Medical Faculty Development/Continuing Medical Education

The Medical Center Hour is the School of Medicine’s weekly public forum on medicine and society. Produced by the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Humanities, The Medical Center Hour is held on Wednesdays from mid-September through March at midday (12:30 – 1:30 p.m.) in the Jordan Hall Conference Center Auditorium. All programs are free and open to the entire university and the public. Attendance at Medical Center Hour also qualifies for Continuing Medical Education credit.

The Mindfulness Center at UVA offers instruction in mindfulness-based stress reduction to health care practitioners and others. John Schorling is a Mindfulness Center instructor.

The Center for Biomedical Ethics and Humanities sponsors a Continuing Education program for physicians. This single-day instructional workshop offered annually is based on teachings from the Healers Art, a curriculum designed by Rachel Naomi Remen MD of the UCSF School of Medicine. The medical school course is taught in many U.S. medical schools as well as in many other countries to help students learn “a sense of personal and professional satisfaction in their work” and “an ongoing commitment to the profession.” The CME course is offered to practicing physicians with a similar intention.

Center faculty have been involved both as participants and as leaders in UVA’s Leadership in Academic Matters (LAM). LAM is a university-wide program designed to develop, inspire, and reward faculty who have demonstrated leadership characteristics and future potential within the University.

Retired Center director, physician, and poet Daniel Becker, leads writing workshops for health professionals in several venues. He teaches a week-long summer writing workshop for doctors, nurses, physician assistants, ethicists, and others at the annual Taos Writing Retreat for Health Professionals. Here at UVA he annually teaches a four-week reflective writing course for School of Medicine faculty and housestaff in which participants explore the use of reflective writing as a “means of appreciating the tragedy and comedy of clinical practice and becoming better physicians.”