We are pleased to announce that registration for the 27th Annual Meeting of IAMSE, to be held June 10 – 13, 2023 in Cancun, Mexico is now open. At this annual meeting of the International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE) faculty, staff, and students from around the world who are interested in health science education join together in faculty development and networking opportunities. Sessions on curriculum development, assessment, and simulation are among the common topics available at the meeting.
Featured plenary speakers include Professor Kara Caruthers (Meharry Medical College, USA), Dr. Michelle Daniel (University of California San Diego School of Medicine, USA), Dr. Anique de Bruin (Maastricht University, The Netherlands), and Dr. Ricardo Leon-Borquez (World Federation for Medical Education).
Our association is a robust and diverse set of educators, researchers, medical professionals, volunteers and academics that come from all walks of life and from around the globe. Each month we choose a member to highlight their academic and professional career and see how they are making the best of their membership in IAMSE. This month’s Featured Member is our 2019 annual meeting site host, IAMSE President Rick Vari.
Rick Vari, PhD Professor & Senior Dean for Academic Affairs Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine Roanoke, Virginia, USA
Why was the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine the right choice for the 2019 IAMSE meeting? We are the right choice for the meeting this year because we did a fabulous conference several years ago and we were already in the queue for a future IAMSE meeting. We had some scheduling issues with our original site for 2019 and we were able to step in and fill the void. We have a wonderful hotel site (at the Hotel Roanoke), and the people who came from all across North America for the Collaborating Across Borders V: An American-Canadian Dialogue on Interprofessional Healthcare and Practice, in 2015 really enjoyed it. As a relatively new medical school, we are excited about continuing our growing success in medical education; hosting the IAMSE meeting is a real honor for us.
What opportunities will attendees see in Roanoke that they’ve not seen in years past? Roanoke is a beautiful city to have a conference. We’ve localized the venue, which is a major goal for IAMSE. Attendees and exhibitors will appreciate the layout of the conference site. We are adjacent to the Roanoke Market Square with restaurants, breweries, and shopping featuring local items. There are just lots of opportunities for networking and entertainment. The program is outstanding with presentations and sessions on current and future challenges facing health sciences educators. International abstract submission is up, so more colleagues from other parts of the world may be attending. Increased student participation will be another highlight. This year, IAMSE is also hosting a Taste of Roanoke Street Fair which will replace the annual gala dinner. IAMSE 2019 is going to be a very easy conference to attend. If you can stay for the Grand Extravaganza on Tuesday afternoon it is going to be very special with a hiking trip to a beautiful location on the Blue Ridge Parkway and a visit to the Ballast Point brewery (East Coast operation) for dinner.
Can you tell me more about this new event? We are blocking off the Market Square in downtown Roanoke. We will have tastes of local food, beverages, and music. This is a chance to interact in a casual fun setting with lots of local food and a live band! It’s going to be a lot of fun.
What session or speaker are you most looking forward to this year? I’m looking forward to, of course, the Board of Directors and Committee Chairs meeting. I’ve enjoyed being president and interacting with the Board and Committee Chairs in this planning session provides IAMSE with a sense of solid direction. The plenary sessions also look very strong. I’m interested in the Gen Z session (Generation Z: The New Kids on the Block) and How to Use Disruptive Technology to Make Education Better – Not Just Different.
It sounds likes there is much to look forward to this year. Anything else you’d like to share? The local response from the other medical schools in the area in support of the IAMSE meeting in Roanoke has been very strong. As a new school, this is a tremendous opportunity for us and the other medical schools in the area to get better acquainted.
To learn more about the 2019 IAMSE Annual Meeting, including the plenary speakers, workshops and networking opportunities, or to register, please visitwww.IAMSEconference.org.
Reserve your spot before March 15 to ensure the Early Bird Discount!
The IAMSE booth will be exhibiting at the annual winter meeting of the Group for Research in Pathology Education (GRIPE) in New Orleans, LA on January 24-26, 2019. IAMSE Association Manager Julie Hewett will also be delivering a pre-conference workshop titled, “Using Social Media to Disseminate Your Scholarly Work.” If you plan on attending this meeting, don’t miss this session and do not forget to swing by the IAMSE booth and say hello!
Information on the GRIPE Meeting can be found here. We look forward to seeing you there!
We are pleased to announce that registration for the 23rd Annual Meeting of IAMSE, to be held June 8-11, 2019 in Roanoke, VA, USA, is now open. At this annual meeting of the International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE) faculty, staff and students from around the world who are interested in medical science education join together in faculty development and networking opportunities. Sessions on curriculum development, assessment and simulation are among the common topics available at the annual meetings.
Featured plenary speakers include Don Cleveland, Claudia Krebs, Craig Lenz and Geoff Talmon.
With the IAMSE 2026 Annual Conference call for abstracts approaching, the IAMSE Student Professional Development Committee invites students who are planning to submit a poster or oral abstract to participate in our abstract pre-review program.
This initiative offers an opportunity for students to receive constructive feedback on an abstract draft prior to final submission, helping to strengthen and refine your work before submitting to the conference.
Eligibility: Any student preparing IAMSE 2026 abstract submissions. You do not need to be an IAMSE member to benefit from the pre-review process.
Submission: Email your draft abstract to support@iamse.org with the subject line Student Abstract Pre-Review.
The submission deadline to have your abstract pre-reviewed is November 12, 2025.
We encourage all interested students to take advantage of this opportunity. The official portal for final abstract submissions will be opening shortly. Please watch your email for additional updates.
Join us at 12:00 PM EST Thursday, January 8, 15, 22, 29, and February 5, 2026 for the IAMSE Winter 2025 Webcast Audio Seminar Series titled “From Hype to Reality: AI’s Rapid Transformation of Health Sciences Professions Education.”
From Hype to Reality: AI’s Rapid Transformation of Health-Sciences Professions Education Join us for this five-session Winter WAS series that will examine evidence-based applications, assessment of knowledge/skills, human factors in AI adoption, autonomous AI agents for teaching and administration, and policy and competency frameworks for faculty and students.
Presentations will focus on practical examples, emerging risks, and actionable strategies faculty can use now to design learning, assessment, and support systems that prepare students for a practice environment transformed by AI. This series is intended for basic-science and clinical educators seeking forward-looking, implementable guidance.
Further details about the Winter 2026 series, including registration, speakers, topics, and more will be coming soon, so keep an eye on your inbox. For more details on our archives of previous seasons, please visit www.iamse.org.
During undergraduate medical education, students are often expected to take on teaching roles such as presenting medical topics, educating patients, or discussing research articles. However, most curricula do not provide formal instruction to help students develop effective teaching skills or pedagogy. This gap highlights the need to evaluate interventions designed to strengthen students’ knowledge and foster their teaching abilities.
This article addresses this need by introducing an instructional video mini-series designed to help first-year medical students become more effective at teaching problem-based learning (PBL) content to their PBL group members. The videos covered topics such as developing clear learning objectives, aligning material to the learner’s level, fostering engagement, connecting lessons to real-world applications, and selecting appropriate resources for lesson design. To evaluate the impact, the research team developed a rubric for PBL faculty facilitators to assess students’ knowledge in these areas as they presented content to their peers.
Key results showed a significant improvement in student PBL teaching scores, which persisted throughout the study duration. Facilitators’ qualitative feedback of those presenting PBL content indicated positive growth across all five domains after students watched the instructional videos. Student survey responses were positive with respondents strongly agreeing or agreeing with most survey items. Based on these results, the authors suggested future work should explore the transferability of these skills to teaching contexts beyond PBL.
The findings and implications of this study are relevant to a wide range of medical educators and administrators, including faculty involved in PBL curriculum design, PBL facilitators, those seeking to enhance peer-assisted learning, and educators focused on student professional development. As active learning and peer-assisted learning approaches continue to be implemented and expanded upon in undergraduate medical education, developing effective student teaching skills for students will only continue to grow in importance.
Matthew McMillin, PhD Associate Professor Huffington Department of Education, Innovation & Technology Department of Medicine Baylor College of Medicine
The International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE) invites you to join us for our fourth annual Virtual Forum! Join us October 22-24, 2025, as we host ignite talks, lightning talks, and more. The virtual forum is designed for all interested in teaching, designing, and leading health professions sciences curricula around the world. Participants include students & trainees, basic scientists, providers, clinicians, and other faculty from across various healthcare and educational disciplines. We specifically encourage junior faculty, postdocs, and students to participate in the forum! This year’s theme is “A Global Vision for Health Education: Empowering an International Community of Educators.”
Below, we look at one of our Virtual Forum Ignite Speakers, Keith Wilson, Chair of Assessment, Undergraduate Medical Education at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada, who will be presenting “Never Work Harder Than Your Learner” from 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM EDT Friday, October 24, 2025.
Keith Wilson, MD, PhD, CCFP, FCFP Dalhousie University
Friday, October 24, 2025 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM EDT
Participants will explore current challenges and opportunities in assessment and curriculum design in health professions education and how we can do more by doing less. In particular, we will discuss how programmatic assessment and coaching promote learning, how creating change is supported using a systems thinking approach and how Artificial Intelligence can make all of this easier.
Our Association is a robust and diverse set of educators, students, researchers, medical professionals, volunteers and academics that come from all walks of life and from around the globe. Each month we choose a member to highlight their academic and professional career and see how they are making the best of their membership in IAMSE. This month’s Featured Member is Demi Tuvdendorj.
Demi Tuvdendorj Associate Professor Drexel University College of Medicine Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
How long have you been a member of IAMSE? I have been a member of IAMSE since 2022 and have thoroughly enjoyed the journey!
Looking at your time with the Association, what have you most enjoyed doing? What are you most looking forward to? So many great moments and experiences! The IAMSE Annual Virtual Forums (VF) hold a special place. Launched in 2022, the VF was designed to increase accessibility by removing travel barriers and enabling participation from anywhere. I submitted a three-minute video poster (so fun to make!), which was accepted, and I attended several sessions that were insightful, relatable, and highly interactive. The discussions among attendees and presenters helped me connect with prominent educators and fellow IAMSE members. For the second and third VFs, I served on the Program Committee. The highlight has been this year’s (the fourth) VF, where I was honored to be nominated and appointed Chair. As in previous years, I’m working with an amazing team passionate about health professions education. Each time, I learn so much from talented colleagues across the global health professions community. These experiences have deepened my understanding of the field’s challenges and opportunities and expanded both my collaborative scholarship and friendships.
What interesting things are you working on outside of the Association right now? At a recent IAMSE Annual Conference, my colleagues and I led a focus group discussion on best practices for preparing materials for flipped-classroom sessions. We had an engaged group and a rich discussion. One key takeaway was that there was no widely accepted guidelines for developing preparatory materials. Following the conference, several of us launched a multi-institutional project to develop best-practice guidelines. Our working group meets regularly to brainstorm and advance this effort; the shared ideas, energy, and enthusiasm are inspiring. We still have work ahead, but I’m excited about what we can accomplish together. I’m also involved in several other projects, including developing ScholarRx Bricks to introduce Core Concepts of Physiology in medical education to help reduce learners’ cognitive load. In addition, I’m passionate about integrating leadership and teamwork into the medical school curriculum.
As Chair of this year’s IAMSE Virtual Forum, what are you most looking forward to about this event? What should people know? I’m very excited about this year’s Virtual Forum, taking place October 22-24, 2025. The Program Committee has invested a tremendous amount of effort in planning, and we’re thrilled with the results so far. We receive a record number of abstracts from established scholars and students across the U.S. and internationally. The three Ignite Speakers are renowned and health education experts from around the world and will share their perspectives on key aspects of health professions education (stay tuned for IAMSE emails with details!). We’ll also host Q&A sessions with IAMSE leadership. Our goal is to offer value-added sessions where we can learn more about IAMSE and from each other, aligning with the VF theme: “A Global Vision for Health Education: Empowering an International Community of Educators.”
Anything else that you would like to add? I recently had the opportunity to hear IAMSE leadership discuss the organization’s vision, mission, and goals — an excellent experience. I was especially moved by the emphasis on professional development as IAMSE’s primary goal. From my experience, IAMSE truly focuses on and diligently advances this mission. Growth isn’t possible in isolation; we need to share our experiences and learn from one another. IAMSE also helps us build a community of belonging among educators and staff. I’m truly grateful for the opportunity to be part of this journey. Thank you!
The International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE) invites you to join us for our fourth annual Virtual Forum! Join us October 22-24, 2025, as we host ignite talks, lightning talks, and more. The virtual forum is designed for all interested in teaching, designing, and leading health professions sciences curricula around the world. Participants include students & trainees, basic scientists, providers, clinicians, and other faculty from across various healthcare and educational disciplines. We specifically encourage junior faculty, postdocs, and students to participate in the forum! This year’s theme is “A Global Vision for Health Education: Empowering an International Community of Educators.”
Below, we look at one of our Virtual Forum Ignite Speakers, Raquel Correia, Coordinator at Paris Cité University, who will be presenting “AI for Educators: The Good, the Bad, and the Lazy” from 10:15 AM – 11:15 AM EDT Wednesday, October 22, 2025.
Wednesday, October 22, 2025 10:15 AM – 11:15 AM EDT
Everyone’s talking about AI, but let’s be honest: most people can’t explain what it is, let alone use it without making a mess. In this session, I’ll strip away the jargon and explain (in plain language) what AI and large language models actually are, and how they can really help us in teaching, assessment, career development, and the daily grind of health professions education. And then we’ll flip the coin: the lazy shortcuts, the ethical tripwires, and the places where AI does more harm than good. This isn’t a hype session. It’s a field guide to what’s useful, what’s useless, and what’s dangerous.
The International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE) is pleased to invite you to the 30th Annual IAMSE Conference to be held at the Marriott Augusta Convention Center in Augusta, Georgia, USA June 6-9, 2026! Below are some important dates and deadlines to know as we move closer to next year’s conference.
Dates and Deadlines for the 2026 Annual Conference:
Poster and Oral Abstract Deadline – December 1, 2025
Student & Faculty Travel Award Application Deadline – December 15, 2025
Educational Scholarship & Curriculum Innovation Grant Submission Deadline – January 15, 2026
Registration Open – January 2026
IAMSE-ScholarRx Educational Research Grant for Students Submission Deadline – January 15, 2026
Early Bird Registration Deadline – April 1, 2026
Presenter Registration Deadline – April 1, 2026
Online Registration Closes – Late May 2026
Be on the lookout for further updates and more information on each of these deadlines. We look forward to seeing you in Augusta!
IAMSE Communities of Growth (CoGs) are ongoing groups of like-minded individuals who want to informally get together to connect over an area or topic of interest. A Community of Growth is not directly connected to any Committee and is self-organized. For more information on IAMSE CoGs, click here.
Only the AI CoG will be meeting in October! Below are the details for the meeting.
AI CoG
The AI CoG meeting on Zoom will take place at Noon (12 PM) EDT on Wednesday, October 1, 2025. IAMSE AI CoG meetings take place regularly at 12 PM ET on the first Wednesday of each month. For information on how to join the AI CoG, email Doug McKell at douglas.mckell@gmail.com.
At the October meeting, Varna Taranikanti, MD, MS, PhD, Professor in the Department of Foundational Medical Studies at the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, will present her research using a novel LLM to create a digital actor to improve patient interviewing skills. She will describe the development process, piloting of the AI tool, patient presentation, digital flexibility, feedback system, and her ongoing data collection. Dr. Taranikanti is also the Systems Director for integrating anatomy with clinical sciences, as well as being involved in teaching all disciplines of anatomy to M1/M2 students.
To join the October AI CoG Zoom meeting, click here. Meeting ID: 897 1837 0101 Passcode: 511007
The International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE) invites you to join us for our fourth annual Virtual Forum! Join us October 22-24, 2025, as we host ignite talks, lightning talks, and more. The virtual forum is designed for all interested in teaching, designing, and leading health professions sciences curricula around the world. Participants include students & trainees, basic scientists, providers, clinicians, and other faculty from across various healthcare and educational disciplines. We specifically encourage junior faculty, postdocs, and students to participate in the forum! This year’s theme is “A Global Vision for Health Education: Empowering an International Community of Educators.”
Below, we look at one of our Virtual Forum Ignite Speakers, Krishna Mohan Surapaneni, Vice Principal and Professor at Panimalar Medical College Hospital & Research Institute, who will be presenting “Globalizing Medical Education: An Imperative for Change, Adaptation & Transformation” from 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM EDT Thursday, October 23, 2025.
Globalizing Medical Education: An Imperative for Change, Adaptation & Transformation
Krishna Mohan Surapaneni, Panimalar Medical College Hospital & Research Institute
Thursday, October 23, 2025 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM EDT
Medical education is at a crossroads. Rapid advances in AI, digital technologies, and global interconnectedness are reshaping how we teach and learn medicine. While these shifts bring opportunities for innovation, equity, and collaboration across borders, they also expose paradoxes like widening digital divides, challenges to access, and the erosion of the human touch in healthcare. This Ignite Talk will explore how medical education can no longer remain confined to local contexts, but must adapt to a shared global framework. It will highlight the promise of cross-border collaboration, the risks of neglecting compassion and humanism, and a vision for restoring the heart of healing in a technology-driven era. Ultimately, it calls on us to cultivate globally connected, yet deeply human-centered medical education that prepares tomorrow’s leaders and healers.
To read more about Krishna Mohan Surapaneni, click here.
Educating for Change: Education’s Role in Addressing the Climate and Health Crisis
By Jyoti Mishra, PhD, MBA Arianne Teherani, PhD
We are excited to welcome Dr. Jyoti Mishra, Associate Professor at the University of California San Diego, and Dr. Arianne Teherani, Professor at the University of California San Francisco and Founding Co-Director of the Center for Climate Health and Equity, who will present Educating for Change: Education’s Role in Addressing the Climate and Health Crisis. The session will take placeat 12:00 PM EDT Thursday, September 25, for the fourth week of the IAMSE 2025 Fall Webcast Audio Seminar Series titled “Environmental Disasters Affecting Health Professions Education…Surviving the Storm and After.”
Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to explore actionable strategies, share emerging scholarship, and learn how to educate future clinicians who can diagnose, manage, and prevent health consequences of environmental disasters.
The full IAMSE Fall 2025 WAS schedule can be found on the website.
Jyoti Mishra, PhD, MBA
Arianne Teherani, PhD
Educating for Change: Education’s Role in Addressing the Climate and Health Crisis
Presenters: Jyoti Mishra, University of California San Diego Arianne Teherani, PhD, University of California San Francisco, Center for Climate Health and Equity Session Date &Time: September 25, 2025 at 12:00 PM EDT Session Description: This session will focus on addressing the critical role of education as a core solution to the climate and health crisis. The session will discuss the role of the health sector in climate action, the practical and evidence-based ways for educating health professionals about and how to teach students about the climate crisis and health, and the future directions for education about climate change and health.
In 2022, the USMLE Step 1 exam transitioned from numerical scoring to pass/fail reporting—a decision aimed at improving student well-being and reducing the weight of Step 1 scores in residency selection. While the intent was clear, the broader consequences of this change are still unfolding across medical education. Early national data suggest some unintended ripple effects: a notable drop in Step 1 pass rates and a growing number of students choosing to defer the exam.
LeClair and colleagues set out to explore how this change impacted medical students. In this multi-institutional study across three U.S. medical schools, the authors examined how the shift to pass/fail scoring influenced pre-clerkship students’ anxiety, curiosity, grit, and learning strategies. They used validated survey tools to compare two cohorts—students from the Class of 2023 (who received numerical scores) and the Class of 2024 (who received pass/fail reports).
The findings challenge some early assumptions. While many expected a less stressful learning environment under the new system, the reality was more nuanced. Through careful statistical analysis, the study revealed a significant connection between the scoring format and students’ approach to learning.
One clear trend emerged: as Step 1 scores became irrelevant for residency applications, students began redirecting their focus to Step 2 CK, clerkship performance, and extracurricular achievements like research. This shift may have implications for how students engage with foundational sciences in the preclinical years.
For educators and curriculum leaders, this study offers important food for thought. As we strive to balance student wellness with academic rigor, it’s crucial to monitor how major assessment changes shape learning behaviors. This work serves as an early reminder that even well-intentioned reforms must be continually evaluated for their real-world impact.
Monzurul Roni, PhD Teaching Associate Professor Department of Health Sciences Education and Pathology University of Illinois College of Medicine
Our Association is a robust and diverse set of educators, students, researchers, medical professionals, volunteers and academics that come from all walks of life and from around the globe. Each month we choose a member to highlight their academic and professional career and see how they are making the best of their membership in IAMSE. This month’s Featured Member is Snehal Mehta.
Snehal Mehta, MD, CHSE® Associate Professor Clinical Foundations; Semester 5 MICR Module Co-Director Ross University School of Medicine St. Michael, Barbados
How long have you been a member of IAMSE? I have had the privilege of being a member of IAMSE since 2019. Over the past six years, my involvement has grown from attending conferences to actively contributing as a manuscript and abstract reviewer, finishing IAMSE Fellowship and most recently, serving as an IAMSE Ambassador. It has been a truly rewarding journey of growth and collaboration.
Looking at your time with the Association, what have you most enjoyed doing? What are you most looking forward to? What I have move enjoyed is the sense of being part of a global community dedicated to a common purpose. Specifically, I cherish the opportunities for collaborative scholarships, such as co-authoring publications with international colleagues and the chance to introduce peers in their own scholarly activities, like onboarding them as reviewers for the Medical Science Educator (MSE) journal.
Looking forward, I am incredibly excited about the potential for deeper regional engagement. My goal is to continue fostering connections among medical educators in the Caribbean, facilitating more collaborative research projects, and helping to highlight the unique perspectives and innovations from our region on the IAMSE platform. I am also keen to explore, with the Ambassadors team, how we can better involve students in health education research from the very beginning of their careers.
What interesting things are you working on outside of the Association right now? Outside of my IAMSE activities, my passion lies in integrating simulation-based learning into clinical education. I have contributed significantly to developing and implementing several simulation and active learning clinical sessions for our pre-clinical students at the Ross University School of Medicine, Barbados. We are now designing a research study to measure how this early exposure of simulation helps build their clinical confidence and problem-solving skills. My interest in simulation and technology in healthcare education also led me to contribute to a major industry report. I authored a section on ‘Clinical Decision Support’ for the Society for Simulation in Healthcare’s (SSiH) White Paper, which explores the future of technology in medical training. I have also been involved in a collaborative research project, working with colleagues from the universities and academic hospitals in Barbados and around the world. It is a brilliant example of how academic medicine can directly contribute to public health understanding in our community.
As an IAMSE Ambassador, what do you most enjoy about being a part of that? Being an ambassador is less of a title and more of a joyful responsibility. It has been both an honor and a genuine pleasure to collaborate with Professor Di Eley, our Ambassador Committee Chair, and my fellow Ambassadors. Their dedication and collaborative spirit have made the experience incredibly rewarding.
What I most enjoy is the role of a connector – a bridge. I value being able to introduce my colleagues here in Barbados and the wider Caribbean to the incredible resources and networking opportunities IAMSE provides. There is a profound sense of fulfillment in helping to improve their voices, support their professional development, and integrate our regional experiences into the global conversation on medical education.
Anything else that you would like to add? I would like to express my deepest gratitude for this recognition. My foundational training in both Clinical Biochemistry and Emergency Medicine has given me a unique lens through which I view medical education; it is about connecting the foundational science to the clinical bedside in a way that is meaningful for students.
Ultimately, everything I do is driven by a simple goal: to contribute to forming compassionate, and competent, 21st-century physicians. By advocating for global collaboration, innovative teaching methods like simulation, and supporting scholarly growth, we are not just improving education; we are investing in better and more accessible patient care worldwide. IAMSE has provided the perfect platform to live out my passion for this integration. Thank you for this incredible opportunity to be a part of this mission.
