Celebrating our clinician teachers on World Teachers’ Day
World Teachers’ Day (WTD) is celebrated on October 5 as a special occasion to recognize the vital role teachers play in shaping the future. The Department of Medicine (DoM) is committed to delivering the highest quality medical education across the learning continuum. All of our faculty members are expected to teach within the context of the provision of clinical care and to engage in formal, scheduled teaching outside of clinical care delivery. While expectations regarding time spent teaching varies by academic position description, our clinician teachers (CTs) spend the most time engaged in formal teaching.
We asked one of our CTs why they wanted to become a teacher and what they love about teaching.
Dr. Steven Shadowitz joined the medical staff at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (SHSC) in 1996. He supervised the medical clerkship rotation from 1998 to 2001, and in July of 2001, became the site program director for the core internal medicine residency program. Dr. Shadowitz became head of the Division of General Internal Medicine and Deputy Physician-in-Chief at Sunnybrook in 2007, holding these positions for 13 years until October 2020. He is a respected clinician teacher at SHSC and the University of Toronto, and has been previously recognized for teaching excellence. He has received numerous awards from the SHSC Department of Medicine, the Peters-Boyd Academy and the Faculty of Medicine.
Why did you want to become a clinician teacher?
For me, being a clinician teacher is about giving back. As an intern and resident, I was so inspired by the teachers who taught me that I could not imagine a career without being able to do the same. Herbert Ho Ping Kong, Ken Robb, Jerry Zownir and KY Lee were my earliest teachers and mentors. They instilled in me a love of medicine and a love of teaching. I think as physicians, we are blessed to be able to care for people when they are at their most vulnerable. To me, part of that responsibility is teaching the next generation and hopefully instilling in them the same love for medicine that I have.
What do you love about being a clinician teacher?
Dr. Ayelet Kuper gave this poem to me 25 years ago… it is still up on my wall.
It was written by Dr. Beatriz Rodriguez, and published in 2000 in the Annals of Internal Medicine. I have shortened it for space reasons, but it summarizes nicely my love of teaching:
“Trouble”
The trouble with med students is that they are young, not young like springtime but young like a morning.
Full of possibility, full of questions that you have stopped asking.
And sometimes they look at you with this admiration that seems misdirected.
The trouble with medical students is that they follow you around, they page you, they work to keep up with you, as you work to stay ahead.
The trouble is they stop you, they look in your eyes and they ask.
The trouble with med students is they touch you and make you feel something,
and that is a bittersweet thing, for we have not time to feel, but to feel is such a sweet memory that is in a way quite exhilarating.
Then at night, when exhausted, you remember that feeling and wonder where it came from and if it will come again.
And in the early morning madness of rounds, you look, perhaps too expectantly, for that young face of morning.
And you check yourself and self admonish.
But still, you look for that face, and recall that strange look your own teachers used to give you, part awe, part irritation,
and you smile at the legacy.
How has working with trainees influenced your clinical work?
Working with trainees helps me in so many ways. I think the most important is keeping me focused on details, and to avoid practicing by memory and by pattern recognition. Since trainees have not formed the same patterns and habits that I have, working with trainees forces me to continue to be diligent in my approach to patient care and not to cut corners.
Any other comments?
Being a clinical teacher has been an honour and a privilege.
