Connection Cafe | Learning Communities as a Crucible for Medical Student Professional Development
 Learning communities have increasingly become part of medical education, providing personal and academic support to students, and fostering professional identity development. Combined with mentorship and coaching from faculty, learning communities can have an even greater impact on student growth and wellness.

In this session, the Kern Institute will share background on learning communities and coaching in medical education, and how the Medical College of Wisconsin has implemented them in the curriculum.

Presenters

Kurt Pfeifer, MD, FACP, SFHM, DFPM
Director, MCWfusion Learning Communities
Chief, Section of Perioperative & Consultative Medicine
Professor of Medicine, General Internal Medicine
Medical College of Wisconsin

Kurt Pfeifer completed medical school and Internal Medicine residency at Medical College of Wisconsin. He subsequently joined the faculty and has served in several educational and administrative roles, including associate program director for the Internal Medicine Residency, course director in the Discovery Curriculum, member of the Kern Institute for Transformation of Medical Education and inaugural director of the learning communities program for the MCWfusion curriculum.

He is a professor and chief of the section of Perioperative and Consultative Medicine in the Department of Medicine. His clinical and scholarly activities focus primarily on medical education, mentorship, career development and perioperative and consultative medicine.  Pfeifer has co-authored over 300 student and resident abstracts, case reports and national presentations and has written and lectured extensively on mentorship, medical education, and perioperative medicine. As a previous faculty member in the Kern Institute, Pfeifer focused on development of learning communities to foster character, caring and competency in medical education and developed a longitudinal coaching pilot called 4C (Coaching for Character, Caring and Competence).

Kaicey von Stockhausen 
Program Manager, MCW Fusion 
Learning Communities Manager 

Kaicey von Stockhausen attended North Dakota State University in Fargo, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Criminal Justice. After graduating in 2013, she moved to Milwaukee. She worked at Milwaukee Area Technical College with the Medical Assistant Program helping students gain access to higher education with student recruitment, assistance applying to MATC and being a connection for students to resources to successfully complete the program.  In 2018, she started her role at the Medical College of Wisconsin in the Kern Institute  managing curriculum pillar and the learning communities pilots of the 4C Coaching Program and REACH Wellbeing Curriculum. She transitioned to her role of to the MCWFusion Curriculum in April of 2023. She is a Wisconsin transplant from North Dakota. Outside of work, von Stockhausen is a mom to a toddler, enjoys traveling and going to Packers games and spending time with family and friends.

Panelists

Cassie Ferguson, MD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Kern Institute Faculty Director
Medical College of Wisconsin

Cassie Ferguson is an attending physician in the emergency department at Children’s Wisconsin, associate director of the Kern Institute for the Transformation of Medical Education and thread director for the Health Systems Science thread at the Medical College of Wisconsin School of Medicine in Milwaukee. Her research is focused on medical student well-being and her quality improvement work is focused on improving the effectiveness of care for patients presenting to the emergency department with common conditions.

Informally, she is referred to by her colleagues as the “Chief Feelings Officer” which reveals her interests around fostering well-being, connecting to the joy inherent in medicine and destigmatizing mental health seeking among medical students, trainees, and practicing physicians.

She is also a mom to three boys — Ben, Will, and Nick — and married to Brad, a radiologist whom she met as a medical student at MCW. She chose medicine because it challenged her, and because she quickly realized that I wouldn’t be happy doing anything else. 

 

Jane M. Machi, MD
Associate Dean, Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Kern Institute faculty member
Medical College of Wisconsin

Jane Machi is a graduate of Medical College of Wisconsin. She completed her pediatric residency and pediatric emergency medicine fellowship at MCW and Children’s Wisconsin. Machi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and has been the Associate Dean for Recruitment and Admissions for the School of Medicine since 2016. She has been a member of the Student Pillar of the Kern Institute since it was established in 2017. She was a coach in the pilot 4C Coaching for Character Program, which has been an absolute highlight of her career.

Wendy L. Peltier, MD
Professor of Hospice and Palliative Medicine
Kern Institute faculty member
Medical College of Wisconsin

Wendy Peltier is a long-time member of the Medical College of Wisconsin faculty with a background in neuromuscular neurology and medical education. She followed her passion for end-of-life care in joining the Palliative Medicine team. She received her MD from Rush Medical College and completed residency in Neurology and a Neuromuscular Fellowship at the University of Michigan. During her time at MCW, she has served as Neurology Residency Director and led the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) clinic at Froedtert.  She received the MCW Faculty Vitality Award in 2011, which supported her focus in Palliative Medicine. She then served as Palliative Care Section Head for eight years and was involved in bringing inpatient hospice services to FMLH in partnership with Horizon Home Care and Hospice. She now serves on the Kern Institute Faculty Pillar and is Co-editor in Chief of the Kern Transformational Times.

Academic Interests:   Narrative Medicine; End of Life Care Education; Models for Advance Care Provide Event Details. Who should come? What should they expect to get out of it? Include a photo to make your event even more appealing.Share event details and include a compelling event related image.

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