Academy of pediatric education and leadership: preparing leaders for educational innovation

Faculty development has been identified as a critical need if we hope to advance competency-based education. Despite the small number of participants at a single institution, the model presented here has the possibility for making a significant contribution to future faculty development initiatives for two reasons. First, by supporting the time of the scholars, the program makes a statement about the value of medical education and the recognition that it requires a skill set to become an educator. While the need for requisite skill sets has long been recognized for training sub-specialists, this has not been the case for those taking on major roles in education and training. Second, despite a rich literature, little has been published about the effects on the learners of those who participated in the faculty development programs. By supporting a cadre of individuals to acquire the skills needed to be an educator as well as the skills needed to perform educational research to study the impact of applying those skills, this project serves as a model for developing a much needed community of medical education leaders.