2006-07 Augusta Webster Grants

I am pleased to announce five new recipients of Augusta Webster Grants for Educational Innovation at the Feinberg School of Medicine. These five Feinberg faculty submitted proposals in response to a request for applications this spring, seeking investigator-proposed projects in medical education-related scholarship and research. Each principal investigator will be designated an Augusta Webster Faculty Fellow in Medical Education.

The grants provide up to $25,000 per year for up to three years. Sixteen proposals were received this cycle, representing twelve medical school departments and four Northwestern McGaw hospitals. Approximately one-half of the proposals focused on undergraduate medical education, and half on graduate medical education; curriculum development was a common theme. A subcommittee of the Education Council served as reviewers and recommended proposals for funding.

Jeffrey Barsuk, MD, FACP, is an assistant professor of medicine, division of general internal medicine, in the department of medicine. Dr. Barsuk will study the Use of Simulation Technology to Assess and Improve the Proficiency of Internal Medicine Trainees in Central Line Insertion. The study focuses on internal medicine residents and has implications for patient safety. The project is funded for three years.

Alice Salzman, PT, EdD, is an assistant professor and assistant chair for clinical education in the department of physical therapy and human movement sciences. Her study, Analysis of a Summative Cross-Course Examination Using Standardized Patients and Creation of a Process to Develop Additional Cross-Course Evaluations, was funded for two years.

Lori Goodhartz, MD, is an assistant professor and director of radiology education in the department of radiology. Larry Cochard, PhD, is an assistant professor of medical education. Their project is anticipated to produce A Website for the Integration of Radiology and Radiographic Anatomy in the First Two Years of the Curriculum at the Feinberg School of Medicine. The project was funded for two years.

Jon Lomasney, MD, assistant professor in the department of pathology and molecular pharmacology and biological chemistry and course director for Scientific Basis of Medicine. The Second Year Medical School Teaching-Learning Initiative seeks to improve the excellence of the SBM course through the development of new teaching tools, faculty development, and ongoing assessment. This is a two-year project.

Kathy Johnson Neely, MD, is an assistant professor, division of general internal medicine, in the department of medicine, and course director for Patient, Physician, and Society. Dr. Neely is undertaking a two-year project to expand the Difficult Conversations curriculum of the PPS communication skills course in order to promote communication skills.

The Augusta Webster Grants and the Faculty Fellowships program were established in 1991 by an anonymous donor in honor of Augusta Webster, MD (1903-1993). Dr. Webster, a member of the Class of 1934, was the first woman to be named a full professor at the medical school and in 1960, as chief of obstetrics and gynecology at Cook County Hospital, became the first woman in the country to head a department at a major teaching hospital.