Doctor of Medicine Program Faculty Resources | Duke University School of Medicine

The Duke MD Program is committed to supporting our faculty in their educational roles.

Duke MD Program Faculty Handbook

The Duke MD Program Faculty Handbook is the recommended place to start for all faculty. The Handbook includes topics regarding the MD Curriculum Overview, MD Policies and Procedures, How Duke Supports Students and How Duke Supports Faculty.

To access the Policy on the Appropriate Treatment of Learners and to learn more about mistreatment reporting, please access the Reporting Mistreatment and Misconduct resources.

Whole Curriculum Review

As the next phase of the Patient FIRST curriculum, we are pleased to share the results of the Whole Curriculum Review (WCR) for the MD program. The Curriculum Committee (CC) conducted its WCR from November 2022 to February 2023. To learn more about the WCR process please click here. To see the WCR strategic plan, please click here

Three major themes were identified by the CC as the priorities for this next phase of the Patient FIRST curriculum:

Evidence-informed clinical practice and patient education

Digital impacts on health, medical misinformation, best practices in patient education, use of digital platforms to support health
Self-directed learning for how to assess evidence for high value care

Wellness and mental health skills training for physician self-care and for patient care

Building skills in patient care intervention for acute mental health needs, prevention
Building skills for learners in the promotion of resilience, emotional intelligence, and self-reflection

Social drivers of health and interprofessional health care advocacy

Bias, climate change, caring for diverse patient populations, more formal training in effective patient communication through an equity lens, care of patients who identify as transgender
Advocacy at governmental levels, managing legal threats to health care best practices, how to work with legal professionals, health policy
Preventive health practices, use of screening tools, care of chronically ill patients, nutrition as medicine

Thank you to the nearly 100 students/faculty/staff who provided their time and expertise for this important effort.

You can find more about our curriculum innovations here. The overarching medical education program objectives are here.

Thanks again for your commitment to our medical students!

Contact list for MD Program

We are here to support you. Please see here for full list of our program contacts. Contacts are listed by area of responsibility/expertise across the MD program. The Office of Curricular Affairs supports the implementation of our foundational courses – please reach out with any questions about these courses.

How Faculty Can Provide Input on Educational Policies and New Large-Scale Initiatives

The mission of the Curriculum Committee is to assure an excellent, coordinated, integrated course of instruction for the preparation of future physicians. The Committee is composed of faculty, staff, students, and residents of the School of Medicine and is solely responsible for making decisions about the medical student curriculum. The Committee serves as an independent body in making curricular decisions for the educational program, and does not report to Duke SOM or Health Systems leadership.
The Curriculum Committee includes at-large faculty selected after a general call for applications.
The selected faculty members serve a 3-year term, which will expire at the end of 2024.
- Please contact any of the Curriculum Committee members with any questions or concerns.
- The Curriculum Committee also has extended faculty representation on the following subcommittees. Please contact any of these members with questions or concerns
  - Comprehensive Administrative Group, Chair Dr. Edward Buckley
  - First-Year Course Directors, Chair Dr. Matthew Velkey
  - Clinical Training Committee, Chair Dr. Saumil Chudgar
  - Third Year Committee, Chair Dr. Danny Laskowitz
  - Fourth Year Committee, Chair Dr. Jenny Van Kirk
Annual MD Curriculum and Learning Environment Updates are offered to SOM Departments. Please contact Dr. Jane Gagliardi or Dr. Aditee Narayan if you would like to schedule for your group.
Any faculty member may provide feedback on aspects of our program through this open survey

Open Education Positions

We are pleased to announce that applications are open for the following positions in the Doctor of Medicine (MD) education program:

Clinical Skills Training Immersion Educator (2 positions)
Simulation Small Group Leaders, Foundations of Patient Care 2 (2 positions)
Small Group Leader, Capstone Course (1 position)

Please see attached document for job descriptions, qualifications, and expectations specific to each course. To apply, please complete the application below. You may apply for one or more of the courses.

You will be asked to complete a short answer question describing your interest in the position(s), to confirm chair/division chief support of your application, and to upload your CV. The deadline for submission is Wednesday, November 13, 2024, at 5 PM EST. Applicants will be notified of selection decisions by the course director by mid-December. Eligible applicants who are not selected will be offered the opportunity to be on a waitlist for future opportunities in the MD education program.

Application for Small Group Leader positions

Funding will be communicated by our education program to the School of Medicine Finance office which disburses it to your department in quarterly installments. Each department is responsible for determining how these funds are used to support your effort for this role. If you are uncertain about how the funds are used in your department, please reach out to your business manager.

Thank you so much for supporting our medical education program and our medical students!

Job Announcement

The Duke University School of Medicine invites applications from innovative and creative educators for a full-time, teaching position in cellular sciences and medical histology. This position will be filled at the rank and title of Assistant or Associate Professor of the Practice of Medical Education. The successful candidate will have a PhD, MD or equivalent degree in Cellular Physiology, Developmental Biology, Molecular Biology, Genetics, Biochemistry, Immunology, Microanatomy, Neuroscience, Pathology, Pharmacology, or a related discipline. The successful candidate will demonstrate mastery of the requisite knowledge to teach the fundamental molecular, biochemical, and structural principles of cellular life, tissue organization, organ function, and human disease. The incumbent would join a cadre of teaching faculty in the Duke University School of Medicine who teach foundational science in the pre-clerkship Doctor of Medicine curriculum for first-year medical students and in the Duke Master of Biomedical Sciences (MBS) program, with primary responsibility for directing HLTHSCI 502 Cellular Sciences in the Duke MBS program. The incumbent will eventually serve as director for the Biochemistry and Genetics components of the Doctor of Medicine program’s Foundations of Patient Care pre-clerkship curriculum. The incumbent will also contribute content in the domain of organ systems physiology and lead small-group seminar discussions elsewhere in the core curriculum of the Duke MBS program. As faculty in the Duke MBS program, the incumbent will have academic service responsibilities, as assigned by the executive director, as well as opportunities for professional development within Duke AHEAD.

The Duke MBS program recruits students interested in healthcare professions, the biomedical sciences, and a variety of careers informed by biomedical science. Most graduates apply to terminal degree-granting healthcare professions programs (primarily, allopathic or osteopathic medical schools). The program has an interprofessional, multidisciplinary faculty, and the principal instructional strategy implements the principles and practices of team-based learning.

Preference will be given to applicants who have completed a postdoctoral fellowship, have relevant teaching experience in the healthcare professions and/or graduate life sciences, including experience educating and mentoring students with a variety of strengths and learning differences, and are passionate about advancing health professions education. Prior experience implementing the principles and practices of team-based learning is desirable. We seek an educator who will contribute to the University’s commitment to excellence, inclusivity, and diversity. Candidates who satisfy NIH criteria for “Underrepresented Populations in the U.S. Biomedical, Clinical, Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Enterprise” are especially encouraged to apply. Interested individuals should send: (1) a cover letter; (2) a curriculum vitae; (3) a statement of teaching philosophy; and (4) the names and contact information of three references to the search committee at renee.hedstrom@duke.edu.

Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled.

With few exceptions, all open positions in the medical education program are distributed to the general SOM faculty listserv and included here for an inclusive approach at recruitment. Small Group Leader positions are recruited for annually. All SOM faculty, including DPC faculty, are eligible to apply, as per your chair. All applications are reviewed by a search committee, which uses consistent guidelines based on the needs of the role to assess each candidate. Final candidates are selected based on their skillset, experience, diversity in background (including professional and personal characteristics) and needs of the team. Applicants for Small Group Leader roles are placed on a waitlist, and if positions become available prior to the next annual recruitment, waitlisted faculty will be offered the open spots.