Featured Member: Bonny Dickinson, Board of Directors

I became an IAMSE member in 2013 shortly after beginning a new position as one of the inaugural faculty of Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine. As a basic science faculty member and researcher, I had numerous contacts in the realm of basic science research. But as my career transitioned to focus on medical education, I initially felt adrift until I was welcomed by the IAMSE community. IAMSE has had an enormous impact on my career as a medical science educator. I distinctly recall my first IAMSE meeting in 2015 where, for the first-time, I presented work related to innovation in medical education. I came away from the conference feeling inspired by the other presenters and conference attendees, and I knew that I had found a home. It was also at this conference that a conversation with Amy Wilson-Delfosse, the IAMSE president at that time, sparked the formation of CAMSE, a subcommittee of the IAMSE Professional Development Committee. CAMSE’s charge is to create an IAMSE-recommended resource that provides guidance to medical schools developing or revising promotion and tenure requirements for their medical educators. To address this need, we recently surveyed the IAMSE membership to assess their perceptions and understandings of institutional promotion and tenure practices for medical science educators. We look forward to sharing the results of this survey with the members of IAMSE, and ask IAMSE members from schools outside of the U.S. to join our committee so that we are more fully representative of the international membership of IAMSE. In closing, I look forward to contributing to the mission of IAMSE as a newly elected member of the Board of Directors, and enthusiastically await what lies ahead in my journey as a member of IAMSE.