MCW Innovations in Healthcare Education Research (IHER) Newsletter

Summer Edition | August 2025

Welcome

Greetings, fellow innovators and researchers!

The 2025 MCW Innovations in Healthcare Education Research (IHER) Conference is just around the corner, and the steering committee is thrilled to share our Summer 2025 newsletter with you. Over the past few months, we’ve been hard at work reviewing proposals, inviting dynamic presenters, and crafting a rich, interdisciplinary schedule for this year’s event.

Conference Theme: “Revolutionizing Healthcare Training: The Role of Emerging Technologies” This year’s theme highlights the transformative power of adaptive, experiential learning environments, where emerging tools like AI-driven feedback and immersive simulations empower trainees to take ownership of their educational journeys. These technologies foster clinical judgment, ethical competence, and professional agency, while also nurturing personal and collective identity within healthcare communities. It’s about weaving technological fluency into the fabric of collaboration, growth, and innovation.

Global Participation: As illustrated in the figure below, we’re excited to welcome presenters and registrants from 31 U.S. states and across the globe - including colleagues from the Bahamas, Grenada, Norway, Puerto Rico, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The 2025 IHER Conference will take place September 16-18, and we’re looking forward to a truly international exchange of ideas.

What to Expect: This year’s program features a vibrant mix of workshops, oral presentations, and speed posters, with a strong focus on artificial intelligence and large language models, including tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. If you’ve registered or are presenting, you should have already received the full conference schedule via email. If not, be sure to register to gain access. The schedule will also be posted on the IHER Conference website, along with a portable version closer to launch. Need Outlook calendar invites? Just email us at IHERConference@mcw.edu.

Spotlight on Presenters: The 2025 schedule features a wide array of invited speakers from institutions across the country. Beyond our plenary sessions, you’ll find many of them leading ten-minute oral presentations and three-minute speed posters. Be sure to check out our Spotlight section for more details!

Hybrid Format: We’re continuing with our hybrid model:

Online sessions: Tuesday, Sept. 16, and Wednesday, Sept. 17
In-person sessions: Thursday, Sept. 18, at MCW-Milwaukee. The plenary session will also be livestreamed, so you can engage from wherever you are.

Plenary Sessions Preview: We’re proud to feature three thought-provoking plenary sessions this year:

Tuesday, Sept. 16 | Veronica Catanese, MD, MBA (AAMC) – Senior Director, Accreditation and Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) Co-Secretary
- Presentation Title: LCME Accreditation: One Eye on the Horizon and the Other Close to Home
Wednesday, Sept. 17 | Amrit Kirpalani, MD (Western University, Canada)
- Presentation Title: Teaching in the AI Era: Trust, Threat, and Transformation
Thursday, Sept. 18 | Kathlyn Fletcher, MD, MA (MCW) – Professor, STS Scholar, Author
- Presentation Title: Leading Medical Education Teams Through Crisis

We look forward to seeing you in September!

We value your input and ideas, so please email us at IHERConference@mcw.edu with any comments or questions.

Warm regards,

2025 MCW IHER Conference Steering Committee

Spotlight

Invited Presenters

This year’s invited speakers embody the spirit of transformation in healthcare education. From pioneering researchers to visionary educators, each speaker brings a unique lens to the challenges and opportunities shaping our field. Their work not only informs but inspires us – sparking dialogue, challenging assumptions, and opening new pathways for collaboration. We’re excited to welcome these compelling voices to IHER, and we invite you to explore their contributions as we collectively reimagine the future of learning, care, and innovation.

We have many invited speakers for our ten-minute oral presentations and three-minute speed poster presentations, from inside and outside the USA, as reported below.

Astrid Camilla Wiig, PhD (University of South-Eastern Norway), Roger Säljö, PhD (University of Gothenburg, Sweden) | Animating Simulations: Operator and Facilitator Interventions to Support Healthcare Learning
Laurah Turner, PhD (University of Cincinnati - College of Medicine) | Uncovering Bias: Leveraging AI to Identify Patterns in Clerkship Narrative Feedback
Stacey Pylman, PhD (TGME Conference Chair-Elect, DR-ED Listserv Manager - Michigan State University), John Lowry, PhD (Central Michigan University) | AI Skills in Medical Education: Where Are We, and What Should You Do to Stay Current?
Amanda Burbage, PhD (Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University) | Impacts of Co-curricular Activities and GPA on Medical School Acceptance of Students from Minority Serving Institutions
Travis H. Olson, PhD (Virginia Commonwealth University) | Staff, Faculty, and Students’ Trust in Artificial Intelligence Use in a Research University
Kristie Kim, Zach Peterson, Sarkis Dagley, Spenser Kaplan, Dario Torre, MD, MPH, PhD | Comparison between Human and Generative AI Grading of Narrative Responses and Personalized Feedback for Learners
Anna Lama, EdD, MA, Jason Hedrick, PhD (West Virginia University - School of Medicine) | Using “Forward Feeding” to Support Student Progress
Elizabeth Merlinsky (Baylor College of Medicine) | Anki Use in Basic Sciences Curriculum: Quantitative and Qualitative Perspectives of Three Medical Student Cohorts
Vibhor Mahajan, PhD (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai) | Design and Implementation of An Eight-Month Extracurricular Healthcare Innovation and Entrepreneurship Curriculum for Medical and Graduate Students
Koloud Alkhamaiseh, PhD (Michigan Technological University) | Enhancing Surgical Education with AI: Automated Performance Assessment for Laparoscopic Training
Adrianna Jelen, DO | Medical Education: Debriefing of Adverse Events

Joint Poster Session with SAMS and MSSRP

The 2025 IHER community will be joining forces with MCW’s Summer Academic programs for Medical Students (SAMS) and Medical Student Summer Research Program (MSSRP) for a larger and more exciting in-person paper poster session on Thursday, September 18, from 1:15-3:30 p.m. CDT. Look for a lot of people, posters, and activity on the ground floor of the Medical Education Building between Kerrigan Auditorium and the MCW Cafeteria.

Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models

Artificial intelligence isn’t just a topic of discussion at IHER, it’s actively shaping how we engage with the conference itself. This year, we harnessed the power of a large language model to analyze and synthesize presentation titles, revealing ten distinct thematic clusters that reflect the pulse of innovation across our community (see the list of AI-created categories below). Leading the pack, and perhaps unsurprisingly, was the category of Artificial Intelligence and Learning Technologies – a testament to the growing momentum and curiosity around how AI is transforming education, practice, and professional identity. From behind-the-scenes organization to front-stage dialogue, AI is helping us see patterns, spark connections, and imagine new futures.

2025 AI-Created Categories:

Artificial Intelligence and Learning Technologies
Curriculum Design and Innovation
Assessment and Evaluation
Simulation and Clinical-Skills Training
Student Well-Being and Co-curricular Engagement
Mentoring and Faculty Development
Diversity, Equity and Cultural Humility
Research Training and Scholarship
Digital Platforms and Resource Evaluation
Career Pathways and Workforce Development

We look forward to further deploying AI during our 2025 IHER Conference, and the Zoom AI Companion will be used in our online and hybrid sessions to summarize meetings and chat threads.

Research on IHER Conference

Help shape the future of IHER! We're building a dynamic research project around the conference experience, and your insights are essential. Take just two minutes to complete the IHER survey and contribute to a deeper understanding of how innovation, collaboration, and education come together at IHER.

Your feedback fuels progress and might even inspire new directions for next year’s event. Ready to make an impact? Complete the IHER survey today!

Behind-the-Scenes

Participation: Step Into the Heart of IHER

Want to go beyond attending and become part of the action? We’re inviting passionate participants to help shape the 2025 IHER Conference from the inside out. Just one hour of your time can make a meaningful impact – whether you choose to serve as a session moderator, triage agent, or presentation judge.

It’s a chance to connect, contribute, and co-create an unforgettable experience. Interested? Reach out to us at IHERConference@mcw.edu and let us know how you’d like to get involved!

The duties are as follows:

Moderators | Open and lead the session, welcome participants, introduce presenters and facilitate discussion.
Triage Agents | Troubleshoot technical problems, monitor chat box, maintain copies of all session presentation files on their local drive (online sessions) or the MCW room computer (in-person sessions), activate Zoom polls.
Presentation Judges | Evaluate all presentations in one session. Scores determine awards for best in category.

Join the 2026 IHER Steering Committee

Are you passionate about shaping the future of healthcare education? We’re inviting a few new voices to join the 2026 IHER Conference Steering Committee, and we’d love to hear from you. Whether you're faculty, staff, a resident, or a student, your perspective matters. This is a chance to collaborate, innovate, and help guide one of the most dynamic education conferences in the region.

Interested in joining? Reach out to the Conference Chairs at IHERConference@mcw.edu in the coming months. Let’s build something extraordinary together.

Photography

We’ll be documenting the energy and connection of our in-person sessions on Thursday, Sept. 18, so keep an eye out for our photographers capturing candid moments and inspiring exchanges. Photo permissions are part of the IHER registration process, but we also welcome your personal snapshots! Whether it’s a group photo, a favorite session, or even a conference-day selfie, your images help tell the story of IHER from every angle.

Want to contribute? Your photo could be featured on the IHER website, in an upcoming newsletter, or even in next year’s 2026 conference program. Share your perspective and help us celebrate the community we’re building together.

Moving Forward

Website

Dive into the official 2025 IHER Conference website – your go-to hub for all things innovation, inspiration, and interdisciplinary exchange. This is our 12th annual gathering, and the site is constantly evolving with fresh updates, speaker highlights, session previews, and behind-the-scenes insights.

Bookmark it, share it, and visit often, because every time you return, there’s something new to discover!

Submit an Idea

As we reflect on the vibrant exchange of ideas and innovations at this year’s IHER Conference, we’re already looking ahead – with curiosity, creativity, and collaboration – to what comes next. The future of healthcare education is being shaped by bold thinkers like you, and we invite you to help us chart the course for IHER 2026. Whether it's a new format for engagement, a provocative theme, or a fresh lens on interdisciplinary collaboration, your insights can help us push boundaries and elevate the conversation.

We believe the most impactful conferences are co-created by their communities. So, we’re opening the floor: What do you want to explore next year? What questions should we be asking? What voices need to be heard? Submit your ideas, big or small, and let’s build a space that reflects the evolving landscape of healthcare education – together.

If you have an idea for the IHER Conference, please e-mail the committee at IHERConference@mcw.edu, using the subject heading: 2026 IHER Idea. Upon acceptance of your idea, you will receive credit on the IHER webpage, an InfoScope article and in the Conference program.

Thank you! See you in September at IHER!

2025 MCW IHER Conference Steering Committee

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