Clinical Educator Fellowship Program

Overview

The Centre for Health Education Scholarship is offering opportunities for all health professionals to develop their skills in health education through the Clinical Educator Fellowship Program (CEFP). This 2-year fellowship is designed for those interested in developing an academic career as a Clinical Educator. The definition of a Clinical Educator being:

  • a clinician in a health profession who;
  • actively engages in health profession educational activities;
  • desires to disseminate health-professions-related education;
  • plans to engage in (or currently engages in) educational administration and/or leadership roles.

At this time the fellowship has funding available for physicians only, due to budgetary and funding restrictions. If you are a prospective health professions fellow, we encourage you to apply and will work with you and your home department to see if funding may be available.

Program Overview

Fellows are expected to spend the equivalent of two years, and 80% of their time, dedicated towards CEFP activities. An option for part-time participation (four years, 40% time dedicated towards the CEFP) is available with the approval of the Fellowship Director – please reach out to us if you are considering this option. Under the guidance of the Fellowship Director, the activities over the course of two years encompass the following:

  • Enrolment in an advanced degree (typically at the master’s level) in education or a related discipline.
    We encourage enrolment in the Master of Health Professions Education Canada (MHPE-Canada), which is a thesis-based master’s program.
  • Completion of a major research project (thesis) under the guidance and supervision of faculty, with whom the fellow is expected to meet regularly.
  • Engagement in educational activities within the health professions, in a variety of settings and formats (see below section on Educational Opportunities for more information and specific required hours of educational activites).
  • Participation in weekly academic half-day activities and other CHES events.
  • Contribution to the scholarly environment of CHES by engaging in collaborative activities and projects with other fellows, educators, and researchers.

Location: The program is based out of the Centre for Health Education Scholarship, located on the Vancouver Campus of UBC. As UBC is a distributed university, we do accept and encourage fellows to apply from all of our distributed sites.

Distinctive Features

The Fellowship Program will endeavour to:

  • Provide teaching experience and opportunities to participate in on-site curriculum development, student assessment, relevant education committees, and other educational activities.
  • Support fellows in enrolment in an appropriate master’s program (enrolment in the MHPE-Canada is encouraged).
  • Allow a 20% clinical commitment outside of the fellowship, to continue existing clinical practice.

Educational Opportunities

Full-time MD fellows are expected to deliver a total of 600 hours of engagement in educational activities (300 per year) in one or more health professions across a broad range of opportunities, which may include but are not limited to:

  1. Teaching in small group educational sessions (CBL, PBL, etc.), formal clinical skills teaching, or lecture-based teaching in addition to typical clinical teaching in the patient setting.
  2. Development of assessment material and participation in discipline-related assessments (i.e. OSCE, ward and bedside assessments).
  3. Supervised development and administration of a portion of curriculum relevant to the fellow’s discipline and interests.
  4. Working with learners-in-difficulty.
  5. Development and delivery of faculty development material.

Other Health Professions Fellows:
Specific requirements for engagement in educational activities (e.g. teaching hours) will be individually negotiated.

Note: A UBC Clinical Faculty appointment is required to teach. If the applicant is a UBC Clinical Faculty Member, they will maintain this appointment and be dually appointed as a Clinical Educator Fellow.

Eligibility

To be considered for the Fellowship Program, you must fulfil the following requirements:

  1. Completion of a university degree in a health profession.
  2. Enrolment in or completion of an advanced degree, typically at the master’s level in education or a related discipline. Enrolment in the MHPE-Canada program is encouraged.
  3. Be either an active Health Professional or Health Professional in training.
  4. Be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or WHO refugee. Visa trainees, whether in residency programs or fellowships, are not eligible.
  5. Medical residents submitting an application must be currently enrolled in a UBC training program. Residents in programs with a year of research (typically PGY3-5 Royal College Training Programs) or enhanced skills programs (PGY3 Family Medicine) may apply to enter the fellowship during their residency program.

Other Health Professions Fellows:
Eligibility is as above, excluding point (5).

To Apply

MD applicants must submit the following:

  1. An updated CV.
  2. A cover letter which includes a description of relevant previous experience, areas of interest, how the fellowship will foster your future career goals and whether you would like to be a full time or part time fellow. Please also indicate if you are applying to the Indigenous stream of the Fellowship.
  3. A copy of your CPSBC license.
  4. The names of two referees who are to forward letters of reference.

Other Health Profession Fellows:
Please contact the Educational Program Assistant (cef.program@ubc.ca) and we will work with your home department to explore methods of funding support for a fellowship position. This must be done prior to applying.

Once funding is secured, submit your application, which must include the following:

  1. An updated CV.
  2. A cover letter which includes a description of relevant previous experience, areas of interest, how the fellowship will foster your future career goals and whether you would like to be a full time or part time fellow.
  3. A copy of your professional licence.
  4. The names of two referees who are to forward letters of reference.

Equity and diversity are essential to academic, education, and research excellence. An open and diverse community fosters the inclusion of voices that have been underrepresented or discouraged. We encourage applications from members of groups that have been marginalized on any grounds enumerated under the BC Human Rights Code, including sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, racialization, disability, political belief, religion, marital or family status, age, and/or status as a First Nation, Metis, Inuit, or Indigenous person.

Application Deadline

The deadline for 2024 applications is Friday December 15 2023.
Please submit your application to ches.applications@ubc.ca, with the subject line: CHES Fellowship Application.

On receiving your application, we will email you to confirm it has been received and to inform you of next steps. If you do not hear back from us by January 5, please do get in touch with us, emailing both ches.applications@ubc.ca and cef.program@ubc.ca. A selection committee will shortlist and interview eligible candidates, with the final selection to be made in February.

If you have any queries regarding the Program, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us: cef.program@ubc.ca

FAQ for the Fellowship Program

All fellows must complete a master’s in Health professions education (most of our fellows typically complete the MHPE-Canada program). However, individuals can apply for the MHPE-Canada alone, without being a part of the Fellowship.

a) MHPE Canada

Overview: The MHPE is an international Master of Health Professions Education from the School of Health Professions Education at Maastricht University (the Netherlands).  The MHPE focuses on acquiring skills relevant for a career in the field of education and education research for the health professions.
Course Length: MHPE-Canada is a two-year, part-time research degree program that is primarily distance-based learning with annual, three-week courses that are delivered on-site at UBC or WU. Campus 1 is typically delivered during the first three weeks of July, and Campus 2 in May/June.
Eligibility: Applicants must have completed a university degree in a relevant health profession.
Fees: Tuition for the entire two-year MHPE program is €16,000, to be paid directly to Maastricht University in two instalments of €8,000. In addition, students admitted to the program as of 2022 are required to pay a site fee to the Centre for Health Education Scholarship in the amount of $6,000 CAD, to be paid in two instalments of $3,000 CAD.

Full program and curriculum information can be found on Maastricht University’s website.

b) Fellowship Program

Overview: The Clinical Educator Fellowship Program (CEFP) is designed for those interested in developing an academic career as a Clinical Educator.
Course Length: Full-time for two years. Part-time programs may be an option, with approval from the Program Director.
Eligibility: Applicants must be enrolled in a relevant master’s in health education (we encourage applicants to enrol in the MHPE-Canada), a related discipline, or have already completed a relevant master’s program.
Fees: There are no fees associated with the fellowship.
Funding: Funding is available, however only for physicians at this time due to budgetary considerations. If you are a prospective health professions fellow, we will work with you and your home department to see if funding may be available.

If you do not already have a relevant master’s in health education, then it is a requirement for fellows to enrol in a relevant master’s program to begin in conjunction with the fellowship. We encourage enrolment in the MHPE-Canada.

For full-time fellows, your fellowship salary is the compensation for your teaching hours. For part-time fellows who engage in teaching outside of the fellowship, you will be compensated for your teaching hours through the usual routes.

You will need to either be a resident in a current training program or have a UBC home department in order to be able to teach and fulfil your educational opportunities.

Yes, we encourage applicants from all of UBC’s distributed sites.

Yes, however applicants must have a home department at UBC in order to apply.

Doing the CEFP as a part-time fellow is a possibility, but at the discretion of the Fellowship Director. As a part-time fellow, the fellowship runs over four years instead of two and you commit 40% of your time towards the fellowship. If eligible, it is important to note that for part-time students the financial support is reduced by 50% per year (you still receive the same amount as a full-time fellow, it is just adjusted to go over a four-year period). In addition to this, your educational opportunities per year are reduced by 50% (so the hours will be the same – 600hrs – but spread over 4 years instead of 2).

Typically, we have 2 to 3 times the number of applicants for the available positions. Each year we accept between 2 and 3 new fellows, contingent upon our budgetary resources.

The fellowship requires 80% of a fellow’s time to be dedicated to the workload (divided among the MHPE, teaching, academic half-day, and other CHES activities). The remaining 20% of a fellow’s time can be used for ongoing clinical work.

FAQ Specific for All Other Health Professions

All health professionals within UBC’s Faculty of Medicine are invited to apply as outlined above, subject to the funding issues outlined on our home page.

The full list of health professions eligible are as follows:

Audiology
Counselling Psychology
Dental Hygiene
Dentistry
Dietetics
Genetic Counselling
Kinesiology
Medical Laboratory Sciences
Medicine
Midwifery
Nursing
Occupational Therapy
Pharmacy
Physical Therapy
Population and Public Health
Social Work
Speech Language Pathology

Fellowship funding is currently only available for MDs, due to budgetary considerations. However, if you are a health professional we will work with you and your home department to see if funding may be available.