Faculty Council Meeting Minutes

Jules Dienstag, HMS dean for medical education, updated the council on the Medical Education Reform Initiative (MERI) and outlined its four major goals:

• increasing engagement of faculty and students;
• enhancing integration of basic science and clinical education;
• redesigning the current model of the third-year clinical experience; and
• reinforcing the need for students to be engaged in scholarly activities.

He discussed a proposal to change the academic year to a 4-month/1-month/4-month trimester schedule as part of the University’s plan to construct and maintain a uniform calendar for all Harvard schools. The plan would allow all students the opportunity to cross-register at any of the schools of the University. This would primarily affect the current course schedules for years 1 and 2. The MERI Steering Committee feels that this could be done without a major negative impact by using time more efficiently.

Dienstag described the proposed Principal Clinical Experience, which calls for students to take their entire third year at a single affiliated institution, where the bulk of what has been their clinical clerkships would be overseen by a common faculty. The first pilot experience is in its second year at the Cambridge Health Alliance with a group of eight HMS students. Dienstag said that the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center are currently conducting pilot integrated clerkships for 12 and eight students respectively. Massachusetts General Hospital is developing a similar pilot and will be accepting students in 2006. The plan is for the Principal Clinical Experience to begin for all students in the spring of 2008.

David Golan, HMS professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology, described the in-depth educational experience and identified the three areas of concentration: basic biomedical research; patient-oriented research, and medicine in society.

Several of the needs identified included:

• more mentors;
• strong focus on assessment of students, faculty, and courses;
• increased funding;
• improved mechanism for recognizing faculty who teach;
• closer examination of the teacher-clinician and clinical investigator promotion tracks;
• immediate identification of mentors for the in-depth experience; and
• a strong infrastructure for student advising.

Dienstag said that a redesign of the Academy is under review. The goal is to create a center within the Academy modeled on the University’s Bok Center. The proposed center in the Academy at HMS would focus on teaching excellence.

Charles Hatem, HMS professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, led the members in identifying major themes to be shared with the new Docket Committee.

Suggested Priorities:

1. Issues of senior leadership and the connection with University
2. Proactive recruiting of underrepresented minority faculty, with appropriate funding
3. Promoting work of cultural competency
4. Expectations of what it means to be an HMS faculty member
5. Junior faculty roles and expectations
6. Increase of student–faculty interaction
7. Faculty Council as vetting mechanism
8. Intersection of faculty dealing with medical students and graduate students and establishment of joint teaching programs for both groups
9. Review of new buildings and their functions
10. Rethinking of translational research
11. Making Faculty Council as active as possible and consideration of establishing council subcommittees to explore various issues
12. Sense of faculty detachment from HMS (e.g., seeing themselves as citizens of the hospital first)
13. Service taking precedence over academia with the sidestepping of academic responsibility
14. Issues of ethics and professionalism and related teaching
15. Outcome assessment of HMS graduate and faculty roles over extended periods of follow-up
16. Funding teaching; making distribution of education money transparent
17. Improving feedback and evaluation for students
18. Meshing research and clinical medicine
19. Issues of faculty anxiety
20. Impact of 80-hour week on students (e.g., the impact of this boundary on the house officer’s time to teach students) and issues of professionalism.

Joseph Martin, dean of the Faculty of Medicine, identified some of the major issues on his agenda:

• impending search for new chair of genetics
• Allston/Brighton planning
• budget issues in light of decreases in NIH funding
• need for increased philanthropy

Martin updated members on Katrina relief efforts. Tulane and Louisiana State now appear to be able to accommodate nearly all of their student needs in the region. Both schools expect to be nearly as successful with local placement of their residents.

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