UBC plays prominent role in Canada’s premier medical education conference

Once again, the Faculty of Medicine had an impressive presence at the annual Canadian Conference on Medical Education (CCME) in April. This year’s gathering in Ottawa was held concurrently with the International Ottawa Conference on Assessment, so the event included participants from around the world.

This year 135 members of the UBC community were co-authors and/or presenters on 71 peer reviewed presentations, including:

• 39 podium presentations
• 18 posters
• 11 workshops
• and four symposia.

Particularly active in this regard were Kevin Eva, Professor and Director of Education, Research and Scholarship in the Department of Medicine, and Acting Director and Senior Scientist in the Centre for Health Education Scholarship, who was associated with 10 presentations (as well as leading one of the pre-conference fireside chats for the Early Career Educator group); Gurdeep Parhar, Executive Associate Dean, Clinical Affairs and a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Practice, who was represented on seven presentations (as well as co-chairing the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada’s professionalism session); Sue Murphy, Senior Instructor in the Department of Physical Therapy and Brenna Lynn, Executive Director of Continuing Professional Development, each of whom were co-authors on five presentations.

In addition, Glenn Regehr, Associate Director, Research, for the Centre for Health Education Scholarship, was an invited plenary speaker, and if the Twittersphere is any indication, his talk, entitled “What if they aren’t playing our game: Education theories, curriculum intent and learner goals re-examined,” was a big success.

Also of note, 13 members of the UBC community chaired or co-chaired 19 different committee meetings and events, with Dave Lampron, Director of Technology Enabled Learning, leading four such events related to information technology.

Several UBC members also received honours with Certificates of Merit:

• William Godolphin, Professor Emeritus in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine,
• Trent Smith, Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Southern Medical Program,
• and Marjon Blouw, Course Director of Doctor, Patient, and Society in the Island Medical Program.

And for the fifth year in a row, Carol Ann Courneya, Associate Professor in the Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences, co-organized and co-hosted the national art exhibit, “White Coat Warm Art,” the juried exhibition that showcases art created by health sciences students, residents and faculty from across Canada.

Congratulations and thanks to all the members of the UBC community and partner organizations who participated in the conference this year.