UB Celebration of Medical Education to Honor Former Faculty Members

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Five former University at Buffalo faculty members who were pioneers in research in medical education and went on to establish distinguished careers in the field will return to UB on April 24-25 for a "Celebration of Medical Education" being held in conjunction with UB's sesquicentennial.

The honorees were the prime movers of UB's Project in Medical Education, an initiative begun in 1955 and considered innovative and somewhat controversial at the time, to introduce students early in their careers to clinical experiences and small-group teaching. The project was active for approximately five years.

€ George E. Miller, M.D., professor emeritus of medical education at the University of Illinois Medical Center. Miller was on the UB faculty from 1948-59, serving as director of house staff education from 1954-59 and as coordinator of the Project in Medical Education from 1955-59.

€ Stephen Abrahamson, Ph.D., Ed.D., professor emeritus of medical education, University of Southern California School of Medicine. Abrahamson was director of the Educational Research Center at UB and initiated the medical education project along with Miller. He was at UB from 1952-59.

€ Edwin Rosinski, Ed.D., professor emeritus of medicine and pharmacy, former executive vice chancellor and former director of the Office of Medical Education, University of California at San Francisco, and holder of a doctorate in education from UB in 1958. Rosinski was senior research associate for the Educational Research Center, director of research for the Project in Education, and worked closely with medical-school colleagues on the medical-education project. He was at UB from 1955-59.

€ Hilliard Jason, M.D., Ed.D., executive director of the Center for Instructional Support in Boulder Colorado and former co-director of education at the University of Colorado School of

Medicine. Jason, who received his medical degree and doctorate in education from UB in 1958, also was involved in the project.

€ Donald R. Becker, M.D., clinical professor of surgery at the University of California at Davis. Becker was on the clinical staff of the UB Department of Surgery from 1959-80, and was chair of the Department of Surgery at Deaconess Hospital from 1966-68. He was active in the medical education project while a surgery resident at the former Edward J. Meyer Memorial Hospital, now the Erie County Medical Center.

The event will feature a reception and dinner on Thursday, April 24, honoring the guests, their accomplishments and UB's contributions to medical education in America. The UB medical school is considered an innovator in the field and a national model for revamping the medical-education curriculum to focus increased attention on primary care.

A breakfast seminar from 7:30-9:30 a.m. on Friday, April 25, will focus on the current state of medical education at UB.

John Naughton, UB professor of rehabilitation medicine and dean of the medical school from 1975-96, will convene the symposium, with Philip Wels, M.D., chair emeritus of the UB Council, serving as master of ceremonies.

Following the seminar, participants will visit the medical school's Community Academic Practice sites for primary care, meet with groups of medical students and tour specialty teaching sites on campus.