Faculty developers in academic medicine: Roles and competencies in times of change

Authors

Heather A. Billings, Faculty Development in the Office of Applied Scholarship and Education Science, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, United States.
Stacey Pylman, Continuing Medical Education, Office of Medical Education Research and Development, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, East Lansing, MI, United States.
Larry Hurtubise, The Michael V. Drake Institute for Teaching and Learning, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States.
Judy Blebea, College of Medicine, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI, United States.
David P. Way, Department of Emergency Medicine, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, OH, United States.
Rachel Moquin, Faculty and Educator Development, Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, United States.
Anthony Gaynier, Office of Learning and Teaching, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, United States.
Deborah Simpson, Advocate Health - MidwestFollow

Recommended Citation

Billings HA, Pylman S, Hurtubise L, et al. Faculty developers in academic medicine: roles and competencies in times of change. Acad Med. Published online December 3, 2025. doi:10.1093/acamed/wvaf054

Abstract

The demand for high-quality faculty development in medical education is more acute than ever. Faculty developers' responsibilities are growing exponentially as they are called upon to help medical faculty maintain expertise in an evolving array of content domains, curricular and assessment strategies, education technologies, and active learning methods. Faculty development has a long history of supporting medical education colleagues in times of change. More recently expectations for faculty developers are expanding due to (1) increasing enrollment of learners, (2) emphasis on learner-centered teaching practices and competency-based assessment methods, and (3) heightened accreditation standards for training faculty. Yet, faculty development in medical education lacks the conventional structures of a profession, such as an adopted set of competencies. In 2023, a series of sessions at regional, national, and international medical education conferences were held to generate ideas and collect examples of faculty developer competencies from over 100 stakeholders. More than 500 responses were gathered from prompts such as "What are the competencies faculty developers need?" and "What is one of the most valuable faculty developer competencies today?" This perspective offers both a rationale for establishing faculty development in medical education as a profession and a path forward through the provision and broad promotion of clearly defined core competencies. The competencies outlined are intended to help inform those entering or currently working in the profession, recruiters of faculty developers, medical education leaders, institutional partners, those conducting performance appraisals of faculty developers, and the broader medical education community. The aim of this work is to generate discussion among vested medical education and faculty development stakeholders who seek to provide structure, clarify roles, and further define medical education faculty development as a profession.

Type

Article

PubMed ID

41672749