2026 Education &
Innovation Symposium
GME Leadership Retreat
May 13 & 14
Schedule details and other information posted below.
This year, we are excited to partner with the Graduate Medical Education Office for programming throughout the day to collaborate and showcase the innovative work happening across the continuum of medical education.
Keynote
Patricia O'Sullivan, EdD, MS
Patricia S. O’Sullivan is Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco, and is still active in education research with fellows, master's, and doctoral students. For 20 years, she directed education research and faculty development for UCSF School of Medicine, overseeing programs for students, residents, fellows, and faculty to prepare them as scholarly educators. She developed a faculty development program that led to the 2016 ASPIRE for Excellence award from AMEE for UCSF. She participated in the successful UCSF 2022 ASPIRE for Excellence award for Student Assessment. Dr. O’Sullivan has held volunteer leadership positions in the AAMC, AMEE, and the American Educational Research Association. She is a fellow of the American Educational Research Association. Her educational research studies have collaborators from medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and health-related professions. She is honored to have received USCF’s Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring, SGIM’s Career Achievement in Medical Education, and the Association of Surgical Education Distinguished Master Educator Award.
Symposium Schedule
May 13
8:00am - 7:00pm — Anschutz Health Sciences Building
Location: Donald Elliman Conference Center
Presenter: Aimee Gardner
Location: Donald Elliman Conference Center
Presenter: Pat O'Sullivan
Details: This keynote will explore the growing importance of building capacity for education scholarship in health professions education. It will highlight how research can ensure alignment between medical schools and clinical training environments, supporting institutional missions and partnerships. The presentation will also showcase pathways developed at UCSF, along with the outcomes they have produced and the influence these efforts can provide to educators and institutions.
Location: Donald Elliman Conference Center
Moderator: Daniel Goldberg
Debaters: Geoff Connors, Ben Vipler
Details: Some argue that Kirkpatrick’s Level 1 outcomes — essentially satisfaction surveys — should remain because they offer quick insights into learner experience and help flag issues with format or delivery. Others dismiss them as nearly worthless, pointing out that “liking” a session rarely aligns with actual knowledge gain or real-world performance, making Level 1 the least meaningful and most frequently misused part of the model. Hear strengths and weaknesses of each argument's side at this fun-filled debate.
Location: Donald Elliman Conference Center Foyer
Location: Donald Elliman Conference Center
Moderator: Geoff Connors
| Title | Presenter |
| Evaluating mistreatment of resident learners by patients: Differences across clinical learning environments | Kimberly Indovina |
| The ABCs of child neurology: Evaluating the quality and feasibility of an article based curriculum created for child neurology residents | Elizabeth Troy |
| Building confidence in health policy and advocacy: A brief required curriculum for internal medicine residents | Apoorva Ram |
| Becoming an educational leader and scholar: Initial findings of a novel longitudinal program for pediatric subspecialty fellows | Kimberly O'Hara |
| GME mission-aligned recruitment strategies should include first look programs | Jacqueline Ward-Gaines |
Building Competence Across the Continuum: Using ILPs & Precision Medical Education to Bring CBME to Life in Your Program
Facilitators: Bonnie Kaplan, Linda Montgomery, Nicole Christian, Chad Stickrath
Location: Breakout Room 2004
Description: Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME) promises individualized progression, targeted coaching, and meaningful assessment. However, many programs struggle to translate competency frameworks into actionable learning strategies. This interactive workshop explores how Individualized Learning Plans (ILPs) and Precision Medical Education (PME) tools can function as practical enablers of CBME. Precision Education is a framework to get to CBME and ILPs are a great tool to involve the learner in their own learning trajectory
Basecamp to summit: Elevating mentorship to new heights
Facilitators: Cristina Rabaza, Kathy Cebuhar, John Weeks, Corey Lyon
Location: Breakout Room 2007
Description: Drawing on three years of climate survey data, this workshop presents how the University of Colorado Family Medicine Residency used a faculty-resident working group to address common mentorship challenges – including organic relationship-building, mentor preparation, resident engagement, evaluation, and equitable access – driving satisfaction from 61% to 85%. Participants will hear the specific interventions implemented across didactic, extracurricular, and asynchronous settings throughout all three residency years, then use a guided worksheet to identify gaps in their own programs and draft a preliminary action plan.
Curriculum design: Course and lesson level introduction
Facilitator: Brady Slater
Location: Breakout Room 2002
Description: Many medical school educators arrive in the classroom as content experts—not trained teachers. This hands-on workshop addresses that gap directly, introducing foundational frameworks for curriculum design at both the course and lesson level. Participants will explore backward planning, Kern’s model, and Bloom's taxonomy as tools for building coherent course-level curricula, then shift to lesson-level design with strategies for structuring content for adult learners and maximizing retention. Both halves culminate in applied work sessions where participants improve real curricula from their own teaching—leaving with practical skills and revised materials they can use right away.
Location: Donald Elliman Conference Center
Judges: TBD
| Poster # | Title | Presenter |
| 1 | Exploring preceptor perspectives on entrustment decisions in longitudinal integrated clerkships | Katlynn Adkins |
| 2 | Addressing pediatric training gaps: Impact of a skills-based orientation on student confidence | Cabrey Allison |
| 3 | Establishing AAI-recommended immunology content learning objectives for undergraduate medical education in the U.S.A. | Justin Andrews |
| 4 | Development of a novel community engagement curriculum for hospice and palliative medicine fellows | Kelly Arnett |
| 5 | From intern to expert: Navigating your path to senior residency success | Nicholas Bianchina |
| 6 | Implementation of a phone triage simulation curriculum in pediatric gastroenterology fellow education | Darius Blanding |
| 7 | Innovating research training in residency: A six-year experience with a virtual productivity-based curriculum in ophthalmology | Francisco Bonilla-Escobar |
| 8 | Equipping near-peer educators with skills to address challenging small group sessions | Peyton Boyd |
| 9 | Identifying gaps in gastroenterology APP onboarding: Results from a national survey and early outcomes from a pilot inpatient training curriculum | Catherine Brady |
| 10 | Teaching the critical skill of the discharge summary | Heather Briggs |
| 11 | Medical Spanish student interest group: Connecting medical Spanish learning with the core curriculum | Zoe Caswell |
| 12 | The use and creation of analogies as a teaching tool for health professional trainees | Daniel M. Chien |
| 13 | Needs assessment of early pregnancy education in obstetrics & gynecology residents after the implementation of an early pregnancy assessment clinic (EPAC) | Cara Clure |
| 14 | Walking a shift in our shoes: A partner shadowing initiative to improve resident wellbeing | Kelsey Constantine |
| 15 | Development of a novel pain science elective for third year doctor of physical therapy students | Rebecca Dehne |
| 16 | Using AI avatars for communication practice in a doctor of physical therapy pain science course | Rebecca Dehne |
| 17 | Mixed methods evaluation of teaching movement science competencies in entry-level physical therapist education | E.J. Gann |
| 18 | Creating a novel curriculum with the cancer biology integrated science elective | Christopher Geiger |
| 19 | Teaching advocacy skills: A longitudinal GME curriculum adaptable to different learners | Stephanie Gold |
| 20 | Implementing a guideline-based internal medicine resident curriculum focused on common gastrointestinal disorders encountered in the primary care setting | Hadley Greenwood |
| 21 | Mixed methods analysis of emergent clinical infantile hemangioma teleconsultation questions from primary care providers to pediatric dermatologists: Directions for educational outreach | Sofia Guelfand Warnken |
| 22 | Utilization of the Team Emergency Assessment Measure (TEAM) to explore non-technical skills of pediatric interprofessional resuscitation teams | Lorel Huber |
| 23 | Walking on eggshells: A mixed-methods study exploring medical student-faculty communication | Sheilah Jiménez |
| 24 | Adenoidectomy task trainer for otolaryngology residents and medical students | Parker Juels |
| 25 | Peer led interprofessional healthcare advocacy education | Parker Juels |
| 26 | Implementing a radiology and virtual reality elective | Ilana Kafer |
| 27 | An interleaved micro-learning board curriculum for family medicine residents | Hannah Kimmel |
| 28 | Designing a family medicine–focused dermoscopy curriculum: A three-part lecture and workshop series | Hannah Kimmel |
| 29 | A board style focused review of antimicrobials for medical students | Tommy King |
| 30 | Opening the door: Expanding access and opportunity in academic emergency medicine through a career development curriculum | Renee King |
| 31 | Teaching the teachers: Disseminating a successful clinical reasoning curriculum for BMT APPs | David Klimpl |
| 32 | Who’s on the team? Exploring how pediatric hospital medicine team structure influences medical students’ learning experiences | Julia Kozlowski |
| 33 | Visual thinking strategies in hybrid physical therapy education: Enhancing clinical skills through art based education | Melanie Lambert |
| 34 | Why preceptors leave: Insights from exit interviews in a longitudinal integrated clerkship | Elena Lebduska |
| 35 | Empowering inpatient educators: A needs assessment to inform faculty development for the inpatient family medicine service at Denver Health | Allie Lindbloom |
| 36 | Enhancing learning through post-simulation coaching: Strategies for determining clinical readiness | Jennifer Logan |
| 37 | A modern airway management curriculum for emergency medicine residents | Matthew Mendes |
| 38 | Avatars with advantages: Live AI-powered partners in faculty development | Kara Michalsen |
| 39 | Impact of surgical board certification on outcomes of surgery - an evidence mapping review | Saad Mohammed |
| 40 | Exploring a virtual reality escape room with cardiac anatomy | Haley Morgan |
| 41 | HALO effect: A national survey of critical care fellow experiences with high acuity, low occurrence procedures | Christopher (C.J.) Mowry |
| 42 | Preventing and managing behavioral escalation in the acute care setting: An interdisciplinary approach to internal medicine curriculum development | Heather Murray |
| 43 | Assessment of resident perceptions of didactic teaching in dermatology training | Sabrina Newman |
| 44 | Anchored in education: Charting pediatrics and the evolution of pediatric podcasting | Daniel Nicklas |
| 45 | Enhancing scientific visibility and public scholarship through Wikipedia: A case study of the American Association for Anatomy | Mike Pascoe |
| 46 | Learning together: A medical student-led community health education initiative for persons in transitional housing and recuperative care programs | Ekshika Patel |
| 47 | Exploring drivers of study strategy change in the transition to medical school | Haley Perkins |
| 48 | Measuring clinical competence and confidence in advanced practice provider (APP) fellows: Development and implementation of evaluation tools | Amy Quinones |
| 49 | Humanism at the core: Embedding the arts and humanities in clerkship training | Samantha Robin |
| 50 | Survey results from novel long term care curriculum for family medicine residents | Katherine Runkel |
| 51 | Novel geriatrics consult rotation education experience | Katherine Runkel |
| 52 | A new elective for trainees demonstrated sustained well-being improvements 6 months after the elective | Jennifer Sedler |
| 53 | Not all that wheezes is asthma: The essential role of re-evaluation in teaching through illness scripts | Benjamin Silva |
| 54 | Development and implementation of medical infographics to enhance residency wards curriculum | Laura Simon |
| 55 | Locally mediated remote learning- A novel approach for faculty education | Molly Slate |
| 56 | Pediatric residents’ perspectives on their professional identity formation as educators | Kirsten Snook |
| 57 | Addressing the absence of pediatric brain death education through didactic curriculum for pediatrics residents | Jacob Story |
| 58 | Passport to practice: Designing a study abroad course | Kimberly Stultz |
| 59 | Adapting a one-year academic hospitalist POCUS curriculum to meet national consensus guidelines | Kevin Sullivan |
| 60 | Overcoming immunity to change: Novel self-reflection for struggling learners | Benjamin Vipler |
| 61 | Taking the path: The physician assistant student experience with an advancement pathway for an inpatient pediatric clinical rotation | Linsey Weller |
| 62 | Avoid the virtual void: Evolving pain medicine fellowship didactics to an interactive, hybrid model | William White |
| 63 | Closing the gap: Structured study curricula for URiM obstetrics and gynecology residents | Gabrielle Whitmore |
| 64 | The educational value of the pediatric mental health rotation: A qualitative exploration of resident experiences | Kylie Wu |
Location: Donald Elliman Conference Center
Moderator: Aimee Gardner
Speaker: Pat O'Sullivan
Details: Our keynote speaker will share insights from her experiences in medical education, engaging directly with the audience by responding to questions submitted in advance. This interactive session offers a unique opportunity to hear candid reflections and practical wisdom from a leader in the field.
Location: P12-1204 (ground floor)
Moderator: TBD
Details: GME Essentials is a required professional development activity for new GME Program Directors and Associate Program Directors. The afternoon workshop is offered twice per year (January and May) and is presented by seasoned GME program leaders. Topics covered include an ACGME Overview, Clinical Competency Committees and Milestones, Resident/Faculty Surveys, Annual Program Evaluations, ADS Updates, Supporting the Struggling Learner, and Focused Reviews/Probation
Location: Donald Elliman Conference Center
Moderator: TBD
| Title | Presenter |
| Exploring Careers in Healthcare and Onward (ECHO): A community outreach program to promote healthcare career interest in K-8 students surrounding the CU Anschutz medical campus | Ariel Davydov |
| The wicked problem of mistreatment in the clinical learning environment: Is a redesign of clerkships the answer? | Rachael Tan |
| A call to reimagine global physician training: Evidence from a multivariate analysis of burnout among trainees in Guatemala | Ekshika Patel |
| Moments of pride: A qualitative study of medical students' reflections on meaningful experiences | Sarah Ashley |
| Beyond medical students as teachers, medical students as educators: A phenomenological qualitative study of medical student educator identity formation | Nicolle Fernández Dyess |
Location: Donald Elliman Conference Center
Moderator: Ellen Aster
| Title | Presenter |
| Does location matter? Clinical experiences in rural and urban general practice longitudinal integrated clerkships | Hana Smith |
| Out of the classroom and into the clinic: Utilizing Self-determination Theory to support medical student transition to clerkships | Amy Grover |
| PEARLS: A pragmatic approach to continuing education for internal medicine faculty | Catherine Spaulding |
| The Clerkship Compass: Using personal manifestos to guide medical students through the clerkship year | Emma Greenberg |
| “From panic to presentation: Mastering ICU rounds” – Development of a novel personalized learning seminar to enhance medical students preparedness for critical care rotations | Ally Fuher |
"Let’s check your report card": Why do fair assessments matter?
Facilitators: Jacqueline Ward Gaines, Danielle Miller
Location: Breakout Room 2007
Description: This workshop features a "report card" theme across three semesters. It starts with a talk on the long-term effects of poor evaluations, then moves into three interactive trimesters: self-assessment and challenging assumptions (with activities like the IAT), understanding evaluation criteria and milestones (including AI tool use), and hands-on group work drafting assessments using CoPilot prompts. The workshop ends with group summaries and takeaways for continuous faculty clinical competency committees training and regular review of assessments for fairness and accuracy.
Second victim experience in GME: Practical tools for medical educators
Facilitators: Anneliese Grewing, Meredith Bone, Michelle Kiger
Location: Breakout Room 2002
Description: When trainees experience adverse clinical events, the emotional fallout can be profound—yet it often goes unrecognized and unaddressed. This interactive workshop equips medical educators with skills to identify and respond to the Second Victim Phenomenon in residents and fellows, who are particularly vulnerable due to evolving professional identity, power differentials, and limited coping experience. Participants will review SVP stages and recovery factors before engaging in case-based discussions to practice strategies that strengthen psychological safety, normalize distress after difficult events, and connect trainees with timely support. Attendees will also evaluate their own training environments and leave with a concrete action plan for building a more responsive, resilient program.
Teaching with power tools: Practical AI tools that you can use tomorrow
Facilitator: Matt Zuckerman
Location: Breakout Room 2004
Description: Interest in AI among medical educators is high—but most faculty have had little structured guidance on using it effectively, responsibly, or in ways that actually hold up educationally. This hands-on workshop moves well beyond demonstration, building practical skills across the tasks educators do every day: drafting and refining didactic content, writing and evaluating assessment items, generating formative feedback at scale, and designing simulated clinical encounters. Participants will learn a structured approach to prompt design—covering role specification, context anchoring, use of examples, and output constraints—then apply these skills through live exercises and guided workflows. The session will also engage directly with the ethical terrain: transparency with learners, bias, oversight, and institutional fit. The emphasis throughout is on AI as a tool that augments educator expertise, not one that replaces it. Attendees leave with skills and workflows ready to use the next day.
Location: P12-1204
Moderator: Chad Stickrath, Helen MacFarlane
Details: During this session, Teaching Scholars Program participants share brief presentations of their works-in-progress, highlighting their educational projects and receiving formative feedback. All are welcome to attend.
| Title | Presenter |
| Integrating AI into family medicine: Longitudinal curriculum for residents and faculty development | Roxanne Radi |
| Building competence: A comprehensive complex care curriculum for pediatric residents | Alex Kilinsky |
| Innovating continuity: A longitudinal intervisit care curriculum for internal medicine residents | Karen Stenehjem |
| Empowering primary care: A workshop on classical hematology for confident patient management | Lisa Chu |
| Launching a one-year fellowship in clinical women’s health primary care | Nikki Zarling |
| On-site excellence: Faculty development for community-based clinical preceptors | Ben Leon |
| Healing through humanities: A longitudinal arts curriculum to foster empathy and purpose in medicine | Samantha Robin |
| Empowering residents as ambulatory preceptors: Needs assessment and program expansion | Christine Haynes |
Location: Donald Elliman Conference Center
Moderators: Aimee Gardner, Tai Lockspeiser, Geoff Connors, Chad Stickrath, Helen MacFarlane
Details: The first day of the conference concludes with a celebration of excellence in health professions education. This event recognizes recipients of Best Oral Presentation awards in each category from the day’s sessions, as well as Best Poster Presentation awards. Honorees of the Academy of Medical Educators Education Awards and the Graduate Medical Education Awards will also be recognized. In addition, graduates of the Teaching Scholars Program will be honored for completing this 18-month professional development experience.
Location: Donald Elliman Conference Center Foyer
May 14
8:45 am - 1:15 pm — Zoom
Location: Zoom
Presenter: Aimee Gardner
Location: Donald Elliman Conference Center
Presenter: Pat O'Sullivan
Details: This session will guide participants through the steps that support the development of expertise and identity as an education researcher. Attendees will also have the opportunity to analyze their own work and consider potential adjustments to advance their research growth using a reflective exercise.
Location: Zoom
Moderator: Aimee Gardner
Panelists: Michelle Kiger, Juan Lessing, Nicholas Teman, Pat O'Sullivan
Location: Zoom
Moderator: Chelsea Lohman
| Title | Presenter |
| Mind the gap: Addressing a need for increased geriatric-specific curriculum for first-year medical students and advanced practice provider | Jason Hayes |
| Patient perspectives on collaborative care: Integrating geri-educators into interprofessional education | Kimberly Indovina |
| Craving for more: Expanding addiction medicine training for advanced practice providers | Erin Szemak |
| Learning with a twist: Pipe cleaner models for coronary anatomy education | Rachel Huynh |
| Expanding pathology education through web and video-based learning platforms | Francisco La Rosa |
Location: Zoom
Moderator: Rachael Tan
| Title | Presenter |
| Development and validation of the Denver Critical Illness Intubation Entrustment (D-CITE) tool | James Wykowski |
| Is it empathy or something else? A case study on developing data-informed indicators of Item misresponse | Wendy Christensen |
| Beyond grades: Cultivating master adaptive learners through ungrading | Meghan Hernandez |
| Development and use of a medical student professionalism alert dashboard | Sean Marshall |
| Pre-clinical Indicators of professionalism concerns during the clerkship year | Wendy Madigosky |
Location: Zoom
Moderator: TBD
Description: Day two of the conference concludes with recognition of outstanding presentations delivered during the day’s sessions, with Best Oral Presentation honors awarded within each category.
School of Medicine
CU Anschutz
Fitzsimons Building
13001 East 17th Place
Campus Box C290
Aurora, CO 80045
303.724.5375