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Educating Tomorrow’s Educators
The Kellogg Eye Center is consistently ranked in the top tier nationally in both clinical care and research grant funding. The same is true when it comes to the third pillar of our mission: medical education. Two national rankings of residency programs—the Doximity Residency Navigator and Ophthalmology Times’ Best Residency Program listing—rank the U-M Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences in the top ten.
One way to stay on top is to continually innovate. In the academic year ahead, Kellogg will launch a supplementary curriculum designed for ophthalmology residents aspiring to careers as not only clinicians and researchers, but medical educators as well.
The program— Pathway for Residents Interested in Medical Education, or PRIME, is the brainchild of Kellogg’s Co-directors of Medical Student Education, Ariane Kaplan, M.D., and Anjali Shah, M.D.
“We see an opportunity to enhance the best-in-class residency education we already provide by offering the instruction and hands-on practice needed to become effective teachers and mentors in ophthalmology,” Dr. Kaplan explains.
A two-year PRIME curriculum is being designed to run parallel to the ACGME-accredited ophthalmology curriculum, beginning during residents’ PGY-2 or PGY-3 years. The objective is to allow residents interested in a career in medical education the opportunity to build a portfolio of exposure and experience, in areas including:
curriculum design
medical student mentorship
facilitating small group sessions
designing lectures and wet labs
participating in educational research
“This is the core skillset of a medical educator,” Dr. Shah says. “We think PRIME will make Kellogg a more attractive residency destination for an aspiring ophthalmologist who imagines a career in academic medicine.”
A 2024 survey of Kellogg applicants and current residents affirms this. More than 90 percent indicated they would be more likely to consider a program if specialized tracks like this were offered.
“Participants will receive a certificate of completion at graduation,” adds Dr. Kaplan. “That acknowledgement will be important currency when interviewing for fellowships or faculty positions.”
“Supplementing the traditional curriculum with additional complementary training is a trending topic in medical education,” notes Dr. Shah. “For example, Kellogg offers targeted training to prepare residents interested in global ophthalmology. We’re now poised to be one of the first—if not the first—academic eye centers to offer a parallel learning track for aspiring medical educators.”
