BME Seminar Series: Denham Ward, President and CEO Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research

Educating for Professional (Expert) Practice in Engineering and Medicine

Abstract:

Engineering and Medicine have many similarities. Both are applied scientific disciplines that, when they are at their best, try to solve problems to improve human existence through helping the individual (medicine) or a societal group (engineering). Educations in both disciplines try to put the student on a trajectory for the development of a recognized level of expertise. This seminar will explore:

• What is Expertise in Professional Practice?
• What are the characteristics that mark expert thinking?
• Brief History of Engineering and Medical Education
• The revolutions at the start of the 20th century
• Current ideas in Professional Education: Engineer and Physician
• How has the education of the professional changed?
• What are the educational innovations that will propel both professions forward in the 21st century

This will be an interactive seminar and the opinions of the audience will greatly contribute to the discussion. It is hoped that a sharing of educational ideas will lead to new thinking about how to best educate professionals in both engineering and medicine.