Medical School Deans Research Articles

A Guide for Aspiring Neurology Educators.

Deans of medical schools have diverse roles and responsibilities. In this article, we use the career development trajectories of neurologists who have become education deans in student affairs and curriculum to offer advice to aspiring clinician educators of all levels and backgrounds. Although their roles differ, the advice they share is universal and essential for the career development of future clinician educators. ANN NEUROL 2024;96:823-825.

First things first: measuring French Medical schools’ deans motivation to engage in smoke-free campus

Abstract Smoke-free campuses (SFC) prohibit smoking and vaping on all university grounds and for all users. Around a hundred of papers was published on that topic revealing how they reduce initiation and increase smoking cessation among students. Whereas it is key for the success of all project, including SFC, very rare research has investigated attitude of high-level leaders of universities toward SFC, their perceived barriers and motivation to adopt it. To fill this gap, we interviewed deans of medical schools in France, where SFC are limited. In-depth individual interviews were conducted on 31 deans and two associate-deans (representing 31 out of 35 French medical schools). Questions rose knowledge of SFC, perception of this measure, self-role to play and other factors influencing implementation. We targeted medical schools because they train future prescribers of smoking cessation, and can act as a model for policy dissemination to other schools. The 23 hours of interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis with Nvivo14. Regarding diffusion in 2023, only one medical school had a SFC, six were implementing it, 23 had no SFC and one abandoned it. 28 held positive attitudes towards SFC, explained by its impact on health and the mission of medical schools. Most of them considered SFC feasible with resources and engagement of students. Identified barriers were competing priority, lack of funding and of support from users and risk of stigmatization of smokers. A majority of deans thought they had a role to play in initiating, promoting and moderating the policy. SFC are recommended by the WHO but there is important room for improvement for their diffusion in France. Yet, a majority of deans we interviewed appeared motivated to adopt it. Solutions to encourage them and overcome barriers must be found. Key messages • Diffusion of SFC among medical schools remains limited in France. • Deans’s positive attitude towards SFC bring hope for a better diffusion of SFC among French universities.

You Can't Be What You Can't See: The Progression of Women in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

Objective: To examine trends in the gender composition of residents and faculty in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery residency programs in the United States and to investigate the correlation between women's representation in leadership positions and the proportion of women faculty and residents. Methods: A literature review was first performed to analyze trends in the gender composition of residents and faculty in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (OHNS) residency programs. Current residency programs were then identified using the Electronic Residency Application Service 2023 Participating Specialties and Programs website. The following data was collected from each program website: gender of associated medical school dean, gender of department chair, gender of residency program director, and total number and gender of fellowship directors, faculty, and residents. Wilcoxon rank sum test and Fischer's exact test were used to analyze relationships between the number of women in leadership positions and the proportion of women faculty and residents. Results: An increase in the number of women chairs, residency program directors, residents, and faculty over the past decade is documented across published literature. One hundred twenty-three current academic residency programs were identified. Women accounted for 42%, 30%, 27%, and 8% of current residents, residency program directors, faculty, and department chairs, respectively. Department chair gender was significantly correlated with number of women faculty (P = .01). Any women in a leadership position were correlated with a statistically significant increase in median percent of women faculty (P = .006). Conclusion: Further understanding of how the mentorship of women promotes gender equity is necessary to promote gender diversity in OHNS.

Conflicts of Interest of Canadian Medical School Deans: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Medical school deans wield considerable influence over research, clinical and educational missions at their institutions. This study investigates conflict of interest (COI) of Canadian medical school deans. The websites of all 17 Canadian medical schools were searched for any mention of relationships between deans and pharmaceutical or medical device companies. No COIs were discovered for 11 of the deans. Six had COIs, including participating in research funded by pharmaceutical companies and received consulting and speaker fees. A minority of deans had COIs with healthcare industry companies. Whether deans' COIs affect policies at the medical schools they lead should be the subject of further investigation.

Adjectives in the Summary Paragraph of the MSPE: Are They Telling Us Something?

Rationale and ObjectivesMany US medical schools do not provide a summative, comparative assessment of students (class rank), instead utilizing descriptive adjectives in the summary paragraph of the Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE). The objective of this study was to determine whether those adjectives correlate with student performance. Materials and MethodsApplications from all US allopathic medical schools received by a single diagnostic radiology program in the 2023-24 cycle were reviewed. The final adjectives from schools that rank students were coded as positive, negative, or neutral. For students from non-ranking schools, descriptive adjectives from the MSPE summary paragraphs were extracted and categorized based on the final adjective coding schema along with a library of commonly used positive adjectives. The frequency of adjectives was correlated with applicant academic and demographic factors using multivariable logistic regression. ResultsApplications from 97% (147/151) of US allopathic medical schools were received. 60.5% (89/147) of schools rank their students with 27.9% (41/147) using a final adjective coded to performance tier. Of the 58 non-ranking schools, 56.9% (33/58) used descriptive adjectives in the MSPE’s summary paragraph. There was no association with academic performance metrics and either generally positive adjectives or coded descriptive adjectives. There was a greater association with positive descriptive adjectives for non-white applicants (p=0.011) and generally positive adjectives for higher ranked schools (p=0.004). ConclusionUndefined descriptive adjectives in the MSPE’s summary paragraph, when benchmarked to final adjectives, do not correlate with academic performance, and may instead be used for student advocacy by medical school deans.

Gender Differences in the Path to Medical School Deanship

Women account for only 28% of current US medical school deans. Studying the differences between women and men in their preparation to becoming deans might help to explain this discrepancy. To identify differences in the leadership development experiences between women and men in their ascent to the medical school deanship. In this qualitative study, volunteers from the roster of the Association of American Medical Colleges Council of Deans were solicited and interviewed from June 15 to November 9, 2023. Women deans were recruited first, then men who had been appointed to their deanships at a similar time to their women counterparts were recruited. Deans were interviewed on topics related to number of applications for deanships, prior leadership roles, leadership development, personal factors, and career trajectories. Interviews were coded, and themes were extracted through conventional content analysis. Career and leadership development experiences were elicited using a semistructured interview guide. We interviewed 17 women and 17 men deans, representing 25.8% (34 of 132) of the total population of US medical school deans. Most deans (23 [67.6%]) practiced a medicine-based specialty or subspecialty. No statistically significant differences were found between women and men with regard to years to attain deanship (mean [SD], 2.7 [3.4] vs 3.7 [3.7] years), years as a dean (mean [SD], 5.7 [5.2] vs 6.0 [5.0] years), highest salary during career (mean [SD], $525 769 [$199 936] vs $416 923 [$195 848]), or medical school rankings (mean [SD], 315.5 [394.5] vs 480.5 [448.9]). Their reports indicated substantive gender differences in their paths to becoming a dean. Compared with men, women deans reported having to work harder to advance, while receiving less support and opportunities for leadership positions by their own institutions. Subsequently, women sought leadership development from external programs. Women deans also experienced gender bias when working with search firms. This qualitative study of US medical school deans found that compared with men, women needed to be more proactive, had to participate in external leadership development programs, and had to confront biases during the search process. For rising women leaders, this lack of support had consequences, such as burnout and attrition, potentially affecting the makeup of future generations of medical school deans. Institutional initiatives centering on leadership development of women is needed to mitigate the gender biases and barriers faced by aspiring women leaders.

Building a Physician-Scientist Pathway for Underrepresented Medical Students Through a Summer Research Experience.

There is a need to increase the number of physician-scientists from underrepresented in medicine (URiM) groups. To engage URiM medical students, a committee of pediatric departmental leaders at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia created the Summer Underrepresented in Medicine Medical Student Research program. This 8-week, onsite research and clinical experience takes place during the summer between students' first and second years of medical school. Applications were solicited between 2019-2023 through nationwide outreach to medical school deans and members of URiM student organizations. Accepted students were assigned a mentor to lead their research and clinical exposure. A curriculum highlighting aspects of academic medicine was developed. Students received a $3,000-$5,500 stipend for in-person participation. In 2020 and 2021, adjustments were made (e.g., virtual programming) to avoid interruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the 2019-2023 application cycles, 298 students applied. Of 128 students who participated, 78 (61%) completed a postprogram survey. Students' survey feedback was positive. They indicated the program met expectations (mean rating = 1.3; scale: 1 = strongly agree to 5 = strongly disagree). Students reported they learned valuable information/skills (mean = 1.3) and that participation was worth time spent away from other responsibilities (mean = 1.3). The 2019 cohort (n = 12) achieved a 100% residency match rate. In addition, 4 (33%) of these students reported they are obtaining additional degrees or are performing research. After the program, many mentors continued to include students in their research projects. Next steps include incorporating a standardized, scored rubric for selecting applicants; adding 3 lead mentors, an executive committee, and a faculty advisory board; establishing earlier pathway programming (e.g., at elementary and middle school levels); continuing to track/support alumni throughout their careers; and pursuing federal funding to expand the program.

Medical school department chair performance improvement: A qualitative study.

In medical education, department chairs should play a significant role. The present qualitative study was conducted to identify factors that influence the performance improvement of department chairs at medical schools in Iran. The study was conducted in Iran in 2022 and used a thematic analysis method. Using a purposeful sampling method, 20 participants were invited to participate, including medical school deans and department chairs. Focus group discussion (FGD) was used for qualitative data gathering. Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis was used to analyze data. There were 18 males and 2 females among the participants. The mean age of the participants was 45±4 years. Five overarching themes were formulated: human resource management, organizational behavior management, performance support system, leadership, and financial resources. Also, nine subthemes emerged, including performance evaluation, job and work design, educational and non-educational support, motivational efforts, organization culture, organizational knowledge management, planning for change, and financing. In this study, we found factors influencing DC performance improvement. Department chairs' effective performance may have a positive impact on department operations, processes, or outcomes.

The Road Well Traveled: Making Choices, Ensuring Progress While Heeding the "Clarion Call".

The career path of everyone is quite unique based on the goals and the choices we make, and success can take time to unfold. My career choices have been greatly influenced by remarkable mentors and opportunities. Reciprocally I have had the pleasure, as a faculty member, department chair, and medical school dean to mentor promising young physicians and scientists to launch successful careers. We need to continue to attract physicians and scientists to academic medicine to ensure that our field continues to innovate and improve the lives of our patients. To influence positive change, we must stay relentlessly focused and have faith that success will come.

Characteristics of Medical School Deans and University Hospital Directors in Japan

This cross-sectional study investigates characteristics, including sex, postgraduate experience, and specialty, of medical school deans and university hospital directors in Japan.

Ethics Education in U.S. Allopathic Medical Schools: A National Survey of Medical School Deans and Ethics Course Directors.

An online questionnaire addressed to academic deans and ethics course directors identified by medical school websites was emailed to 157 Association of American Medical Colleges member medical schools in two successive waves in early 2022. Descriptive statistics were utilized to summarize responses. Representatives from 61 (39%) schools responded. Thirty-two (52%) respondents were course directors; 26 (43%) were deans of academic affairs, medical education, or curriculum; and 3 with other roles also completed the survey (5%). All 61 schools reported some form of formal ethics education during the first year of medical school, with most (n = 54, 89%) reporting a formal mandatory introductory course during preclinical education. Schools primarily utilized lecture and small-group teaching methods. Knowledge-based examinations, attendance, and participation were most commonly used for assessment. A large majority regarded ethics as equally or more important than other foundational courses, but fewer (n = 37, 60%) provided faculty training for teaching ethics. Despite a response rate of 39 percent, the authors conclude that medical schools include ethics in their curricula in small-group and lecture formats with heterogeneity regarding content taught. Preclinical curricular redesigns must innovate and implement best practices for ensuring sound delivery of ethics content in future curricula. Additional large-scale research is necessary to determine said best practices.

Development and Validation of an Automated Tool to Retrieve and Curate Faculty Publications of Academic Departments.

Introduction Academic departments need to monitor their faculty's academic productivity for various purposes, such as reporting to the medical school dean, assessing the allocation of non-clinical research time, evaluating for rank promotion, and reporting to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). Our objective was to develop and validate a simple method that automatically generates query strings to identify and process distinct department faculty publications listed in PubMed and Scopus. Methods We created a macro-enabled Excel workbook (Microsoft, Redmond, WA)to automate the retrieval of faculty publications from the PubMed and Scopus bibliometric databases (available at https://bit.ly/get-pubs). Where the returned reference includes the digital object identifier (doi), a link is provided in the workbook. Duplicate publications are removed automatically, and false attributions are managed. Results At the University of Miami, between 2020 and 2021, there were 143 anesthesiology faculty-authored publications with a PubMed identifier (PMID), 95.8% identified by the query and 4.2% missed. At Vanderbilt University Medical Center, between 2019 and 2021, there were 760 anesthesiology faculty-authored publications with a PMID, 94.3% identified by the query and 5.7% missed. Recall, precision, and the F1 score were all above 93% at both medical centers. Conclusions We developed a highly accurate, simple, transportable, scalable method to identify publications in PubMed and Scopus authored by anesthesiology faculty. Manual checking and faculty feedback are required because not all names can be disambiguated, and some references are missed. This process can greatly reduce the burden of curating a list of faculty publications. The methodology applies to other academic departments that track faculty publications.

Challenges in Implementing Guideline on Integrative Oncology and Pain: The Israeli Perspective

Context and objectivesTo explore the feasibility of implementing the joint guideline on integrative medicine for pain management in oncology, published by the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), for integrative oncology (IO) services in supportive and palliative care. MethodsA qualitative research methodology was co-designed by the SIO-ASCO guideline committee, with the Society for Complementary Medicine, Israel Medical Association (IMA). A questionnaire with five open-ended questions exploring barriers and enablers to implementing the guideline was distributed to chairs and board members of nine IMA-affiliated medical societies; four deans of Israeli medical schools; and nurses from the Israeli Society for Oncology Nursing. Respondent narratives were qualitatively analyzed using ATLAS.Ti software for systematic coding. ResultsQuestionnaires were completed by 52 physicians and nurses from medical oncology, hematology, gynecological oncology, pediatric oncology, palliative medicine, pain, family medicine, internal medicine, and integrative medicine. The SIO-ASCO guidelines were endorsed by nine IMA-affiliated societies. The domains identified included the importance of guideline implementation in clinical practice; barriers and facilitators to implementation; practical aspects required for this implementation (e.g., IO training); clinical indications for referral; budget-related issues; and clinical and administrative models enabling practical implementation of the guideline. ConclusionWe found across-the-board consensus among the nine IMA-affiliated societies supporting the current guideline. This, while identifying potential facilitators and barriers in order to address the implementation of the SIO-ASCO guideline recommendations.

Why Are There So Few Women Medical School Deans? Debunking the Myth That Shorter Tenures Drive Disparities.

Gender disparities among the senior echelons of academic medicine are striking and persistent. The role of medical school dean has been particularly immune to gender diversity, and limited prior research identified women's shorter decanal tenures as a potential driver. The authors assessed gender differences in tenure length of deanships in the current era to elucidate this finding. From October 2020 to June 2021, the authors collected information about medical school deanships that were held from January 1, 2006, to June 30, 2020. All schools were members of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). The authors collected data from online public records and augmented their findings via direct outreach to medical schools. They used time-to-event analyses before and after adjustment for interim vs permanent status of the initial appointment, school ownership (public/private), and school size to assess for gender differences in length of deanship tenure during the study period. The unit of analysis was deanships, and the primary outcome was length of deanships measured in years. Authors included data on 528 deanships. Women held 91 (17%) of these terms. Men held the majority of permanent deanships (n = 352 [85%]). A greater percentage of the deanships held by women were interim only (n = 27 [30%]) compared with men (n = 85 [20%]). In unadjusted and adjusted analyses, there were no significant gender differences in length of deanship tenures. Analysis of appointments of AAMC-member medical school deans from 2006 to 2020 revealed that women have remained in their deanships as long as their male counterparts. The myth about women deans' shorter longevity should no longer be promulgated. Academic medicine should consider novel solutions to addressing women's persistent underrepresentation in the dean role, including employing the gender proportionality principle used in the business and legal communities.

Facilitated Peer Mentorship for Women Internal Medicine Residents: An Early Intervention to Address Gender Disparities.

A gender gap persists in academic medicine, most clearly demonstrated in disparities in advancement in rank and leadership roles. Though the number of women entering medicine has been steadily rising for decades, the number of women in prominent positions such as medical school deans, full professors, and department chairs remains low.1 One potential solution to address this continued gender disparity has been intentional mentorship and sponsorship for women trainees and junior faculty.Past literature has suggested that newer mentorship models, unique from the traditional mentorship dyad, may be more effective for women.2 Multiple mentoring or peer mentorship models allow for increased collaboration and can foster a sense of community. We hypothesized that facilitated peer mentorship (pairing multiple mentees with senior group facilitators) may benefit residents by fostering community building and collaboration with their peers, in addition to receiving guidance and mentorship from senior faculty. Additionally, this mentorship model allows for flexibility in terms of time commitment and engagement at different times in the academic year, which may align well with resident schedules. While successful use of these novel mentorship models has been previously described for women faculty,3 there is a paucity of literature about their use at the resident level.We developed a faculty-facilitated peer mentorship program for the women residents in our internal medicine residency program and women faculty volunteers from our department's Clinical Excellence Society (which recognizes well-established, respected clinicians in our department). We recognize the nonbinary nature of gender identity; for the purpose of this program, all residents identifying with she/her pronouns were invited to participate. Groups of 4 to 5 residents (categorical, primary care, medicine-pediatrics, and transitional) were paired with 2 faculty facilitators. Resident groups were intentionally composed of individuals in differing years of training (postgraduate year [PGY]-1 to PGY-4). Residents were paired with at least one faculty member with a similar clinical interest (ie, a future career in hematology) or an interest outside the hospital (ie, balancing parenting and a career in medicine).Mentoring groups were asked to meet 4 times over the course of the academic year; the logistics of scheduling were managed by the group facilitators with reminder emails from the program organizer quarterly. A general curriculum was provided to group facilitators for each meeting, with an identified topic and related resources or activities. Topics included developing your professional mission statement, strategies for work-life integration, finding a research mentor, and navigating transitions within academic medicine and becoming a leader.A total of 24 residents and 10 faculty participated in this new mentoring pilot. Faculty and residents were surveyed at the end of the year to assess their experience in the program: 63% (15 of 24) of residents and 80% (8 of 10) of faculty who participated in the program responded to the survey. The majority of resident respondents (86%, 12 of 14) found the program helpful, and 93% (13 of 14) would recommend participation in the program to their peers. Residents attended between 0 and 4 of the peer mentoring sessions, with roughly half (53%, 8 of 15) attending 2 or more. Both faculty and residents found scheduling to be the biggest challenge. Residents and faculty thought that several of our original program objectives were achieved (Figure) and found the topics discussed at each session to be relevant to residents (finding a research mentor was identified as the least relevant). All of faculty respondents (100%) found participation in this program to be professionally fulfilling, and all (100%) would recommend participation to their peers.Robust mentorship is key to success within academic medicine. Developing effective mentorship models is critically important for women early in their careers as a means to address the gender gap in academic medicine. This faculty-facilitated peer mentorship model was well received and perceived as effective by both faculty and residents.The authors would like to thank the residents and faculty who participated in this pilot program and who offered their feedback to improve future iterations.

Ten characteristics of high-quality planetary health education-Results from a qualitative study with educators, students as educators and study deans at medical schools in Germany.

The climate and ecological crises are considered fundamental threats to human health. Healthcare workers in general and doctors in particular can contribute as change agents in mitigation and adaptation. Planetary health education (PHE) aims to harness this potential. This study explores perspectives among stakeholders involved in PHE at German medical schools on the characteristics of high-quality PHE and compares them to existing PHE frameworks. In 2021, we conducted a qualitative interview study with stakeholders from German medical schools involved in PHE. Three different groups were eligible: faculty members, medical students actively involved in PHE, and study deans of medical schools. Recruitment was performed through national PHE networks and snowball sampling. Thematic qualitative text analysis according to Kuckartz was used for the analysis. Results were systematically compared to three existing PHE frameworks. A total of 20 participants (13 female) from 15 different medical schools were interviewed. Participants covered a wide range of professional backgrounds and experience in PHE education. The analysis revealed ten key themes: (1) Complexity and systems thinking, (2) inter- and transdisciplinarity, (3) ethical dimension, (4) responsibility of health professionals, (5) transformative competencies including practical skills, (6) space for reflection and resilience building, (7) special role of students, (8) need for curricular integration, (9) innovative and proven didactic methods, and (10) education as a driver of innovation. Six of our themes showed substantial overlap with existing PHE frameworks. Two of our themes were only mentioned in one of the frameworks, and two others were not explicitly mentioned. Few important elements of the frameworks did not emerge from our data. In the light of increased attention regarding the connections of the climate and ecological crises and health, our results can be useful for anyone working toward the integration of planetary health into medical schools' and any health professions' curricula and should be considered when designing and implementing new educational activities.

Closing the gender gap in medicine: the impact of a simulation-based confidence and negotiation course for women in graduate medical education

BackgroundCurrently, 75–80% of the medical workforce worldwide consists of women. Yet, women comprise 21% of full professors and less than 20% of department chairs and medical school deans. Identified causes of gender disparities are multifactorial including work-life responsibilities, gender discrimination, sexual harassment, bias, lack of confidence, gender differences in negotiation and leadership emergence, and lack of mentorship, networking, and/or sponsorship. A promising intervention for the advancement of women faculty is the implementation of Career Development Programs (CDPs). Women physician CDP participants were shown to be promoted in rank at the same rate as men by year five, and more likely to remain in academics after eight years compared to both men and women counterparts. The objective of this pilot study is to investigate the effectiveness of a novel, simulation-based, single-day CDP curriculum for upper-level women physician trainees to teach communication skills identified as contributing to medicine’s gender advancement gap.MethodsThis was a pilot, pre/post study performed in a simulation center implementing a curriculum developed to educate women physicians on 5 identified communication skills recognized to potentially reduce the gender gap. Pre- and post-intervention assessments included confidence surveys, cognitive questionnaires, and performance action checklists for five workplace scenarios. Assessment data were analyzed using scored medians and descriptive statistics, applying Wilcoxon test estimation to compare pre- versus post-curriculum intervention scores, with p < 0.05 considered statistically significant.ResultsEleven residents and fellows participated in the curriculum. Confidence, knowledge, and performance improved significantly after completion of the program. Pre-confidence: 28 (19.0–31.0); Post-confidence: 41 (35.0–47.0); p < 0.0001. Pre-knowledge: 9.0 (6.0–11.00); Post knowledge: 13.0 (11.0–15.0); p < 0.0001. Pre-performance: 35.0 (16.0–52.0); Post-performance: 46.0 (37–53.00); p < 0.0001.ConclusionOverall, this study demonstrated the successful creation of a novel, condensed CDP curriculum based on 5 identified communication skills needed for women physician trainees. The post-curriculum assessment demonstrated improved confidence, knowledge, and performance. Ideally, all women medical trainees would have access to convenient, accessible, and affordable courses teaching these crucial communication skills to prepare them for careers in medicine to strive to reduce the gender gap.

Embracing our responsibility to ensure trainee competency.

Embracing our responsibility to ensure trainee competency.

Recently matched students are effective residency application teachers.

Applying to residency is one of the most stressful challenges of a medical student's career and is associated with high rates of burnout, emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation.1 Depending on the school and desired specialty, there are a variety of sources for advice such as faculty career advisors, medical school deans and guidebooks. Despite these resources, many students still do not feel adequately advised. Peer teachers are well-positioned to frame teaching at the level of students' understanding and foster more comfortable learning environments. Aside from student panels, there are no described accounts in the medical literature of recently matched medical students being actively involved in residency application advising, despite their unique position to provide highly relevant and timely advice to their underclassmen. At the Robert Larner, MD, College of Medicine at the University of Vermont (LCOM), three graduating medical students developed official course material in the form of videos and PowerPoint presentations about the residency application process for 60 incoming fourth-year students registered for their ‘transition to fourth year’ course, which is currently offered as an elective at LCOM. Materials included an overview of the residency application process, a guide to the supplemental application and a compilation of specialty-specific advice from all recently matched students in the class. They also organised a live panel of recently matched students that was open to all 124 incoming fourth-year medical students and attended by approximately 50 students (40%). Students registered for the course were asked to complete a post-course survey evaluation on a five-point Likert scale (5 = strongly agree). 39 of 60 registered students (65%) completed the survey. Students only evaluated the sessions they attended, and some survey questions were skipped, which accounts for the variable denominators below. IRB exemption was obtained prior to survey development. Results were overwhelmingly positive with the majority of students (27/30, 90%) agreeing or strongly agreeing that this content ‘is more effectively delivered by my peers than by faculty or administrators’. Most respondents (26/31, 83.9%) agreed or strongly agreed that having recently matched students advise them ‘reduced their stress and anxiety about the residency application process’ and 80.6% (25/31) agreed that ‘recently matched students should be even more involved in their advising’. Recently matched students are acutely aware of the level of detail that incoming fourth-year students find the most relevant, especially considering the dynamic virtual interview environment and new supplemental application. There are shared experiences and requirements in the residency application process for which recently matched students can provide invaluable information. We facilitated this connection through integration into a fourth-year elective. We also learned that as details became more granular and specialty specific, it was difficult to provide sufficient specialty representation. In smaller specialties where there are fewer matched students or no affiliated residency programmes, additional support should be provided by faculty, residency programmes or virtual communities (social media, other online forums). Ultimately, a multifaceted approach is needed, which includes recently matched students, residents, faculty, administrators, virtual communities and other resources. Richard Brach designed curricular materials and the survey, analysed results, and wrote the manuscript. Allison Tzeng designed the residency supplemental application PowerPoint and other curricular materials and assisted with survey and manuscript edits. Hakeem Yousef designed the residency application overview video, organised the student panel, and assisted with survey and manuscript edits. Matthew Tsai initiated this project, designed curricular materials, and provided manuscript edits. Emily Greenberger is the principal investigator and oversaw curricular and survey design as well as the manuscript.

An adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer education initiative aimed at healthcare students in Japan.

The focus on cancer in adolescents and young adults (AYA) has increased in recent years. We participated in an event called AYA week 2021 as part of a research project of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) and conducted a fact-finding survey to collect information for raising public awareness of AYA-generation cancers and to improve support for AYA-generation cancer patients. A 25-item questionnaire survey was conducted through requests sent to the deans of medical schools and presidents of related universities across Japan and by advertising on social networking sites and friendship networks. Furthermore, the effects of a lecture given by three cancer survivors on their cancer experience were examined. A total of 1288 healthcare students participated. The most common age group was between 20 and 24years, with the majority being medical students (83%). The AYA cancer-educated population had more knowledge about AYA-generation cancers than the overall group. At present, very few people are familiar with AYA-generation cancers (30.5%), which highlights the importance of school education. There were 163 participants who attended the lecture given by the cancer survivors, of whom 108 completed the questionnaire. The results showed high participant satisfaction related to the lecture given by cancer survivors, suggesting that such lectures could help educate and raise awareness about AYA-generation cancers. The knowledge survey and lecture given by cancer survivors had educational effects. Many healthcare students responded positively, suggesting the efficacy of these types of initiatives.