Three VTCSOM employees, David Musick, Shari Whicker and Mariah Rudd, were instrumental in making the first ever Virginia Regional Health Sciences Education Symposium a reality.  The event, held at VCU School of Medicine, drew 110 participants from each of the state’s medical schools who gathered to talk about ways to increase collaboration for the sake of improving medical education.

Musick is senior dean for faculty affairs, and Whicker is assistant dean for faculty development at VTCSOM. Rudd is education and faculty development manager.

“We wanted to show the spirit of collaboration across the commonwealth and begin relations through which we could build on each other’s strengths to make us all stronger throughout the landscape of professional development,” Whicker said. She, Musick, and Rudd were part of the event’s planning committee.

Fifteen participants from VTCSOM attended.

The symposium was a chance to understand how medical education is being practiced at other institutions and find ways to work together to improve research in the field.

“We learned a lot of new things from each other,” Whicker said. “Because this was an interprofessional event, we also had the opportunity to learn from other professions, including pharmacy, dentistry, and aviation.

The group hopes to hold a second symposium in 2022.