More than 300 viewers from around the world participated in the Wayne State University School of Medicine’s third annual Medical Education Research and Innovation Conference, which showcased completed and in-progress medical education research and innovation projects by students, residents, staff and faculty.

The Dec. 7 event featured the work of 61 entries selected from nearly 100 applications, as well as presentations by keynote speakers Olle Ten Cate, Ph.D., professor of Medical Education at the University Medical Center Utrecht and adjunct professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco; and Louis Pangaro, M.D., MACP, professor of Medicine at the Hebert School of Medicine of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

“Just as our faculty have always been innovative leaders, our students continue to explore and push to improve how we educate tomorrow’s physicians and medical researchers. From creating programs that lead to hands-on seminars on patient safety and quality improvement, to educating fellow students on the opioid epidemic and developing a plant-based nutrition unit into the curriculum, our students steer education toward addressing relevant issues often not found in textbooks or classrooms,” Dean Mark E. Schweitzer, M.D., said in his welcoming remarks. “The pace of change and discovery will multiply so rapidly that we will be forced not only to keep up, but to determine what to keep up on. These advances will force changes and adaptions to the way we educate and the way we learn. And students, who are at the forefront of newer technologies, will be at the forefront of dictating changes in medical education.”

Jason Booza, Ph.D., assistant dean of Continuous Quality Improvement and Compliance for the School of Medicine, and one of the conference organizers, said the conference is important because medical education changes as rapidly as medicine itself.

“Just as the practice of medicine is undergoing massive scientific advancements, so too is the field of medical education, which has seen many changes over the years,” Dr. Booza said. “The field looks very different than it did 20 years ago. We are experiencing a time of tremendous advancement built on the foundation of scientific research. This conference is meant to celebrate these advances and to spotlight the innovations being developed here at the Wayne State University School of Medicine by our students, residents, staff and faculty. Many of the topics covered at the conference, including diversity and inclusion, bias, mistreatment and student learning, are at the cutting edge of medical education.”

Winning entries include:

Poster Awards – Research (Completed Works)

First place: “Incorporation of handoff procedure training into undergraduate gross anatomy curriculum could improve learning and clinical preparedness,” Alison Rousseau, Youstina Abdallah, David Bai, Ahmed Elattma, Priyanka Kale, Matthew Bautista, Harry Ramos, Paul Walker, Ph.D., and Diane Levine, M.D.

Second place: “Learning Community Impact at a Large Urban University,” Emily Fisher, Maha Ahmed, Gowri Chandrashekar, Shatha Wahbi, Alexis Nguyen, Daniel Bota and Haneen Ali

Third place: “Comparison of In-Person and Virtual Gross Anatomy Lab Instruction of a First-Year Medical Undergraduate Cohort amid the COVID-19 Pandemic,” Youstina Abdallah, David Bai, Alison Rousseau, Ahmed Elattma,  Harry Ramos, Matthew Bautista, Priyanka Kale, Paul Walker and Diane Levine, M.D.

Poster Awards – Research (Works In Progress)

First place: “A Standardized Patient Model to Empower Medical Students to Care for Patients with a Visible Disability,” Nikita Sathiaprakash, Sonal Patel and Jason Booza, Ph.D.

Second place: “The Role of Gender in the Mentorship Preferences of Medical Students,” Sabrina Bernardo, Jason Booza, Ph.D., and Ijeoma Nnodim Opara, M.D.

Third place: “The impact of peer-assisted remediation on at-risk preclinical student performance,” Simone Brennan, Ph.D.,  Jennifer Crystal, Ph.D., Sonal Patel and Eva Waineo, M.D.

Poster Awards – Innovation (Completed Works)

First place: “Mandatory Wellness, via Zoom?!?!: The Structure, Process, Feedback, and a Glimpse of the Larger Plan,” Katelyn Kerr, Ellie Lewandowski, Thomas Sprys-Tellner and Eva Waineo, M.D.

Second place: “Medical Comics: A Vehicle to Explore Humanism and Reflection in Medicine,” Zahraa Alqatan, Elizabeth Moore, Destiny Stroman, May Chammaa, Eva Waineo, M.D., and Diane Levine, M.D.

Third place: “Evaluating the Effectiveness of an Online Practicum to Cultivate Confidence in Conducting a Quality Improvement Project in Medical Students,” Mindy Kim, Caleb Sokolowski, Shabber Syed and Diane Levine, M.D.

Poster Awards – Innovation (Works in Progress)

First place: “The Impact of The ARIE Program on Medical Student Perceptions On Children with Disabilities,” Jessica Tan, Dana LaBuda, Kiernan Bloye, Cameron Rubino, Ruchi Mangal and Jennifer Mendez, Ph.D.

Second place: “Fostering wellness and community: Medical student attitudes about virtual journal discussions,” Zoya Gurm, Sara Koussa, Zaina Khoury, Diane Levine, M.D., and Jennifer Mendez, Ph.D.

Third place: “Implementation of a Multi-segment, Mixed Synchronous-Asynchronous Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Subcurriculum for First Year Medical Students to Improve Clinical Preparedness,” David Bai,  Youstina Abdallah, Alison Rousseau, Ahmed Elattma, Priyanka Kale, Harry Ramos, Matthew Bautista, Paul Walker and Diane Levine, M.D.

Learning and Teaching in Medicine - Works in Progress

First place oral presentation: “Using Mental Models to Advance Clinical Reasoning,” Sonal Patel, Shaun Cardozo, James Rowley, Madhumita Mohanty, Janet Poulik and Murray Ehrinpreis

Undergraduate Medical Education - Works in Progress

First place oral presentation: “Development of a Longitudinal Medical Ethics Curriculum for Pre-Clerkship and Clerkship Training,” Margaret Bove, Benjamin Huber and Erin Miller, M.D.

Education in the Clinical Environment - Works in Progress

First place oral presentation: “A Multi-institutional Survey of E-cigarette Documentation in Electronic Health Records and Resident Physicians’ Attitudes towards E-cigarette Usage,” Mindy Kim, Priyanka Kale and Diane Levine, M.D.

Medical Education

First place oral presentation: “Mechanical Ventilation Training of Pulmonary Critical Care Fellows During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” Aryan Shiari, M.D.; Abdelaziz Mohamed, M.D.; Divya Venkat, M.D.; Sarah Lee, M.D.; and Abdulghani Sankari, M.D.

Faculty Mentor Awards

Diane Levine, M.D.; Paul Walker, Ph.D.; Eva Waineo, M.D.; and Jennifer Mendez, Ph.D.