Vince WinklerPrins, MD, named Associate Chair for Academic Affairs, Department of Family Medicine

On January 1, 2007, Vince WinklerPrins, MD, assumed the position of Associate Chair for Academic Affairs, in the Department of Family Medicine of Michigan State University's College of Human Medicine (CHM) . Among his responsibilities since joining the faculty, he has coordinated the Methods in Family Medicine Education Training Program, which supports the development of primary care and family medicine in Japan by hosting visiting scholars from that country. He is also an editor and board member for the Family Practice Inquiries Network (FPIN) which identifies those questions that are most clinically relevant for family physicians and offers evidence-based responses to those critical questions.

In his role as Associate Chair, Dr. WinklerPrins assumes responsibility for the educational efforts of the department, with a special emphasis on the Family Medicine Clerkship. The family medicine clerkship is a required eight-week clinical clerkship, taken during Block III of the CHM curriculum.

While offering the Clerkship is the department's primary educational focus, WinklerPrins has a special interest in faculty development in all aspects of the department's teaching effort. He notes that his son's elementary school teachers has received a much more systematic education in teaching methods than he or many other university or clinical faculty have obtained. He plans to work across the department and in cooperation with the affiliated residency network to find ways of enhancing pedagogical skills.

One focus will be to explore how the core concepts of the Future of Family Medicine Project can be incorporated into the department's teaching efforts, so that medical students will have a good understanding of what family physicians actually do, and what skills will be needed in 21 st century practice.

Perhaps most important, he notes, is that “I want to make this a good home for people in the Department of Family Medicine,” with a strong emphasis on communication and collaboration. “Our department has a great deal to offer, not only to the college and the students, but to one another.”

WinklerPrins follows Mary Noel, PhD, RD, who held the Associate Chair position for 10 years, including one as Acting Associate Chair.

She notes that she enjoyed the opportunity to learn how diversely people can approach the challenge of teaching, and yet come to the same point. Throughout the campuses, there may be different roads for education, but you end up with students being well educated. “That's been exciting. There are a lot of good people, and a lot of interesting students,” she says.

Noel recalls that Family Medicine was one of the early departments to embrace performance based assessment. Also, “We were ahead of the curve on the idea that medicine should be sharing decisions with patients, and working toward that.”

“I've been in the highs were we had 42 percent of the graduating class go into family medicine. I've been in the lows when 9 or 10 percent have.”

She is now working on a HRSA grant for the whole college where there points in the curriculum are identified for student exams. They need to make it through these examinations before they go forward, hence the term “gateway.”

She sums up her time by saying, “Family medicine is looked upon as one of the curriculum leaders in the College. We are blessed with a lot of faculty who are interested in and dedicated to teaching.”