Executive Dean, Dr. Heidi Chumley, and Chief Academic Officer and Senior Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs, Dr. Julie Taylor, recently delivered a talk at the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine’s (STFM) Annual Spring Conference in Washington, DC. More than 1,500 family medicine educators were on hand to participate in sessions and workshops promoting family medicine innovation, practice, and education.
Their presentation “Change Management Extreme: Leadership during Natural Disasters” focused on the deans' experience leading AUC during Hurricane Irma and subsequent relocation to the United Kingdom. For both Drs. Chumley and Taylor, success was largely dependent on their ability to build and empower high performing teams, to leverage and rely on pre-existing partnerships, to move quickly and confidently with their decisions, and to always keep open lines of communication.
While their experience was unique, natural disasters continue to grip the headlines in 2018 and organizations and educational institutions must plan for similar, disruptive events. By sharing their story, Dr. Chumley and Dr. Taylor sought to provide attendees with key lessons learned and effective approaches to disaster preparedness and crisis response plans.
STFM Offers Free Membership to Medical Students
Following the conference, STFM announced that it is eliminating membership costs for medical students. If you are interested in family medicine and would like to join the organization free of charge, learn more at https://www.stfm.org/about/membership/join/.