Fellowships programs

Building Leadership opportunities in Medicine to Develop Leaders in Health Equity.

BLOOM Health Equity is a longitudinal pathway that provides structured didactics, a journal club series, networking opportunities, and support for participants as they conduct a health equity project.

This non-degree program is open to fellows in their final year of clinical training, fellows in their research years of training, internal medicine chief residents, and academic hospitalists or primary care physicians who are within their first three years of their academic career at UPenn. Fellows who participate in a one-year fellowship (such as geriatrics) are also welcome to apply at the beginning of their training.

Key components of the BLOOM Health Equity longitudinal pathway:

1. Interactive educational sessions, centered on various health equity themes.
   • Examples of topics covered: Introduction to health equity terminology; Research methods in health equity; Using Slicer Dicer to understand population-health level disparities; Career panel on building careers in health equity; Advocacy in Medicine.
2. Works in Progress sessions where pathway participants can present their health equity projects for feedback and guidance from colleagues and faculty.
   • Participants are expected to have an identified mentor outside the BLOOM health equity pathway who will primarily support them, while BLOOM track leadership will provide additional mentorship and feedback on how to integrate health equity into their project.
3. Community building, networking, and community engagement.
4. Pathway participants can apply for funds (up to $2,000) to support their health equity projects.

Expectations for participants in the BLOOM health equity longitudinal pathway:

1. Attend interactive educational sessions every other week (1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month, 1-2pm).
2. Work on a health equity project during the BLOOM longitudinal year that is expected to lead to a scholarly contribution, either through a presentation at the Penn Department of Medicine Research Day, a presentation at a national conference, and/or a journal article.
3. Complete self-reflection and evaluation surveys during and after participation in the BLOOM health equity track.

Past examples of health equity projects:
Ideal projects will focus on understanding and/or addressing health inequities through quality improvement, research, medical education, and/or community-engagement. Some examples include:

1. Developing and Evaluating a Trauma-Informed Care Training Pathway to Mitigate Perceptions of Racism
2. Improving Transitions of Care and Reducing Disparities in Access to Outpatient Pulmonary Care
3. Facilitating Access to Diagnosis and Treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Among Uninsured Patients at Puentes de Salud
4. Enhancing Community Engagement in West Philadelphia Through a Kidney-Endocrine Integrated Screening Program

Additionally, projects may include but are not limited to: 1) measuring disparities in clinical care, 2) addressing disparities through quality improvement and/or research, 3) enhancing patient-facing education on social determinants of health, 4) engaging the community to address social determinants of health, and/or 5) incorporating advocacy on a local, regional, national, or international level.

Program goals

The Measey Medical Education Fellowship launched in 2015 to support the professional development of Department of Medicine fellows who are interested in a career focused on medical education. To date we have had 40+ fellows in the Department of Medicine participate in the fellowship, with outstanding outcomes (see below). In the past two years we have successfully expanded to include residents/fellows outside the Department of Medicine.

The Measey Medical Education Fellowship is a non-degree program designed to prepare residents and fellows to become leaders in medical education through 1) training in the science of medical education, 2) developing skills in teaching and leadership 3) participating in medical education scholarship, and through 4) mentorship.

Program format

The Measey Medical Education Fellowship is a one-year program and does not require extended residency or fellowship training. As such, participants can continue their clinical training (or research year) while participating in the fellowship program. The program runs July-June each year.

Fellows take a two-week immersive medical education course (Monday-Friday) that is typically offered in July or August. This course provides key foundational content about medical education and career development.

Fellows then meet for interactive workshops twice a month (typically Thursdays 3-5 pm).

Participants are expected to participate in teaching, do a medical education scholarship project and participate in the monthly Perelman School of Medicine Medical Education Journal Club which meets once a month on Wednesday 4:30-5:30 pm

Residents or fellows with required scholarship as part of their training who are interested in careers in medical education and are anticipating their first faculty role within two years are eligible to participate if they obtain a 20% reduction in their clinical or research duties to engage in teaching and scholarship components of the program. This time can be allocated in a way that works for individual programs provided participants can attend the two-week immersive course and twice a month workshops.

The program is led by Jessica Dine, MD, MHSP  and Margot Cohen, MD who have expertise in both medical education, medical education research and scholarship.

Topics covered

Career Development Skills/strong>

• Looking for your first job
• CV’s and cover Letters
• Curriculum development
• Peer review
• Clinician-Educator competencies and milestones
• Elevator talks
• Leadership skills
• Presenting med ed research and innovations

Learning Theories, Curriculum, Assessment

• Effective lecture/chalk talks
• Making teaching stick
• Learner assessment
• Adult learning theories
• Curriculum development
• Effective learning environments
• Program assessment

Teaching Skills

• Effective lecturing
• Coaching and remediation
• Giving effective feedback
• Research in medical education
• Teaching wellness and professionalism
• Bedside teaching
• Teaching clinical reasoning
• Correcting wrong answers
• Mentoring and mentorship
• Time efficient teaching
• Teaching procedures
• Simulation in education
• Case based teaching
• How to assess your teaching
• Small group teaching

Examples of outcomes

We are thrilled that many of our program graduates have gone on to academic leadership roles at Penn as well as other academic medical centers across the United States. Many graduates have been able to secure a medical education role as part of their first faculty job. Some examples are below:

• Director of Internal Medicine Residency Simulation Education, Associate Program Director for Ambulatory Pulmonary Education; Associate Director, Medical Education Leadership Track, Co-Director Measey Learning in a Virtual Environment Curriculum PSOM
• GI Fellowship Program Director, Hofstra Northwell
• Associate Internal Medicine Residency Program Director UT Health
• Assistant Hematology Oncology Fellowship Program Director, OHSU
• Associate Renal Fellowship Program Director: Module 2 Renal Course Director, PSOM
• Co-Director Differential Diagnosis; Assistant Director Transplant ID, Penn
• Associate Chief, Division of Nephrology, Leigh Valley
• Associate Director Antibiotic Stewardship Penn
• Associate Program Director, Renal Fellowship, Brown
• Associate Program Director for Quality Improvement, Fellowship Director of Innovation, DoM
• Director of Curricular Assessment, Innovation and Technology for UME
• Associate Program Director, IM Residency; Chair Clinical Competency Committee, IM residency; Measey Teaching Faculty PSOM
• Medical Director, PPMC for Continuing Care; Director, Inpatient Geriatrics Consult, PPMC; Co-Director, Medical Student Education PSOM