Stephen Abrahamson, PhD, ScD, educationist: a stranger in a kind of paradise

This profile of Stephen Abrahamson, Ph.D., Sc.D., is the first of six profiles to appear as part of the Exemplar project focused of six retired medical educators who transformed the field of medical education. The exemplars, all graduate degree recipients in education were interviewed by six senior present-day medical educators using a common protocol designed to elicit career chronology and the significant contributions of educationists to medical education of Dr. Abrahamson's profile was based on an in-depth two-day interview, examination of a comprehensive list of his publications, the history of the Society of the Directors of Research in Medical Education, and unsolicited conversations with several of his colleagues. Dr. Abrahamson began his career teaching high school, later receiving a masters and doctorate degrees, in preparation for a career as a teacher-educator. Through collaboration with Dr. George Miller, Dr. Abrahamson began his career as an educationist in medicine - one who studies the education process and prepares others to become teachers - by teaching medical school faculty about the science of education. Dr. Abrahamson's career was devoted to applying his evidence-based education approach to the newly emerging profession of medical education. An examination of his career shows that he made four vital contributions to medical education - defining the educationist role, serving as a teaching/mentor/network builder/friend to medical educators, curriculum change agent and innovator at USC, and demonstrating and articulating the value of offices of medical education and research in medical education. More broadly, Dr. Abrahamson identified three major contributions made by educationists to the field of medical education: the application of education principles to instructional/assessment innovations (e.g., programmed patients), an evidence-based approach to assessing education, and faculty development/teacher training. Based on his half-century of experience in medical education, Dr. Abrahamson outlined seven lessons for success as an educationist in medicine.