The Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG®) and its Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER®) held their final Board meeting of the year November 29-30, which included the election of the next Chair and Vice Chair of the ECFMG Board and a biannual Stakeholder Engagement Forum.
Board Chair and Vice Chair
Effective January 1, 2019, Dr. Andrew Filak Jr. will serve as Chair of the ECFMG Board of Trustees, and Dr. Maryellen E. Gusic will serve as Vice Chair. Both will serve two-year terms. Although the ECFMG and FAIMER Boards share the same members, Dr. William W. Pinsky, ECFMG President and CEO, will continue to serve as Chair of the FAIMER Board of Directors.
“We are very fortunate to have the deep expertise and extensive experience of Drs. Filak and Gusic to guide us during the next two years,” Dr. Pinsky said. “We look forward to their leadership as we explore new pathways to improve health care and medical education worldwide.”
Andrew Filak, Jr., MD
Dr. Filak serves as Interim Senior Vice President for Health Affairs and Dean of the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine. He previously served as Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, founding Chair of the Department of Medical Education and Professor of Medical Education and Family and Community Medicine at the UC College of Medicine. He also served as Vice President for Education for UC Health.
A national leader in medical education, Dr. Filak has served for prominent medical education organizations, including the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Advisory Panel on Medical Education, the Association for Hospital Medical Education (AHME), the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians, the Southwest Society of Family Physicians, and the National Board of Medical Examiners® (NBME®). He has received numerous awards throughout his career, most recently the UC College of Medicine’s highest honor, the Daniel Drake Medal, earlier this year.
Maryellen E. Gusic, MD
Dr. Gusic serves as the Senior Advisor for Educational Affairs and Professor of Medical Education and Pediatrics at the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Medicine. Prior to joining the faculty at UVA, she served as Chief Medical Education Officer at AAMC. She has extensive experience in administrative leadership with a career and scholarly focus in education and professional development.
Dr. Gusic’s engagement in national professional organizations and educational associations aligns with her commitment to educational innovation and the professional development of academic faculty. She is a faculty member for the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) program, a past President of the Academic Pediatric Association (APA), and former co-director of the organization’s Educational Scholars Program. In addition, she has served on a number of committees at the NBME, including the test development and review committees for the Step 2 Clinical Skills examination. She also served as the Chair of an AAMC Task Force on the Evaluation of Educators and of the AAMC’s Research in Medical Education Program Planning Committee, and was the Senior Associate Editor of Education for Academic Pediatrics.
The November Board meeting also was the last for Dr. Ram Krishna, Dr. James Peake, and Dr. Dotun Ogunyemi, whose terms will conclude at the end of this year. “I would like to thank Drs. Krishna, Peake, and Ogunyemi for their years of dedication to ECFMG and FAIMER,” Dr. Pinsky said. “Their experience and expertise have helped lead us through a time of growth and change, and we are grateful for their service.”
Stakeholder Engagement Forum
On November 30, invited representatives of the ACGME, American Medical Association (AMA), AAMC, AHME, Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), and NBME joined ECFMG and FAIMER Board members to share organizational perspectives and activities related to the theme of physician workforce issues.
“Stakeholder input is critical to what ECFMG and FAIMER do,” said Dr. Pinsky in opening the session. “These partnerships are essential if we are to excel in carrying out our mission.”
ECFMG-FAIMER Stakeholder Engagement Forum guests, from left: Mary Lieh-Lai, MD, Senior Vice President, Medical Accreditation, ACGME; Peter Katsufrakis, MD, MBA, President and CEO, NBME; John Andrews, MD, Vice President, GME Innovations, AMA; Frederick Schiavone, MD, President-Elect, AHME; Dorothy Andriole, MD, Senior Director, Medical Education Research, AAMC; Humayun Chaudhry, DO, President and CEO, FSMB.
Held twice annually in Philadelphia, the Stakeholder Engagement Forums are designed to strengthen partnerships and enhance the perspectives available to ECFMG and FAIMER governance and staff.
