Internal Medicine Residency Program announces new director of Distinction in Medical Education

Jennifer Spicer, MD, MPH, assistant professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases, has been selected as the new director for the Distinction in Medical Education for the J. Willis Hurst Internal Medicine Residency Program.

First established in 2007, the distinction programs serve as educational opportunities that enable residents to pursue additional expertise in specific areas of interest.

The Distinction in Medical Education is one of the most popular distinctions in the residency program. Spicer will join the distinction program’s leadership team and will work together to guide the administrative, educational, and scholarship oversight for these highly popular educational programs.

Spicer has shown sustained engagement with resident learners and has a well-established national presence in medical education and medical education scholarship. She serves as the module director of the month-long M1 Introduction to Human Disease Module in the School of Medicine, is the subspecialty lead coordinator for the residency program’s subspecialty curriculum, and is the co-director of the residency program’s residents as teachers curriculum.

Spicer’s primary research interest is in medical education, particularly in the development, implementation, and evaluation of innovative, evidence-based instructional techniques. She is passionate about teaching in the classroom and at the bedside, spanning the spectrum of learners from medical students to faculty.

Among may other accomplishments, Spicer created a month-long workshop-based medical education elective for medical students and residents that has trained more than 70 residents and students over the last five years, including twelve chief residents. She led the evaluation of the Infectious Diseases Society of America’s (IDSA) national antimicrobial stewardship curriculum, which has been piloted by 58 infectious diseases fellowship programs. She has been invited to present at multiple national meetings on teaching and medical education scholarship and has received numerous teaching awards from internal medicine residents. She is completing the coursework for her Masters of Health Professions Education this semester.

Spicer looks forward to using her passion for medical education to develop a longitudinal, tiered medical education track that develops residents as teachers, mentors, and scholars by providing them with the skills necessary to pursue a successful career as a medical educator. Her goal is to help residents become better teachers and learn how to turn education into scholarship.

Please join us in congratulating Spicer on this position. We look forward to her enthusiastic leadership in this role.