Faculty Development Day is an annual offering at Baylor College of Medicine, but this year’s even included a new element – a Meet the Professors session.
Dr. Klotman at Meet the Professors
An initiative of the Office of Faculty Development, the event included presentations on effective teaching and other educational topics. Meet the Professors added to the curriculum by giving junior faculty the opportunity to interact in a small-group format with veteran faculty for insight and guidance on a variety of issues.
Professors participating included Dr. Paul Klotman, Dr. Mark Kline, Dr. Janet Butel, Dr. Deborah Johnson, Dr. Jim McDeavitt, Dr. Ellen Friedman and others.
“This is the first time we’ve offered this session, and I think it was very well received,” said Dr. Geeta Singhal Das, director of the Office of Faculty Development and associate professor of pediatrics. “We had representatives for all four schools at Baylor and leaders from all areas – clinical, research, administrative and education.”
About 100 people attended, she said, talking with Baylor leadership on topics ranging from promotion, publishing papers, being a woman in academics, work-life balance and more.
Dr. Mary Musso, assistant professor of otolaryngology, is one faculty member who attended the Meet the Professors session. She offers her thoughts on the session:
“I spent time with Dr. Kline and Dr. Klotman. I thought this session was very insightful; my only regret is that I didn’t have enough time to speak with all of them. They are all such a valuable resource and offer much insight to young physicians. I appreciated that they were able to take time out of their busy schedules to meet with the participants. My discussion with both Dr. Klotman and Dr. Kline centered on promotion – tenure track vs. non tenure track. Interestingly, they both agreed that the tenure track currently is not as illustrious as it once was. Dr. Klotman spoke about improving different specialty tracks, particularly the educational track and providing a path to distinguish good clinicians. Dr. Kline also mentioned the importance of research with respect to managing long-term goals and developing a clinical niche. He mentioned the importance of having a good mentor. It was refreshing to see how personable they both were and eager to address our questions. Meeting them in person gave me a different view of them vs. just reading their thoughts through emails. They both also mentioned not to hesitate contacting them in the future with further questions. Everyone has a different journey to career enhancement, and BCM provides us the tools to achieve it; in the end it’s up to each individual when and how we get there. Speaking to these various professors enlightened me to the different paths available for my journey.”
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