Anna Person has recently assumed the role of Director of Education and Faculty Development in her ID Division. She works closely with Department of Medicine counterparts and works to enhance opportunities for learning for faculty. Her current areas of focus include: providing tools to become more effective educators, providing content and education on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and helping faculty to understand the promotion process.
How did you get interested in medical education?
Honestly, it was a bit by accident! I have always been drawn to medical educators; be it my chief residents in residency or the dynamic attendings on the wards during ID fellowship. I knew I wanted to be like them, I just didn’t realize they were master clinician-educators and had worked to cultivate that expertise. When I took my first faculty job at Vanderbilt, an opening came up for the Associate Program Director of the ID fellowship. I thought “I loved fellowship, this might be great!” I was lucky to be selected, and that began my passion for medical education in my career. Mentoring fellows, modeling passion for my work, developing curricula, finding innovative ways to convey material that sticks with learners- that has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my career so far.
How do you transform an interest in medical education into a career?
Although it was not the way I did it, I do think it helps to have intentionality around this goal. I believe strongly that everyone in ID wants to help grow the next generation of educators. I think that’s a great opportunity to use the people around you who are rooting for you. Tell your mentors and colleagues that a career in medical education is your goal. Take advantage of the opportunities to meet other educators at IDWeek and through the MedEd Community of Practice. Volunteer for the MedEd working groups or other IDSA committees related to education. The relationships I have forged with educator colleagues in other institutions have been some of the most productive and meaningful to me, both professionally and personally.
What innovative educational program or process are you most excited about currently?
Vanderbilt is starting a new Health Equity track for its residency program, and it has been such a joy for me to play a role in helping with this new, important addition to the curriculum. I’ll be focusing on Advocacy in Action- using a case series on how medical professionals and others have advocated for change in the face of injustice. To me, this opportunity is the perfect combination of my passions: medical education, advocacy, and social justice work. We are hopeful that we may build a similar Health Equity track in our ID fellowship program, and it is so energizing for me to think about moving that process forward.
How have you transformed your medical education work into scholarship?
Again, this was another “happy accident”. As Program Director for our ID fellowship, we learned that there was a requirement to utilize simulation in fellow education. Our program hadn’t done anything like this previously. One of my first actions as a new PD, several years ago, was to write a new standardized patient curriculum. I met with the director of our Simulation lab, studied scripts and formats from other specialties, and picked cases I thought would be important learning opportunities for our fellows. When we were done, we had a product we were quite proud of. One of my colleagues suggested we write it up and publish the content on MedEd Portal. I was so happy to be able to share our work on a larger scale and hopefully provide materials that other programs could use. This was my first publication in the med ed field at the time. I recommend that those getting started in med ed consider any work you do to be potential scholarship. There is a hunger for content and material related to medical education in ID, and all you have to do is put in the time to write it up and find it a suitable home. It benefits the larger community of educators to do so! And we thank you for it.
What is your vision for medical education in the field of infectious diseases?
To be honest, I came into my first job not really understanding that “medical educator” could be a job title. It is now so encouraging to see how many brilliant young learners are graduating from ID fellowships and already serving as medical educators. We need to nurture these young educators and support them as much as possible. This means advocating at an institutional level to illustrate the value that medical educators bring to a division or department. This means creating formal faculty tracks for educators -- some institutions are doing this better than others. It is also my hope for the future that we can continue to grow in community with each other- and I am thankful to the MedEd COP for this! By sharing these “best practices” of creating space in our institutions for medical education as a career path, we can enhance the opportunities in our own workplace.
What advice do you have for learners or educators who are starting out in their career with an interest in medical education?
At the risk of sounding trite, I believe with all my heart that whatever is done in one’s career it needs to be done with joy and with a sense of being true to oneself. The greatest tool against burnout is doing something you believe to be meaningful. I have felt very lucky to have found that in my work thus far during the 10+ years of being an attending. I feel every day that what I do (caring for underserved populations and focusing on educating the next generation of leaders in the field) matters immensely. I love that I have reached the stage in my career where I am most interested in building someone else up and mentoring others. Find your passion (and note that that it may change!) and let that guide you.