Two faculty members of McGill’s Institute of Health Sciences Education (IHSE) have been announced as recipients of awards from the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC).
Donald Boudreau, MD, and Jeffrey Wiseman, MD, MEd, were recognized by the AFMC for their leadership, excellence and achievements in academic medicine. They were nominated for their respective awards by Lesley Fellows, MDCM, DPhil, Vice-President (Health Affairs) and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, as well as their colleagues at the IHSE.
Dr. Boudreau and Dr. Wiseman will be presented with the awards at the International Congress on Academic Medicine (ICAM) in April 2024.
Elizabeth Anne Kinsella, PhD, Director of the IHSE, says Dr. Boudreau and Dr. Wiseman are, “inspiring forces in the education of future physicians and the mentorship of leaders in medical and health sciences education.”
“Their scholarship and educational innovations have been highly impactful in preparing generations of students to approach medical practice with humanistic values and ethical reflection,” she adds. “At the IHSE and across the Faculty, they are known as thoughtful scholars and innovators, generous and responsive to students and colleagues, and kind and caring human beings.”
Donald Boudreau
Dr. Boudreau is an Associate Professor at the IHSE and a former member of the Department of Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences. He is a physician-educator and a recently retired respirologist. He has previously served in numerous leadership roles at McGill, including that of Associate Dean, Medical Education and Student Affairs, and Interim Director of the IHSE. Dr. Boudreau’s research career has focused on undergraduate medical education, notably on professionalism and the humanities in medicine. He has published approximately 70 peer-reviewed articles or book chapters. He is also senior author of Physicianship and the Rebirth of Medical Education, published by Oxford University Press and released in 2018.
The 2024 AFMC-Gold Humanism Award will be presented to Dr. Boudreau at the annual ICAM meeting, where he has also been invited to present the Gold Humanism Lecture. The award and lecture were created by the AFMC and the Gold Foundation for Humanistic Healthcare, Canada to emphasize, reinforce and enhance the importance of humanistic qualities among medical school students and faculty. The accolade celebrates individuals who demonstrate the qualities of a compassionate teacher, mentor and healthcare provider, and who may exemplify these by teaching ethics, empathy and service by example.
In their nomination of Dr. Boudreau, Dean Fellows and Beth-Ann Cummings, MD, MSc (HPE), Associate Professor of Medicine and Associate Member of the IHSE, wrote: “Dr. Boudreau’s career is truly exceptional. As a physician, leader, educator and scholar, he has not only promoted humanism but role-modelled how it must guide us in our work.”
Dr. Boudreau says: “I am deeply humbled by the peer recognition implicit in this award. It is both a product of and a testament to the stimulating and supportive environment provided by McGill and the Faculty. I am profoundly grateful to my colleagues and friends within that community as well as to the extended family of physicians.”
“In their philosophy regarding the nature of personhood, the early Confucians emphasized that: ‘There can be no me in isolation, to be considered abstractly: I am the totality of roles I live in relation to specific others.’ I believe they got it right,” he adds. “This award cannot be conceived or received without a bow of respect to this interconnectedness. Thank you all.”
Jeffrey Wiseman
Dr. Wiseman is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Health Sciences Education, a specialist in General Internal Medicine and a health professions educational scholar. He has served in multiple medical educational leadership roles at McGill as well as nationally and internationally with the Royal College of Physicians of Canada. He has been awarded multiple local and national awards for his clinical teaching skills for undergraduate and postgraduate learners. He is currently Director of Education at the Steinberg Centre for Simulation and Interactive Learning and Director of Faculty Development for McGill’s undergraduate medical education program.
Dr. Wiseman has also created highly sought-after local and national conflict management and teamwork educational leadership education modules. In addition, he developed a popular McGill course component that uses the “deteriorating patient” teaching method to prepare fourth-year medical students for their first on-call experiences as residents.
His current research interests include serious games in health sciences education, technology-rich learning environments, and the roles of emotions and adaptive expertise in clinical reasoning.
Dr. Wiseman will be presented with the AFMC Clinical Teacher Award, which recognizes excellence in clinical teaching by an individual faculty member in a Faculty of Medicine in Canada.
In their nomination of Dr. Wiseman, Dean Fellows and Linda Snell, MD, MHPE, Professor of Medicine and Health Sciences Education, noted: “Jeff is a truly extraordinary teacher, a favorite of both students and residents and highly recognized by his peers.”
“He has created numerous clinical teaching innovations, and translated many of these into education scholarship,” they added. “The impact of his outstanding clinical teaching has crossed multiple disciplines, many countries, and has impacted generations of teachers and learners.”
Reflecting on receiving the award, Dr. Wiseman quotes “The Road to Wisdom”, a short poem by the Danish polymath, Piet Hein:
“The road to wisdom?—Well, it’s
plain and simple to express:
Err
and err
and err again,
but less
and less
and less.”
Congratulations to the recipients!