Making an impressive debut on the Faculty Factory Podcast this week is John Paul Sánchez, MD, MPH, who shares his passion and joy for harnessing diversity while helping to carve a path forward for building successful generations of academic physicians for years to come.

Dr. Sánchez currently serves as the Dean of the Universidad Central Del Caribe (UCC) School of Medicine in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, a position he has held since January 2024. Before joining UCC, he held positions as an educator and senior administrative leader at Health and Health Sciences of the University of New Mexico (UNM). 

Additionally, he is the co-founder of the Building the Next Generation of Academic Physicians initiative, which you can learn about here: https://bngap.org/. 

Throughout the interview, Dr. Sánchez highlights the unique blend of culture and bilingualism that characterizes medical education in Puerto Rico, equipping learners to better serve diverse patient populations.

Dr. Sánchez also addresses the challenges faced by underrepresented groups in academia, noting that many students lose interest in academic careers during medical school and residency. He stresses the importance of role models and creating supportive environments that reflect the diverse patient population they serve.  

Dr. Sánchez is also an author who has written two books, as discussed in today’s interview, those books include: 

More Faculty Factory Resources: https://facultyfactory.org/ 

Dulce M. Cruz, MD, FAAHPM, AGSF, joins the Faculty Factory this week to discuss an innovative, one-of-a-kind approach to supporting and educating hospice family caregivers through a video series that offers practical advice and emotional support.

At Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Dr. Cruz serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, in the Section of Palliative Medicine.

Her groundbreaking work in palliative care for Latino family caregivers began with identifying a significant need for support among these caregivers, leading her to create engaging educational videos in the form of telenovelas, designed to resonate with pop culture lovers while delivering a powerful educational message.

Once you hear Dr. Cruz’s commitment to executing this idea, including teaching herself video production, we are confident you will leave the discussion inspired.

This approach to problem-solving is sure to spark new ideas on how we can better serve others in our community of academic medicine professionals, as we are a group especially equipped to learn on the fly in pursuit of accomplishing gargantuan tasks.

Learn More

As mentioned in the beginning of this week’s podcast, the Faculty Leadership Collaborative: Early-Career Bootcamp starts in January 2025!

Designed for early-career faculty (instructors or assistant professors with less than five years at rank), this three-day bootcamp provides overviews of key leadership competency areas, developed and delivered BY faculty members in academic health FOR early-career faculty members in academic health. Learn more & Register here: https://www.utmb.edu/facultyaffairs/news-events/events/upcoming-events/event/2025/01/14/default-calendar/faculty-leadership-collaborative--early-career-bootcamp-2025 

About This Week’s Podcast

Today’s episode of the Faculty Factory is a “Best of” show that includes highlights from past interviews of our show regarding leadership.

As a friendly programming reminder, we will be back next Friday with a brand new episode of the Faculty Factory Podcast! Today’s “Best of” show includes highlights, snippets and clips from the following episodes (appearing in order):

Myron "Mike" Weisfeldt, MD, joins our Faculty Factory Podcast this week to talk about the keys to starting a research career as a physician.

This interview also includes a brief introduction to the fundraising/development factors that researchers should consider when looking to maximize their impact throughout their careers.

Dr. Weisfeldt is a Professor of Medicine and a Medical Consultant for Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures. As a cardiologist, he previously served as the William Osler Professor of Medicine and chair of the Department of Medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He is also a former president of the American Heart Association, bringing decades of senior management experience and passion to today’s discussion.

As we learn in the opening moments of this interview, it could be important for those looking to embark on this journey to decide early on whether they want to pursue an MD/PhD or start with the “MD track” and incorporate research into their careers along the way.

Learn More: https://facultyfactory.org/ 

On this week’s episode of the Faculty Factory Podcast, we discuss what it means to be a compassionate leader through authenticity, along with general pearls of wisdom that we know will leave you inspired by our first-time guest, Keshia Pollack Porter, PhD.

Dr. Pollack Porter is the Chair and Bloomberg Centennial Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. She is internationally known for her work in social determinants of health, health equity, and promoting safe environments.

As we learn throughout today’s broadcast, compassion is the hallmark of Dr. Pollack Porter’s leadership style.

With a rich background in injury epidemiology and faculty development, Dr. Pollack Porter joins our show to highlight the importance of showing your “human side” when leading faculty members. This approach will have undeniable ripple effects throughout your institution and culture, especially among those in the early stages of their careers.

As the chair of the department, it’s easy to lose sight of the things that “make us human” or “make us whole,” such as family, friends, hobbies, and community involvement. It might be time for many of us to take pause and revisit the importance of these activities as we build meaningful lives and find ways to adjust what may have previously been a rigid, inflexible routine.

Although it often feels that our whole life revolves around work, as Dr. Pollack Porter points out, “I truly believe my purpose is not to have my job be my full identity.”

She expounds on this approach with wisdom and encouragement throughout this very special and timely discussion on compassion, leadership, and finding balance between professional responsibilities and personal fulfillment.

Learn more: https://facultyfactory.org/

Kathy Forbush, MBA and MS, returns to the Faculty Factory Podcast this week to discuss identifying leadership competencies among faculty within the academic medicine community and beyond, offering insights applicable to professionals at any stage of their careers.

Building on our previous discussion from 2023, Kathy shares the process of updating JHU’s leadership competency model to be more inclusive and reflective of shifting needs. 

She is the Executive Director for HR-Talent Management at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), where she is responsible for conducting talent acquisition and leading learning and organization development functions for JHU. 

The last time she joined us was in September 2023 for an interview titled “Identifying (and Fixing) Where Faculty Struggle with Leadership,” which you can revisit here: https://facultyfactory.org/leadership-struggles/. 

You can learn more about her recent article that she co-authored with colleagues in the Journal of Healthcare Leadership, entitled “Inspiring and Preparing Our Future Leaders: Evaluating the Impact of the Early Career Women’s Leadership Program,” here: https://www.dovepress.com/articles.php?article_id=94680.

Learn more about the Faculty Factory: https://facultyfactory.org/.

Transitioning to a life after full-time faculty work without losing your identity is what we’re discussing with our guest Darrell G. Kirch, MD, on the Faculty Factory Podcast this week.

Dr. Kirch has an formidable ability to lead and build teams having served as the President and CEO of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) from 2006 to 2019. He is an educator, biomedical scientist, clinical neuroscientist, clinician, and psychiatrist. He has held several major leadership positions at academic medicine institutions throughout North America and beyond.

We are honored to call Dr. Kirch “a friend of our show” and he previously joined us for an episode recorded in 2019.  You can revisit the first episode with Dr. Kirch from a few years back here: https://facultyfactory.org/best-of-the-faculty-factory-podcast-an-interview-with-darrell-g-kirch-md/  

As the end of a full-time faculty career approaches, many of us instinctively think about retirement. However, there's an alternative mindset that can pave the way for a fulfilling future: preferment.

Rather than solely focusing on retirement as an endgame, let’s consider how to curate a "Preferment Portfolio"—a balanced mix of passions, pursuits, and projects that ignite our enthusiasm and secure our identities.

It’s not uncommon for someone to struggle with finding an identity beyond their CV. After all, the demands of working as faculty in academic medicine can be so powerful that they overshadow many other aspects of our life.

The good news for those struggling with this phenomenon, which often coexists with burnout, is that Dr. Kirch has excellent wisdom to impart in today’s interview for building this portfolio.

This approach could help you future-proof your priorities and create a life safeguarded from burnout. You can start today by reflecting on the aspects of your academic life that have brought you joy and fulfillment. How can you integrate these elements into your future beyond your traditional full-time role when the time comes?

Today marks episode number 300 of the Faculty Factory, and we’re going to celebrate with a two-part episode. First, we have our founder and podcast host Kimberly A. Skarupski, PhD, MPH, joined by Heather Brod, talking about their newly published book, The Insider’s Pocket Guide to Navigating a Faculty Career in Academic Medicine.

This is followed by Dr. Skarupski reading a list of every single guest we've ever had on the show. These 300 episodes wouldn't be possible without these amazing people. To every one of you who have joined the show or simply tuned in, thank you for being a part of this community.

The Insider’s Pocket Guide to Navigating a Faculty Career in Academic Medicine aims to outline a pathway to achieving a rewarding and prosperous career in academic medicine. You can learn more here.

The book is designed to guide faculty through the complexities of an academic career, addressing essential topics such as career preparation, promotion, and work-life integration. As we celebrate this milestone 300th episode and our new book, we encourage listeners to continue seeking opportunities for collaboration and leadership. Always keep in mind that great achievements often start with small initiatives and the courage to take action. For more resources: https://facultyfactory.org/ 

We’re setting out on a mission to make faculty and learners' lives less stressful this week on the Faculty Factory Podcast with our exciting first-time guest, Jessica Seaman, EdD.

Dr. Seaman serves as Assistant Professor of Medical Humanities, Co-Director of the Gold Track Curriculum, and Assistant Dean of Faculty Development at Creighton University School of Medicine in Phoenix.

How can we help learners avoid some of the worst consequences of chronic stress that can lead to deep-seated anxiety and depression?

As you’ll hear within this discussion, there are many strategies to explore, and one of the top approaches is to create psychologically safe spaces for learners at our academic institution. This encourages a proactive stance in the fight against the ill effects of chronic stress by offering a variety of support strategies.

As we learned in today’s show, there is a lot of forward-thinking work happening at Dr. Seaman’s institution (which, as we mention in the interview, has campuses in both Nebraska and Arizona), and compassion is built into its mission.

We must also remember, as we discussed in today’s episode, that rigidity can create more stress. None of these practices are set in stone; we must revisit them, assess their effectiveness, and strive to avoid complacency by adapting with the times, all for the betterment of our learners.

If you want to learn more about anything we discussed on this podcast, you can reach Dr. Seaman at: [email protected].

We’d also love to hear from you at the Faculty Factory Podcast: What are we doing well? Where are we missing the mark? Do you want to be a guest (or nominate a guest)? Make sure to send us a message through the Contact Us page of FacultyFactory.org: https://facultyfactory.org/contact-us/.

Important news and notes for the academic medicine community about building safe artificial intelligence systems are discussed in depth on this week's Faculty Factory Podcast.

We’re excited to be joined by first-time guest Eric Nalisnick, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University for this timely discussion.

Alongside thoughts on the current state of incorporating the human element into these systems, one thing will remain abundantly clear after listening to today’s discussion: these A.I. systems, when left unchecked, are unreliable for work that allows no margin for error (i.e., medical practice, tax returns, etc.).

Large language models, like ChatGPT, are effective for low-stakes tasks, brainstorming, and bouncing ideas off of in order to stimulate creativity or encourage alternative ways of thinking.

With the ongoing and rapidly growing integration of artificial intelligence in the medical, research, and education fields, maintaining safety, ethical standards, and ensuring that the human touch is not lost are central themes in today’s interview.

“Integration and efficiency are something I hope we will see from A.I. systems, as opposed to more erosion of the human aspect,” he optimistically mentioned in the closing moments of our podcast

If you enjoyed today’s podcast or found it useful, consider listening to previous Faculty Factory interviews related to the topics Eric discussed with us:

• Episode 284 – Ethical Considerations of Artificial Intelligence in Academia with Anjalie Field, PhD