McCahan Medical Campus Education Day Showcases Outstanding Educational Activities
The fourth annual John McCahan Medical Campus Education Day was held on June 22, 2009 at the Boston University School of Medicine. This year’s event, sponsored by Boston University’s Schools of Medicine, Dental Medicine and Public Health, provided participants from all three schools with the opportunity to showcase their scholarly activities in education and to learn new skills. Faculty, trainees, and staff attended workshops, a poster session, and presentations by the recipients of best poster abstracts.

Vinodh Bhoopathi, a doctoral student at the Division of Dental Public Health, and Sahil Jain, a third year medical student, both received awards for top student abstract submissions. Bhoopathi presented on “Knowledge, Attitudes, and Opinions on Bioterrorism Preparedness in Dental Professionals: A Comparative Study” and Jain presented his work on “An Innovative Medical Student Organization as a Platform to Integrate Business Awareness in Medical Education.”
Jeff Markuns, M.D. from the Department of Family Medicine was awarded the best abstract by a faculty member and presented his work “International Videoconference Program for Faculty Development in Family Medicine.” New awards to voluntary faculty members from the School of Medicine and the Goldman School of Dental Medicine were awarded to Drs. Barry Ginsberg, Daniel McCullough and Jerry Wortzman from the School of Medicine and to Dr. Joseph Nore from the Dental School. The School of Public Health also presented its inaugural Educational Innovation Award to Wayne La Morte, M.D., M.P.H.

The audience was treated to updates on the educational advancements in each of the schools on the medical campus by a panel of academic deans, which included Drs. Lisa Sullivan (Associate Dean of Education, School of Public Health), Michelle Henshaw (Assistant Dean for Community Partnership and Extramural Affairs, Goldman School of Dental Medicine) and Sharon Levine (Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, School of Medicine).
The highlight of the event was the keynote lecture presented by N. Karl Haden, Ph.D., founder and President of the Academy for Academic Leadership. Dr. Haden’s presentation, “Critical Thinking: Where is the Evidence?” addressed the meaning and application of critical thinking. Dr. Haden presented a model for understanding the concept of critical thinking and discussed the application of critical thinking to the clinical reasoning process. Dr. Haden also gave practical suggestions about how teachers can nurture critical thinking and problem solving skills in their students.
