Kevin Eva, PhD, Hon. FAcadMEd

Associate Director

Scientist

Dr. Kevin Eva is 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. Dr. Eva maintains a number of international appointments including Visiting Professor at the University of Bern (Switzerland), Honorary Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne (Australia), Honorary Skou Professor of Health Sciences Education at Aarhus University (Denmark), and Researcher at the University of Maastricht (the Netherlands). 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 Master of Health Professions Education program and works extensively with the Medical Council of Canada and College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia.

Research Interests

Through my Editorship of Medical Education and collaborative research programs, I strive to promote thoughtful approaches to the study of practically-relevant educational issues that are informed by a variety of scientific disciplines. In doing so, my aim is to encourage and support 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 my diverse research interest is the question of how can we improve decision-making in the context of health professional training and practice? Good judgment by and about health professionals, after all, is at the very root of good healthcare, influencing countless outcomes. As examples, research questions that underlie our 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?

Publication Highlights

Eva KW. Cognitive influences on complex performance assessment: Lessons from the interplay between medicine and psychology. Journal of Applied Research on Memory and Cognition 2018;7:177-88.

Wisener KM, Eva KW. Incentivizing medical teachers: Exploring the role of incentives in influencing motivations. Academic Medicine 2018;93:S52-9.

Eva KW, Macala C, Fleming B. Twelve tips for constructing a Multiple Mini-Interview. Medical Teacher 2019;41:510-6.

Armson A, Roder S, Wakefield J, Eva KW. Towards practice-based continuing education protocols: Using testing to help physicians update their knowledge. Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions 2020; 40:248-56.

Bates J, Grand’Maison P, Banner SR, Lovato CY, Eva KW. Exploring the contributions of ‘combined model’ regional medical education campuses to the physician workforce: a national quasi-experimental study of a complex intervention. Academic Medicine 2021;96:409-15.

Huang K, Mak D, Hafferty FW, Eva KW. The advice given during near-peer interactions before and after curriculum change. Teaching and Learning in Medicine 2022; 334:351-9.

Awards

  • Karolinska Institutet Prize for Research in Medical Education (2022)
  • Ian Hart Award for Distinguished Contributions to Medical Education (Canadian Association of Medical Educators) (2020)
  • President’s Award for Exemplary National Leadership in Academic Medicine (Association of Faculties of Medicine in Canada) (2016)
  • Honorary Fellowship (Academy of Medical Educators, UK) (2013)
  • John P. Hubbard Award (National Board of Medical Examiners, US) (2013)
  • Outstanding Achievement Award in the Evaluation of Clinical Competence (Medical Council of Canada) (2012)
  • The MILES Award for Mentorship, Innovation, and Leadership in Education Scholarship (Asia-Pacific Medical Education Conference, Singapore) (2012)