What’s one way to achieve FAME? For Rupesh Raina, M.D., a year as a fellow in the NEOMED Fellowship in Academic Medicine (FAME) teaching track was an opportunity to network and learn theoretical and practical skills. The year-long fellowship allowed him to make innovations to a medical grand rounds program at the Cleveland Clinic- Akron General. As part of the fellowship program, he worked on a scholarly project to compare chronic kidney disease in developing and developed countries. This study was recently published in a Public Library of Science (PLOS) journal.
“The FAME program- teaching track has been very valuable to me, and it has provided the theoretical foundations I need in my role as clinician-educator. I am now enrolled in the FAME program – leadership track,” says Dr. Raina, associate program director at the Cleveland Clinic- Akron General.
FAME is a competitive program offering fellowships in two separate tracks: a teaching track and a leadership track. FAME selects about 12 fellows each year for each of its tracks, helping to prepare faculty and administrative leaders for teaching and leadership roles at academic health centers.
FAME includes monthly face-to-face sessions in Rootstown, self-directed learning activities, and assignments. As part of the fellowship, fellows in the teaching track receive mentoring and coaching to complete a peer-reviewed journal article, a scholarly project and a faculty development session. Fellows in the leadership track receive executive coaching and leadership training from industry experts, business school faculty and thought leaders.
“It’s an amazing program,“ says Ryan Nofziger, M.D. “I appreciated the chance to sharpen my teaching and scholarly writing skills.” Dr. Nofziger also found success with the scholarly research he conducted through the FAME program. His project will be presented by a colleague as an abstract titled “Enhancing Pediatric Resident Intensive Care Experience and Interdisciplinary Relationships by Increasing Procedure Based Education by PICU Nurse Practitioners” at the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Pediatric Critical Care Colloquium in Chicago, which Dr. Nofziger will attend as the senior author.
Seth Brownlee, Pharm.D., associate dean of assessment in the College of Pharmacy, completed the FAME leadership track in 2016. Dr. Brownlee says the fellowship offered him an opportunity to sharpen the leadership skills he had and to gain new skills. He was especially grateful for the training he received in appreciative inquiry, which provided a new perspective when it was time for him to lead teams and devise planning processes.
Dr. Abi Sriharan, D.Phil., program director of FAME, says a key strength of the program is FAME’s “learner-centered approach.”
Applications will be accepted through Aug. 15 for both tracks of the 2018 FAME class. A limited number of scholarships will be available to NEOMED alumni and faculty. For application information and other information on the program, please contact facdev@neomed.edu.