The Faculty Development Academy offers tailored learning and mentoring for junior faculty in each of four tracks: basic/translational researcher, clinical/health services researcher, administrator path, and education scholar. The Academy is accepting applications for the new term through Oct. 11.
Hear from current fellows about their experiences in the Academy:
Katie Garman, MD, assistant professor of medicine (Gastroenterology), is a fellow in the basic/translational researcher pathway. Through the Academy, Garman took George Gopen’s “Writing from the Reader’s Perspective” course and participated in the Write Winning Grants seminar organized by the School of Medicine’s Office for Faculty Development. Dr. Garman said working with her assigned Academy mentor, Michelle Winn, MD, was a huge benefit when she was submitting her K08 application to study Barrett’s esophagus, which was funded last spring. “Michelle gave me both big picture advice on putting together the K08 application and asked some of her mentees if she could share some of their awards with me,” Garman said. “On the day I was actually submitting the grant, she helped in a very detailed way, fielding questions and helping me through the process.”
Leonor Corsino, MD, MHS, assistant professor of medicine (Endocrinology, Metabolism and Nutrition), said that working with her Academy mentor, Peter Ubel, MD, was an important part of her Academy experience as a fellow in the clinical/health sciences researcher pathway. “It was nice to work with someone who works outside of my research area,” Dr. Corsino said. “It was good to have his perspective and to think outside of the box.” Dr. Ubel is a physician, Jack O. Blackburn Professor of Marketing at the Fuqua School of Business and Professor of Public Policy in the Sanford School of Public Policy. Corsino said she enjoyed meeting and learning from other Academy fellows as well. “Sometimes junior faculty get overwhelmed by finding funding, being in a new job and all of the expectations,” she said. “It is very helpful to have this type of guidance and support from a group that is going through the same things that you’re going through.” Through the Academy, Corsino said she became more familiar with the promotion and tenure process and learned how to advocate for a promotion, something that she accomplished during her two-years in the Academy.
As a fellow in the education scholar pathway, Mamata Yanamadala, MBBS, medical instructor (Geriatrics), has developed collaborative health education projects and seen opportunities open up as she widened her network. One outcome of Dr. Yanamadala’s time in the Academy has been developing a quality improvement course that gives her students the tools they need to conduct QI projects on their own and improve patient care. Yanamadala said the connections and skills she gained from the Academy opened up opportunities for her, including the chance to share her QI course with Rheumatology and Immunology fellows. “I had this idea of developing a QI course, but I didn’t know how to reach out to contacts and talk about what I wanted to do,” she said. “I think some of the opportunities came to me just by my being enrolled in the Academy as there was more exposure through Academy fellows and mentors.” Working with her Academy mentors, Mitch Heflin, MD, MHS, and Lisa Criscione-Schreiber, MD, Yanamadala had the chance to teach the QI course she developed and help her students put QI projects into practice. She also found another mentor, Bimal Shah, MD, MBA, who has collaborated with her on the project, and she submitted a poster to the Duke Institute for Health Innovation’s summit.