Cassandra Kearney, PhD
Faculty Development Specialist
SHAPE
The Shaping Healthcare through an Academy of Professional Educators (SHAPE) at Corewell Health in West Michigan, was established in 2020 with the generous support of the Corewell Health Foundation.
Services provided by SHAPE
Click on each title below to learn more about what SHAPE offers to its members.
There are over 70 institutions across the nation with Academies of Educators that help promote the educational mission of a hospital, health system, or department. With the development of SHAPE, Corewell Health has joined the Academies Collaborative, an affiliate of the Association of American Medical Colleges.
In its first three years, over 70 physicians and educators have joined the SHAPE community to further develop their teaching capabilities and exchange knowledge and best practices in medical education. SHAPE leadership has also become active in the Communities of Practice group at Corewell Health and endeavors to make meaningful connections with other community-led organizations across the system.
The mission of SHAPE is to create a community of physicians and medical educators who promote a culture of educational excellence to improve healthcare outcomes through teaching expertise. SHAPE provides educators with the following:
- Access to mini-grant applications for educational initiatives and scholarship
- Educator innovative scholar awards to provide educators the opportunity to attend a national educational training conference
- Teaching and educational scholarship consultants
- Monthly educational and research colloquium talks
- A system-wide multispecialty community of educators to share best practices in medical education
The SHAPE steering committee and Corewell Health Office of Medical Education would like to thank the philanthropy of the Corewell Health Foundation for their generous support of this initiative.
Visit the Academies Collaborative for more information.
There are over 70 institutions across the nation with Academies of Educators that help promote the educational mission of a hospital, health system, or department. With the development of SHAPE, Corewell Health has joined the Academies Collaborative, an affiliate of the Association of American Medical Colleges.
In its first three years, over 70 physicians and educators have joined the SHAPE community to further develop their teaching capabilities and exchange knowledge and best practices in medical education. SHAPE leadership has also become active in the Communities of Practice group at Corewell Health and endeavors to make meaningful connections with other community-led organizations across the system.
The mission of SHAPE is to create a community of physicians and medical educators who promote a culture of educational excellence to improve healthcare outcomes through teaching expertise. SHAPE provides educators with the following:
- Access to mini-grant applications for educational initiatives and scholarship
- Educator innovative scholar awards to provide educators the opportunity to attend a national educational training conference
- Teaching and educational scholarship consultants
- Monthly educational and research colloquium talks
- A system-wide multispecialty community of educators to share best practices in medical education
The SHAPE steering committee and Corewell Health Office of Medical Education would like to thank the philanthropy of the Corewell Health Foundation for their generous support of this initiative.
Visit the Academies Collaborative for more information.
SHAPE is co-chaired by Justin Triemstra, M.D., and Cassandra Kearney, Ph.D. Please feel free to direct any questions to them at SHAPEmeded@corewellhealth.org
Justin Triemstra, MD
Associate Designated Institutional Official
Cassandra Kearney, PhD
Faculty Development Specialist
Justin Triemstra, MD
Associate Designated Institutional Official
SHAPE’s Steering committee consists of leaders across the medical education community.
Stephen Doyle, DO
Pulmonology and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship
Associate Program Director
Ron Ford, MD
Plastic Surgery Integrated Residency
Program Director
Beth Prentice, MD
Pediatric Intensivist
Candace Smith-King, MD
Vice President, Academic Affairs
Designated Institutional Official
Maximiliano Tamae Kakazu, MD
Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship
Program Director
Sheila Waslawski, MD
Pediatric Hospitalist
Stephen Doyle, DO
Pulmonology and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship
Associate Program Director
Ron Ford, MD
Plastic Surgery Integrated Residency
Program Director
Beth Prentice, MD
Pediatric Intensivist
Candace Smith-King, MD
Vice President, Academic Affairs
Designated Institutional Official
Maximiliano Tamae Kakazu, MD
Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship
Program Director
Sheila Waslawski, MD
Pediatric Hospitalist
Services provided by SHAPE
Click on each title below to learn more about what SHAPE offers to its members.
Monthly research colloquium
Monthly meetings to discuss ongoing medical education research at Corewell Health or an interactive discussion on recently published educational articles in top-tiered journals to discuss hot topics in medical education. The goal is to enhance future educational scholarship and approaches to teaching across our medical community.
Clinical teacher program
In addition to monthly journal clubs, research colloquium, and asynchronous learning opportunities, SHAPE partners with the Clinical Teacher Program, a hybrid course on enhancing faculty’s teaching skills.
Sponsoring the keynote speaker at Research Day
Annually, SHAPE partners with Corewell Health’s Research Day to highlight medical education by sponsoring a key educational researcher in the broader medical community.
Monthly research colloquium
Monthly meetings to discuss ongoing medical education research at Corewell Health or an interactive discussion on recently published educational articles in top-tiered journals to discuss hot topics in medical education. The goal is to enhance future educational scholarship and approaches to teaching across our medical community.
Clinical teacher program
In addition to monthly journal clubs, research colloquium, and asynchronous learning opportunities, SHAPE partners with the Clinical Teacher Program, a hybrid course on enhancing faculty’s teaching skills.
Sponsoring the keynote speaker at Research Day
Annually, SHAPE partners with Corewell Health’s Research Day to highlight medical education by sponsoring a key educational researcher in the broader medical community.
Interested in joining SHAPE?
New members are always welcome.