Ph.D. candidate Sam Scharff was awarded the Innovations in Medical Education Poster Award by the Association of Directors of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry (ADMSEP). Sam presented a poster titled “History in the Clinic: Understanding Suicide, Past and Present” at the 2017 ADMSEP meeting in Santa Ana, New Mexico.
Sam’s poster presentation described a seminar for medical students in their clinical years that he co-developed and currently co-teaches with Dr. Susan Lehmann, the Director of the Psychiatry clerkship at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The seminar helps medical students build historical ways of thinking into their clinical approach to common and urgent psychiatric problems in the present day — with a particular emphasis on suicide. An overwhelming majority of medical students surveyed after participating in the course reported that they viewed the development of historical skills as useful to their professional roles in clinical work, research, and policy advocacy. A majority of students agreed or strongly agreed that the seminar was an effective vehicle for teaching these historical skills – reflecting the seminar’s successful student engagement.
Congratulations, Sam!