Peter Chin-Hong, MD, Wins Best Oral Presentation Award at WGEA 2019

Academy of Medical Educators member Peter Chin-Hong, MD, was awarded the prize for Best Oral Presentation in the Category of Research on March 26, 2019, at the recently concluded WGEA meeting in Reno, NV. In his paper "Impact of an innovative endowed chair program on medical educator recipients," Chin-Hong and team investigators Helen Loeser, MD, MSc; Alissa Peterson, MD; Raga Ramachandran, MD, PhD; and Patricia O’Sullivan, EdD examined the impact of holding an endowed chair for medical educators on individual chair holders. In 2001, the UCSF Academy of Medical Educators established a matched endowed chair program in support of teaching excellence, career development and professional identity formation. The research team used a sociocognitive career theory framework to conduct a qualitative thematic study.

They interviewed chair holders who had completed at least one 5-year term and identified codes using an iterative consensus-building approach. Twenty-three of 24 eligible faculty from 14 departments participated. Five themes were identified: symbolism, resources, commitment to education, development and impact. A model of impact emerged. First holding an endowed chair conferred credibility to the individual and also became an key symbol for leadership to highlight their commitment to educators. Together with resources which allowed faculty great flexibility to do things of high value, symbolism provided opportunities which enabled chairholders' professional development of self and others, and increased commitment in their educational role. This resulted in significant individual and institutional impact with a legacy that was sustained beyond each term: “But once it dawned on me that you can develop people and those people can make a community, then it was clear that this was the way it had to go...Even after I stopped being the chair, communities keep on going.”