February 4, 2020

New associate dean for Curricular Affairs and UME joins School of Medicine

Senthil Kumar Rajasekaran, M.D., M.M.H.P.E., the new senior associate dean for Curricular Affairs and Undergraduate Medical Education in the Office of Medical Education, joined the Wayne State University School of Medicine on Feb. 3.

In his role as senior associate dean for Undergraduate Medical Education, Dr. Rajasekaran will provide leadership and will have primary responsibility for the design, continuing development and implementation of the curriculum leading to the medical degree.

“Dr. Rajasekaran has a proven track record as an innovating educational leader and will undoubtedly be a driving force and major catalyst of the exciting curricular transformation occurring at our School of Medicine,” said Vice Dean for Medical Education Richard Baker, M.D.

Dr. Rajasekaran, a professor of Pharmacology,  served as associate dean for Academic Affairs at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Va. There he led a major curriculum reform that demonstrated improved learning outcomes and won national recognition for its innovative design and focus on social determinants of health and chronic disease prevention and management. Dr. Rajasekaran was a founding co-director of the Center for Excellence in Medical Education at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine in Rochester, Mich., where he was instrumental in establishing the fellowship in Medical Education and Residents as Teachers programs. He had also served as dean of Basic Sciences, professor and chair of Pharmacology and Clinical Therapeutics at St. Matthew’s University, Grand Cayman, where he successfully led a major curricular revision and restructuring.

As a medical educator, Dr. Rajasekaran has secured multiple institutional and national awards of excellence, including the 2017 Teaching Value Award from the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation and Costs of Care, and multiple Golden Apple Awards for teaching excellence. He received honorary fellowships in the American College of Clinical Pharmacology and the Academy of Medical Educators in the United Kingdom.

Dr. Rajasekaran is actively engaged in the regional, national and international medical education landscape. On a regional level, he was selected to serve on the steering committee of the Association of American Medical Colleges Southern Group on Educational Affairs and oversees the organization’s Special Interest Groups. On a national level, he was elected by the member schools to serve as a member of the Executive Committee of American Medical Association Accelerating Change in Education Consortium. Internationally, he is a member of the Executive Council of World Federation for Medical Education and represents the organization in the World Health Organization medical education-related meetings.

Dr. Rajasekaran has written and co-written multiple publications, and has been invited to present and chair sessions at national and international meetings. He also serves as a deputy editor of the Teaching and Learning in Medicine journal.

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