Teaching students who are on the path to becoming physicians is nothing new at Penn. Founded in 1765, the Perelman School of Medicine is the oldest medical school in the United States and has been training doctors for almost 250 years.

But now, Penn’s Graduate School of Education (GSE) has teamed up with the Perelman School to polish the teaching skills of those who are educating future physicians by launching a collaborative program called Med Ed.

Starting in August, the program will offer a master of education degree or certificate-level training in the delivery of education. The program will focus on four themes: Learning in Academic Medicine, Research and Evaluation, Technology in Education, and Educational Leadership.

“There is a growing awareness that physicians need to become better teachers,” says Allison Ballantine, the Med Ed program director. “This is a time of tremendous change in healthcare. A huge piece of this is about learning to do things more safely, humanistically, and in a cost-efficient manner. For this, we need good teachers.” 

Med Ed will feature a clinically rich, executive-format program created specifically for medical educators. 

“The collaboration between Perelman and GSE is what makes this program unique,” says Doug Lynch, vice dean at GSE. “It pulls in faculty from across the University in a unique way to best meet the needs of people who teach in academic medicine.”

The Med Ed curriculum is interdisciplinary in nature. The degree is awarded through GSE, but courses are taught by faculty from both GSE and the Perelman School of Medicine.

The program allows participants to continue working full-time while completing their coursework. It involves periods of mandatory on-site learning, as well as online classes, and independent projects. 

For more information, visit the Med Ed website.