As a physician and educator, John C. Burkhardt, M.D., Ph.D., focuses his academic interests on critically reevaluating medical education policy to increase fairness and equity, and ultimately address health care disparities.
Now, Burkhardt’s work has been recognized by the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation as he recently was named a Macy Faculty Scholar through a program designed to identify and nurture the careers of promising educational innovators in medicine and nursing. Macy Faculty Scholars receive salary support up to $100,000 per year over two years to implement an educational change project at their institution.
With his Macy fellowship, Burkhardt will test the effectiveness of an implicit bias-focused educational interventions that incorporate personal provider-level data to advance health equity. The goal of this work, he says, is to create practical behavior change in physicians that results in improved health outcomes in their patients.
“I am incredibly honored by my selection as a Macy Faculty Scholar,” Burkhardt says. “This is a community of educators who are committed to making a positive change for both for their learners and the patients that they will care for in the future. I am excited by the chance to expand, enrich, and increase the impact of my work through joining the newest cohort of Macy Faculty Scholars.”
Burkhardt is an assistant professor of emergency medicine and learning health sciences in the Medical School. He also serves as chair of admissions/subject-matter expert in research for the University of Michigan Master of Health Professions Education program, co-director of the medical student longitudinal elective in medical education, and director of resident research and scholarly development in the Department of Emergency Medicine. In addition to his clinical work in emergency medicine, he earned a master’s degree and doctorate in higher education in order to expand his quantitative and policy analytic skills to address large scale professional education issues.
His scholarship has included areas such as recruitment, admissions, selection of residents, curriculum, and assessment. He has chosen these areas due to a belief that there is a current mismatch between stated goals of inclusion in the profession and the preparation of physicians to meet looming needs in areas of specialization (especially primary care and emergency care), the documented needs of traditionally underserved medical populations, and the way we select, recruit, and train medical students and residents.
The Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation is the only national foundation dedicated solely to improving the education of health professionals. Its guiding principle is that health professional education has at its core a strong social mission: to serve the public’s needs and improve the health of the public.
“The Macy Faculty Scholars continue to pave the way for health professions education reform,” said Holly J. Humphrey, M.D., president of the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation. “We are thrilled to see how this remarkable group of scholars in the 2020 class will improve outcomes for patients, health care professionals, and the communities they serve.”