IRBY, David M.

IRBY, HENDERSON

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 1/17/2016 at 04:52:49

BIOGRAPHY ~ DAVID M. IRBY, Ph.D.
Graceland University, Lamoni, Iowa

Horizons, Graceland University
Lamoni, Decatur County, Iowa
Vol. 26, No. 3, p. 7. Winter 2010.

Research in Medical Education Earns David Irby the Karolinska Prize

How must it feel to be recognized as the best at what you do, to be the best in the world? To travel to Stockholm with your family for regal ceremonies where you are awarded the Karolinska Institutet Prize for Research in Medical Education? What must that feel like? Karolinska is the university that has selected Nobel laureates in Medicine since 1901.

Ask David Irby ’66 how it feels. He is a Graceland alumnus who is devoting his career to find ways for improving how doctors-to-be are educated. His work has frequently been lauded, like in 2004 when he won the Daniel C. Tosteson Award for Leadership in Medical Education from the Carl J. Shapiro Institute for Education and Research at Harvard Medical School. But the Karolinska Prize is the most prestigious international prize in medical education research. With barely time to catch his breath after the November trip to Stockholm, he told Horizons, “It was so much better than you can even imagine. It was magical.” He is the first American to receive the award.

David is an engaging man who welcomes inquires from laypersons about his work. He patiently explains the principles of his research and findings on how to optimize education for medical students. David is Vice Dean for Education and Professor of Medicine at the University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco. He shared the prize with his friend, Professor Richard K. Reznick, Dean of Health Science Faculty at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, who was lauded for his work in surgical education.

Both prize winners held lectures in Stockholm. David’s speech was titled ‘Rethinking Clinical Teaching from the Ground Up.’ That’s what he has been doing for three decades. He said, “This prize affirms my personal mission of transforming medical education into an inspiring process, and it brings great honor to my colleagues at UCSF and the University of Washington (UW).” He served on the faculty at UW from 1972-1997 and earned his Ph.D. in Education there in 1977. As principal investigator and director of the Center for Medical Education Research at UW, David and his team initiated studies on the cost and quality of ambulatory education, medical student specialty choice and minority recruitment and retention programs. It is work that has changed the way we teach future doctors.

David had religious studies on his mind back in his days on ‘the Hill?’ He said, “Graceland was the foundation for my professional development and career. Faculty saw potential in me before I recognized it, and challenged me to assume leadership responsibilities.” He also met Janet Henderson ’66 at GU, and sang in concert choir with her. They started dating as first-year students and married two years later. They have two children who are Graceland graduates: Paul ’91 and Leah ’95. He went on to seminary and returned to Graceland from 1968-69 for an internship. He taught religion courses and served as Campus Minister. “This was an influential time in my life. It provided me with a wonderful pastoral grounding at a time of personal theological exploration.” He graduated from seminary but there were no campus ministry jobs open. It was while working for a regional medical program in Vermont in 1970 that his interest in medical education began.

He has used the results of his research to create clinical teaching assessment instruments, design faculty development workshops and guide curricular reform. At UCSF he has transformed the curriculum and established an Office of Medical Education and Teaching Scholars Program. This year David and his colleagues published the results of their five-year study of medical education in the United States, sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching: Educating Physicians: A Call for Reform of Medical School and Residency.

Phase one of David’s research in the ‘70s and ‘80s employed behavioral learning theory and asked two questions: What do effective clinical teachers do? How can clinical teaching be measured and improved? Phase two in the ‘90s shifted to the cognitive theory of learning and asked the questions: How do clinical teachers reason? What do they know? What are best teaching practices? He found that medical expertise is necessary, yet insufficient, in order to become a great teacher in medicine. He was awarded the Karolinska Prize for those two phases of his research. Gracelanders congratulate you, David, for the Karolinska Prize, and for work in medical education that touches all of our lives.

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Background Information

Karolinska Institutet Prize for Research in Medical Education is awarded for outstanding research in medical education. The purpose of the prize is to recognise and stimulate high-quality research in the field and to promote long-term improvements of educational practices in medical training. "Medical" includes all education and training for any health science profession. The prize is made possible through financial support from the Gunnar Höglund and Anna-Stina Malmborg Foundation. It is currently awarded every second year.

David M. Irby, Ph.D.

Professor David M. Irby, born 1944, is Vice Dean for Education and Professor of Medicine at UCSF School of Medicine in San Francisco, California, United States. From 1997-2011, he served as vice dean for education and director of the Office of Medical Education in the UCSF School of Medicine. In addition, he was a senior scholar at The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, where he co-directed a national study on the professional preparation of physicians that culminated in the 2010 publication: Educating Physicians: A Call for Reform of Medical School and Residency. Prior to joining UCSF in 1997, he was a professor of medical education at the University of Washington.

He obtained his B.A. in history and religion at Graceland University in 1966. He earned a doctorate in education from the University of Washington in 1997, a Masters of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in 1970, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in academic administration at Harvard Medical School in 1983.

Professor Irby´s stringent research on clinical education has had a great impact on the realisation that clinical teachers´ medical expertise is necessary, yet insufficient, to foster learning. Efficient and inspiring clinical teaching is also about knowing how to communicate clinical knowledge in instructionally powerful and contextually appropriate ways to meet the learning needs of specific students and residents. His results have spurred faculty development programmes to support effective clinical teaching and learning. Professor Irby´s research in both inpatient and ambulatory settings has provided faculties with necessary instruments for assessing clinical teaching.

Over the past 40 years, his research has focused on clinical teaching (identifying and evaluating the characteristics, knowledge, reasoning, and actions of distinguished clinical teachers in medicine), faculty development, and curriculum change.

His work, in conjunction with others, helped move the field of medical education research from the predominant use of behavioural learning theories and quantitative research methods towards greater use of cognitive and social learning theories coupled with qualitative research methods.

The three cornerstones of Professor Irby´s work have been to advance understanding of clinical teaching, share best practices through faculty development and publications, and continuously improve medical curricula.

Professor Irby began his research using behavioural learning theories and survey research methods to identify the characteristics of best and worst clinical teachers in medicine. What defines a great teacher and what do they do?, was the question asked. Using factor analysis, multiple dimensions of teaching effectiveness were identified: knowledge, clarity, enthusiasm, skillful interactions, clinical supervision, clinical competence and professionalism. This research led to the development and validation of clinical teacher assessment forms that are now being used by medical schools nationally and internationally.

In 1990, Professor Irby initiated a new line of cognitive research on distinguished clinical teachers in medicine. This research examined the knowledge base of clinical teachers (knowledge of medicine, patients, learners, environment, general teaching methods, and case-based teaching scripts), the instructional reasoning processes surrounding case presentations (diagnosing the patient, diagnosing the learner and teaching to the learner´s point of need), and the ways in which excellent teachers organise their teaching rounds to make them exciting learning experiences. This scholarship has been referenced extensively because of its exemplary use of rigorous qualitative research methods and its direct applicability to faculty development.

As principal investigator and director of the Center for Medical Education Research at the University of Washington, Professor Irby and his team initiated a series of studies associated with the cost and quality of ambulatory education, medical student specialty choice, and minority recruitment and retention programmes. Further research on time efficient clinical teaching strategies included studies on the effectiveness of the One Minute Preceptor model of clinical teaching, which he popularised nationally.

Professor Irby has used the results of his research to create clinical teaching assessment instruments, design faculty development workshops and guide curricular reform. At UCSF, he has transformed the curriculum, established an Office of Medical Education and a Teaching Scholars Programme, helped launch the Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators, and stimulated educational innovation and research. This year Professor Irby and his colleagues, Professors Cooke and O´Brien, published the results of their five-year study of medical education in the United States, sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching: Educating Physicians: A Call for Reform of Medical School and Residency.
27 Jan 2014 by Kommunikationsavdelningen; Karolinksa Institutet.

David Irvy received the following awards and honors:

Association of American Medical Colleges, the Abraham Flexner Award for Distinguished Service to Medical Education , 2011.

Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, Karolinska Institutet Prize for Research in Medical Education 2010.

American Educational Research Association, Fellow of the American Educational Research Association, for substantial research accomplishments , 2009.

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, The John E. Chapman Medal Award, for transformative contributions to biomedical education, 2007.

Graceland University, Distinguished Service Award, 2006.

University of California, San Francisco, The Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators, 2005.

Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Daniel C. Tosteson Award for Leadership in Medical Education, 2004.

National Board of Medical Examiners, John P. Hubbard Award, for distinguished contributions to research on evaluation of medicine, 2001.

American Educational Research Association, Division I Professions Education, Distinguished Scholar Award, 1997.

~profiles.ucsf.edu/david.irby

Transcriptions by Sharon R. Becker, January of 2016

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