Position Details

The Department of Biomedical Informatics and Medical Education (BIME) at the University of Washington (UW) is looking for one full-time faculty at the Associate Professor level to join our current faculty in the Division of Medical Education and Evaluation (MEE) with an anticipated start date of July 2021. This is a full-time, indefinite term position with a 12-month appointment. All University of Washington faculty engage in teaching, research, and service.  For this position the expectation is 20% research and scholarship and 80% teaching and service.

The successful applicant will work closely with the Vice, Associate and Assistant Deans of the UW School of Medicine (UWSoM) and the chairs of the 31 departments within UWSoM to develop, implement and evaluate a comprehensive educator development program that promotes teaching excellence, community building, lifelong learning, and professionalism as well as a program to disseminate teaching skills to faculty across the UWSoM's broad array of learning environments. There are three tiers of educator development involved: a) tier 1 is core teaching skills for all the bedside and classroom teaching faculty in the UWSoM in Seattle and in the WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho) region, b) tier 2 is advanced teaching skills for those on the clinician/teacher faculty pathway (or similar promotion track), and c) tier 3 is skills for leaders and scholars in medical education.  The faculty role will include two existing synergistic leadership positions: the directorship of the Center for Leadership and Innovation in Medical Education (CLIME) (covering Tiers 1-3) and the directorship of the Teaching Scholars Program (focused on Tier2). 

CLIME was established in 2012 to foster innovation, scholarship and collaboration for the advancement of health professions education, bringing together educators from all parts of UWSoM.  Teaching Scholars is a longitudinal certificate program established in 1995 for health professions educators focused on learning theory, teaching skills, curriculum development and translation of educational efforts into scholarship.  It is designed to prepare physician and other health professionals for leadership roles as educators, mentors, and education scholars.  Both programs are deeply committed to training and nurturing clinician-educators and basic scientists and are an essential component of the offerings of the Office of Faculty Affairs. In addition to CLIME, Tier 1 activity also occurs in the Division of Medical Education and Evaluation and the Office of Faculty affairs with a vision of moving these all to the Office of Faculty Affairs. The faculty leadership roles and the work of coordinating these activities will report to the Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs.

The Division of Medical Education and Evaluation and the UW School of Medicine medical education programs have a dynamic and synergistic collaboration that strives to continually improve every facet of the undergraduate, graduate and continuing medical education experience for students, trainees and faculty.  The WWAMI program of the UWSoM extends the physical presence of the School of Medicine across 5 states and nearly 28% of the nation's geographic area.  The network of 6 regional preclinical teaching campuses and hundreds of clinical training sites across the 5 states provides a rich environment for implementing pilot experiments to improve the medical education experience.

Major teaching and service responsibilities include the following:

1. Collaboration with academic leadership – In addition to reporting directly to the Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, regularly meet with the Associate Dean for Curriculum, Associate Dean for Education Strategies, Director of Curriculum, Director of Academic and Learning Technologies, Associate Dean for Educational Quality Improvement and others to discuss and implement faculty development programming especially Tier 1 dissemination of teaching skills to all teaching faculty in UWSoM.
2. Director of CLIME – The Center for Leadership and Innovation in Medical Education. CLIME was established in 2012 to foster innovation, scholarship and collaboration for the advancement of health professions education. The director oversees Tier 1 faculty development in support of education program excellence and innovation across the WWAMI region. Working with a leadership team and staff and in collaboration with the Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs, the Director is responsible for creating, implementing, and disseminating workshops, learning communities, web-based education materials, online learning modules, and podcasts to ensure that faculty throughout the region have access to the highest quality evidence-based instructional resources. To support faculty scholarship and advancement in the educator track (Tier 2 and 3), the director of CLIME works with staff to plan monthly Work-in-Progress (WIP) sessions, the CLIME Small Grants Program, and the Education in Medicine Lecture Series, and collaborates with the AAMC to offer a UW-based, accredited Medical Education Research Certificate (MERC) Program. To facilitate the ongoing development, enrichment, and recognition of the UW's educator community (Tier 1 and 2), the director works with the CLIME leadership team to organize CLIME Grand Rounds, skills-based workshops and an annual "CLIME Together Symposium".  The CLIME leadership team is comprised of a Director, Associate Directors, and Manager.
3. Director of the Teaching Scholars Program (Tier 2) – The University of Washington Teaching Scholars Program (TSP) was established in 1995 to prepare faculty for local and national leadership and promote academic excellence by fostering a community of educational leaders to innovate, enliven, and enrich the environment for teaching and learning at the University of Washington (UW). The Director is responsible for planning and implementing this cohort-based longitudinal faculty development fellowship, which currently meets one half day a week for 10 months.
4. New initiatives -- Ongoing improvement of education activities and initiatives designed to enhance faculty skills in delivering equitable and inclusive education programs, reduce bias and mistreatment in the medical school's learning environment, and promote civility in classroom and clinical settings (Tier 1 for dissemination, Tier 2 and 3 for development).
5. The successful candidate will supervise staff members responsible for management of CLIME and coordination of the Teaching Scholars Program, and schedule regular meetings with the CLIME leadership team.
6. The successful candidate will be expected to work collaboratively with multiple faculty to advance their educational scholarship (Tier 3).
7. Committee memberships: Participate as a member of relevant curriculum and faculty development committees.

The expectation is that both scholarship of discovery and synthesis will comprise 20% of the position's activities. For the responsibilities above (particularly 2, 3 and 4) there will be aspects of program development, implementation and/or evaluation as follows:

Program Development:

• Identifying best practices in educator development through consultation and engagement with local, national and international experts in teaching and learning.
• Communicating with leadership of the school to identify the specific development programs needed and appropriate for implementation.
• Prioritizing the creation of educator development programs and projects to promote best practices and innovation in education at UWSOM in consultation with the Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs.

Program Implementation:

• Developing a strategic plan related to educator development and implementing a Teaching Skills program in Seattle and throughout the WWAMI region with the assistance of staff and faculty associated with these programs (Tier 1).
• Identifying opportunities for collaboration and resource sharing across UWSOM professional schools, departments and regional sites as well as UW's professional schools, including MEDEX and the schools of dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, public health and social work to promote educator development (Tier 1 and 2).
• Identifying, recruiting and training a cadre of faculty to advance educator development and educational innovation at UWSOM – capitalizing on Teaching Scholars and Teaching Scholars graduates, College faculty members, Family Medicine Network faculty, and other faculty members recognized for their skills as teachers and educators (Tier 2 and 3).

Program Evaluation:

• Conducting ongoing QI activities, including needs and outcomes assessments, to ensure delivery of the highest quality educator development programs in consultation with the Associate Deans of EQI, Curriculum, Faculty Development, Education Special Projects and faculty from BIME's Division of Medical Education and Evaluation.
• Develop tracking systems that support the granting of certificates and other awards for faculty commitment to excellence in education, as measured by participation in designated workshops and course offerings.