The landscape of medical education is undergoing a significant paradigm shift.
In an effort to meet these needs and enhance medical student education, the Office of Medical Education (OME) has been formed. The OME merged existing services, bringing the Educational Support Office (ESO) and the Curriculum and Educational Research Office (CERO) under one umbrella.
Gerald Moore, M.D., senior associate dean for academic affairs, said Gary Beck, Ph.D., will serve as director of OME and Kathryn Dybdall will serve as associate director.
“Their charge is to ensure the OME continues to meet medical education needs with the highest level of service,” Dr. Moore said. “We look at this change as an evolutionary process. Our primary goal is to ensure the educational needs of the faculty and students are being met. This reorganization will help us to streamline services.”
With the recent emphasis on e-learning, Dybdall will work with faculty to integrate technology into courses in an effort to complement student learning.
The OME will continue to provide comprehensive core support, assessment and evaluation, and educational research, Dr. Moore said.
Ron Bechdolt and Donna Czarnecki will continue to provide administrative support to the first- and second-year medical student cores.
Dr. Moore said recommendations from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) site visit earlier this year made it clear that there was a need for an individual to track and report data essential for continued accreditation of the medical school.
To meet this need, Renee Alley (Swigart) has been hired in a newly created position of LCME coordinator.
In the Office of Student Affairs and Admissions, Sue Pope will be joined by her new assistant, Lisa Paquette. They will continue to provide scheduling and enrollment support for the third- and fourth-year students.
Dr. Moore said they will be searching for a staff member to replace the computer-based testing coordinator (a position formerly held by Paquette).
During this search process, Sarah McBrien will oversee the computer-based testing and evaluation process and will work to train identified staff members to assist in this process. McBrien also will work with Dr. Beck on enhancing the evaluation and assessment component, as well as other important educational research projects.