Highlights of the Annual State of the College Address

Bud Isaacson, MD, Professor of Medicine and Executive Dean of CCLCM, opened the 2022 State of the College address by expressing tremendous gratitude to the faculty, staff and students for all their contributions toward making CCLCM an exceptional environment in which to learn and grow.

In particular, Dr. Isaacson acknowledged the lifelong contributions to patient care, research and medical education made by James B. Young, MD, Professor Emeritus of Medicine and former Executive Dean of CCLCM. Dr. Young retired in July.

New class and alumni updates
Christine Warren, MD (’09), MS, Associate Professor of Dermatology and Associate Dean of Admissions and Student Affairs, introduced the Class of 2027 and shared some fun facts about them. CCLCM received 1,687 applications for the 32 available spots in the incoming class.

Since CCLCM graduated its first class in 2009, 85 alumni have trained or are currently training at Cleveland Clinic. Twenty-two CCLCM alumni currently serve as Cleveland Clinic staff including Dr. Warren.

Data from the first three graduating classes — 2009 through 2011 — show that more than 82% have published as a first author, 78% report a dedicated education effort (63% have a faculty appointment), 70% report a dedicated research effort, 66% completed a fellowship and 44 have achieved advanced degrees.

An evolving program
To better reflect the evolving fabric of CCLCM, the deans revised the program’s mission statement to now read:

“When you are a medical school, there are a lot of things that you must do extremely well. You have to prepare students in many areas that are well-defined by our accrediting body,” said Dr. Isaacson. “One of the things our team always asks ourselves is — beyond the basics of what you have to do to prepare students to be outstanding and to graduate and become future leaders — what else are we doing? Where are we working around the edges to make our program even better and more unique?”

The following initiatives are among those that help make CCLCM one of the most unique medical education programs in the nation:

• Curricular affairs:
  • Neil Mehta, MBBS, MS, Professor of Medicine and Associate Dean for Curriculum, highlighted the Find Your Role at CCLCM tool that was created so that faculty could easily find available roles within CCLCM and contact curriculum leaders with questions.
  • Craig Nielsen, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine and Assistant Dean for Clinical Education, shared a Faculty Excellence tool that tracks, based on student response, the frequency and quality of feedback that our students receive from faculty. Faculty who meet the criteria are publicly recognized for their outstanding work.
  • Dr. Mehta shared a curriculum mapping tool that allows course directors and thread leaders to view the Educational Program Objectives, competencies and milestones, and view how they are covered and assessed in the various courses, threads and clerkships in the curriculum. Finally, the tool can search the curriculum for particular keywords to discover where in the curriculum certain topics are being covered.
• Humanities: Katherine Burke, MFA, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of the CCLCM Medical Humanities program, highlighted the recent gift from the John P. Murphy Foundation to establish a medical humanities fellowship. The gift also funds an annual symposium, the first of which will be held in March 2023 at the Health Education Campus. Ms. Burke also highlighted the Schlang family gift, which will help fund activities designed to strengthen the relationship between CCLCM students and the local community. In October, the annual Story Slam event, which is organized by the second-year students, will be held in person for the first time since the pandemic began.
• Diversity, equity and inclusion:
  • Monica Yepes-Rios, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine and Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, shared that across the nation, the number of students underrepresented in medicine who are enrolled in medical school is still quite small. In our efforts to build a culture of antiracism, we are paying close attention to the learning environment to increase awareness of bias and microaggressions, and to ensure that students feel included and welcome. We are also focusing on ensuring that students understand the negative impacts of healthcare disparities and are well equipped to address them. Dr. Yepes-Rios highlighted the recent Building Trust Through Mentoring Families grant, which will directly help Northeast Ohio high school students, hailing from communities that have been historically marginalized, who are thinking about a healthcare career.
  • Conor Reid (‘26) and Lydia DeAngelo (‘26) shared the CCLCM students’ experience with community outreach volunteering. At the Bolton Elementary School, the students designed and continue to deliver a health curriculum. Read more about the Bolton Elementary School initiative. At Haven Home, an overflow shelter for women and children, the students provide health screenings and have organized personal care supply drives for the residents.
• Climate change: Ilyssa Gordon, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Pathology and Medical Director of Sustainability, shared that as the faculty lead for the new Climate and Health Pathway, she hopes to bring a meaningful experience about climate change and health into the medical school framework. She and a group of co-authors including James Sullivan (‘24); Katherine Lowe, MSc (‘24); Colleen Colbert, PhD; Renee Salas, MD (’09), MPH, MS; Aaron Bernstein, MD, MPH; Jon Utech; Marvin Natowicz, MD; Neil Mehta, MBBS, MS; and Dr. Isaacson published Climate Change and Medical Education: An Integrative Model in Academic Medicine. Building on that momentum, she and various team members have presented on climate change and medical education at Cleveland Clinic Education Institute Grand Rounds, the AAMC CGEA Regional Meeting, CCLCM Basic Science Education Retreat and an AAMC Professional Development Session. Dr. Gordon continues to work on integrating climate health concepts into the existing curriculum, with tremendous help from Michaela Stiber, Evaluation Manager at CCLCM.

Dr. Isaacson highlighted the strong affiliation we have with Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. “What I have always found is that when you get people working together with a shared common interest of student education, really remarkable things happen,” he said.