News and Commentary Macy’s Meikle Chair: A Conversation with Dr. Alan Mark Weinstein

Alan Mark Weinstein, MD, is the Thomas H. Meikle, Jr. Professor of Medical Education & Professor of Physiology, Biophysics and Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. Dr. Weinstein was appointed to be the Thomas H. Meikle, Jr. Professor of Medical Education in 2009. He specializes in nephrology and internal medicine. Macy sat down with Weinstein and discussed the importance of endowed professorships.

What has the Meikle Chair allowed you to do that you might not otherwise?
I spend 25 percent of my time teaching, 25 percent on clinical care and 50 percent on research. Where the award really frees me up is to sit on a lot of committees, including committees for our basic science and advanced basic science curriculums and the medical education council which oversees and approves all academic changes, including curriculum changes, new departments, new institutes and centers, and faculty promotions.

Normally, the people on these committees are administrative types and get paid out of an administrative pool of money. What I get to do is be on these committees as a faculty member and to participate in curricular or academic decisions from a faculty perspective, not being paid by or reporting to administration—to be an independent voice. For me that is the singular benefit from the award, namely to free up enough faculty time to actually participate in academic decision making.

What’s also been happening over the last two years is that we’re trying to develop and launch a new curriculum. The curriculum is about 14 years old, and everyone is pushing for a new curriculum, which should be unveiled in Fall 2014. There’s been a lot of debate back and forth and I get to participate in that debate. A faculty voice becomes important in these discussions because of the realities on the ground —we know what students need to know or how much faculty time a feature would take up, for example we know how many man hours you need for small group teaching.

How do you think endowed chairs benefit the individuals who hold the position?
In New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is fabulously wealthy and when he ran for office he didn’t take any campaign contributions. He gets to speak frankly and give his best judgment without looking over his shoulder. I feel wealthy that way.

Why do you think you were selected for this position?
I was the second chair, appointed five years ago in Jan 2009. I finish in December 2013. I’ve been here for a number of years, Dr. Meikle had been the dean here when I first came. I’m a very, very visible teacher here—I lead a course and I’m in two departments (medicine and physiology) and I have been involved in curriculum discussions for the last 14 years. I think someone decided to reward that.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?
There’s been an emergence of an education subgroup within the faculty in recent years—a group of individuals who have decided to devote as much time to teaching as possible. It can be quite an exclusive club—they have their own jargon and they tend to talk just among themselves. If you have a faculty member who is 75 percent clinician or 75 percent researcher, they’re never going to stop and take time out to get all their tickets punched so they can be part of this education clique.

What awards like the Macy endowment do is basically enable other faculty, who come at the education process really as a sophisticated amateur, to participate in the education decision-making. These awards open up the education decision-making process to other voices that may have a different contribution to make.

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