past Chair of the Association of Pediatric Program Directors' Assessment Learning Community and is the outgoing Chair of the Pediatric Hospital Medicine Fellowship Directors' Executive Council. Previously, Carrie was also the Associate Program Director for the Pediatrics Residency Program and led the program's assessment program, Clinical Competency Committee, and Physician Scientist Track. Dr. Rassbach received her Master of Education from the Stanford Graduate School of Education and is a graduate of the Stanford School of Medicine's Rathmann Fellowship for Medical Education Research and the Academic Pediatrics Association's Educational Scholars' Program.

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Sarah Hilgenberg, MD

Sarah Hilgenberg, MD is a Clinical Associate Professor in Pediatric Hospital Medicine, and Co-Leader for the Medical Education Scholarly Concentration. She is an Associate Program Director (APD) of Curriculum in Stanford’s Pediatric Residency Program, Rising Chair of the Association of Pediatric Program Directors APD Executive Committee and Associate Chair of the APA’s Educational Scholars Program Curriculum Committee. Her research interests include advancing healthcare practitioner communication skills, curricular needs identification, and autonomy.

Lynn Huffman, MD

Lynn Huffman, MD is an Associate Professor in Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics and Co-Leader for the Medical Education Scholarly Concentration.