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President's Welcome Welcome to the web site of the Council on Medical Student Education in Pediatrics (COMSEP)! The mission of COMSEP is to promote exemplary teaching practices, advance innovation and scholarship in medical student education, and foster the personal growth, professional success and collaboration of our members. Since you have opened this web site you likely share our commitment to medical student education in pediatrics. I encourage you to explore the web site and to use it to reinforce and support your interests and activities in medical student education. If you are not already involved with medical student education at your institution, ask the pediatric clerkship director or the director of pediatric medical student education how you can become involved. If you are not yet a COMSEP member, consider joining! Anyone worldwide who has an interest in the education of medical students may join COMSEP as an individual member. COMSEP now includes educational administrators as members. COMSEP was formally organized in 1992 by medical educators involved with the pediatric clerkships in North American medical schools. With its original focus on the clerkship, COMSEP members developed the comprehensive General Pediatric Clerkship Curriculum that was published in 1995 and has been revised twice. Building on this early work, COMSEP has encouraged and supported members to expand their interests, teaching skills, and administrative responsibilities to encompass the education of students across the entire medical school curriculum, from first year students to the sub-internship in the fourth year. Many COMSEP members have developed into educational leaders in their departments and institutions. Current and former COMSEP members serve in leadership positions in many national organizations. Linkages with numerous educational organizations have resulted from the expansion of COMSEP's activities. COMSEP collaborated with the Association of Pediatric Program Directors (APPD) to develop and disseminate the COMSEP/APPD Sub-internship Curriculum. Participation by COMSEP in the Alliance for Clinical Education (ACE) led to contributions to the ACE Guidebook for Clerkship Directors. In addition, the collaboration between COMSEP and the AAP Section on Medical Student, Resident, and Fellowship Trainees (SOMSRFT) resulted in the development of a new publication, Becoming a Pediatrician: Your Guide to Exploring Pediatrics, Matching for Residency, and Starting Intern Year. An additional collaboration among all of the major pediatric educational organizations resulted in the Pediatric Educational Excellence Across the Continuum (PEEAC) meeting in 2009. The 2nd PEEAC meeting was held September 9-10, 2011, and further biannual meetings are planned. Each year we look forward to the COMSEP meeting, where members learn from each other through workshops, mentoring sessions, research presentations, task force meetings, and just by sharing ideas. Participants leave a COMSEP meeting energized from interactions with creative, enthusiastic, and like-minded educators, and carry great ideas back to home institutions. The next COMSEP meeting will be March 22-24, 2012, in Indianapolis, IN. It will be hosted by the Department of Pediatrics at University of Indiana School of Medicine. We are also planning a joint meeting with APPD in 2013 at a date and site to be determined. COMSEP functions under the auspices of the Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs (AMSPDC). We appreciate the support that we receive from our chairs. COMSEP and AMSPDC meet jointly every four years. The next meeting will be in 2015 at a date and site to be determined. Jerry Woodhead, MD |
