The Association for the Study of Medical Education’s (ASME) 2024 Gold Medal Award has been awarded to Dr. Kevin Eva (Division of General Internal Medicine)
The ASME Gold Medal Award is awarded to highly experienced scholars who have made outstanding national/international contributions to medical education research, innovation, evaluation or practitioner inquiry.
Kevin Eva PhD, Hon. FAcadMEd
Dr. Eva is the Associate Director and Scientist in the Centre for Health Education Scholarship, and Professor and Director of Educational Research and Scholarship in the Department of Medicine, at the University of British Columbia. He completed his PhD in Cognitive Psychology (McMaster University) in 2001 and became Editor-in-Chief for the journal Medical Education in 2008.
Through his Editorship and collaborative research programs, Dr. Eva has promoted thoughtful approaches to the study of practically-relevant educational issues that are informed by a variety of scientific disciplines. In doing so, he has encouraged and supported interprofessional, interdisciplinary, and international collaboration for the sake of strengthening health professional education research as a scientific field of study that will improve upon our educational practices and, in so doing, facilitate better healthcare.
More specifically, the core theme of his diverse research interest is the question of how decision-making can be improved in the context of health professional training and practice. This focus has been driven by the tenet that good judgment by and about health professionals lies at the very root of good healthcare, influencing countless outcomes. As examples, research questions that underlie Dr. Eva’s efforts to improve understanding (and practice) of judgement include:
- How do we optimize the selection of applicants to ensure that admitted trainees are well suited to fulfill the ideals of the profession?
- How can we best teach diagnostic reasoning to those who have been admitted to reduce the risk of error?
- How do we accurately determine whether or not trainees have become skillful practitioners who understand their patients’ needs and deeply respect their personal values?
- How can regulatory authorities and individual professionals most effectively assure patient safety by improving decision-making regarding whether or not competence is being maintained?
Dr. Eva maintains a number of international appointments including Honorary Skou Professor at Aarhus University (Denmark), Honorary Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne (Australia), and visiting professor at the University of Bern (Switzerland). He has consulted broadly around the globe including advisory roles for the National Board of Medical Examiners (US) and National Health Services Education (Scotland). He co-founded the Maastricht-Canada Masters of Health Professional Education program and has worked extensively with the Medical Council of Canada and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia.
Awards for this work include the Karolinksa Institutet Prize for Research in Medical Education (Sweden), Honorary Fellowship in the Academy of Medical Educators (UK), MILES Award for Mentoring, Innovation, and Leadership in Education Scholarship (Singapore), the President’s Award for Exemplary National Leadership from the Association of Faculties of Medicine in Canada and the John P. Hubbard award from the National Board of Medical Examiners (USA).
Please join us in congratulating Dr. Eva on this wonderful achievement!