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The Scope Radio at AAMC Learn Serve Lead

Pathways: Explore, Find, Forge

Gathering in-person sparks meaningful dialogue about the most important issues facing academic medicine today. Thank you to the AAMC for bringing us all together each year at Learn Serve Lead. Below you'll find podcasts from 2025 in San Antonio, 2024 in Atlanta, 2023 in Seattle, and 2022 in Nashville.

Featured Shows

Listen to some of our thought-provoking conversations

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The Power of Coaching in Medical Education

Dec 1, 2025 – Coaching in medical education empowers students, residents, and trainees to be their best selves, exploring deep questions about career path, intrinsic motivation, and professional identity. Two leaders from the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the Unviersity of Utah—Megan Fix, MD, assistant dean of student affairs, and Kat Anderson, MD, associate dean of faculty development for education—join Stephanie Zia, MD, MACM, director of professional development and career counseling at Los Angeles General Medical Center, to talk about how coaching produces better listeners, better providers, and better human beings.

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Cultivating the Next Generation of Leaders in Academic Medicine

Nov 27, 2025 – Leadership skills are a fundamental part of being a physician. On any given day, they might direct conversations with other specialists, make decisions about the coordination of care, help patients understand a difficult diagnosis, and reflect on both losses and wins. Nick Kieran, PG1, a resident at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, joins Greg Memmott, MS3, a student at the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the Unviersity of Utah, and Noah Danesh, MS3, a student at the Keck School of Medicine at USC, to discuss the defintion of leadership, the importance of engaging students early on in their journey, and the challenge of picking one extracurricular and giving it 100% instead of picking five different things but only being able to give them 20%.

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Wellness Initiatives: From Ideas to Action

Nov 26, 2025 – Wellness means different things to different people, but it's far more than just yoga, exercise, and mindfulness. Amy Locke, PhD, chief wellness officer at University of Utah Health, joins Bree Andrews, MD, MPH, chief wellness officer at the University of Chicago, and Lauren Peccoralo, MD, MPH, interim dean for the Office of Professional Engagement and Development at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, to discuss workplace culture, everyday efficiency, and the importance of generating ideas that can improve well-being—then supporting those ideas as they're transformed into systematic action.

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Collaboration and Service on Regional Medical Campuses

Nov 25, 2025 – Regional medical campuses are proliferating across the United States, expanding the footprint of medical education while offering new pathways for historically underrepresented students. Michelle Hofmann, MD, MPH, senior associate dean at the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah, sits down with two colleagues—Katie Brite Hillis, MD, associate dean of community engagement at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Phoenix, and David Haustein, MD, MBA, assocaite dean at the University of Missouri School of Medicine, Springfield Clinical Campus—to talk about common challenges, meaningful opportunities, and the future of rural health care.

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The Importance of Culture and Leadership

Nov 19, 2025 – Leadership and culture are common buzzwords in higher education. Some people say, “You know it when you see it.” But Kristina Callis Duffin, MD, MS, interim dean at the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah and chair of the Department of Dermatology, and Robert Brodell, MD, chair of the Department of Pathology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, agree that the most important aspects of culture stem from trust, reliability, openness, and competence. Listen in as they talk about how leadership is a practice—and how failure can actually lead to learning opportunities.

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Building Relationships Through Student Coaching

Nov 24, 2025 – The power of storytelling. The impact of professional identity formation. The importance of mentorship. These aren't the kinds of things that students usually focus on when discussing their experiences in medical school. But Noah Danesh, MS3, from the Keck School of Medicine at USC, and Suchita Kumar, MS4, from Vanderbilt University, dig deep into the value of cultivating these "soft skills" in conversation with Tom Hurtado, EdD, senior director of student affairs at the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah, at AAMC Learn Serve Lead 2025.

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Sustaining the Health Care Workforce

Nov 18, 2025 - Clinician shortages are a common problem across academic medicine—but the challenges, along with potential solutions, are connected to broader shifts in health care around the world. Michael Good, MD, Emeritus CEO at University of Utah Health, joins Sawsan Abdel-Razig, MD, Chief Academic Officer at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, and Vishna Devi Nadarajah, MHPE, PhD, CEO and Provost of Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia, to talk about the physician well-being, support for medical students, and the bold steps required to better sustain the global workforce.

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Extending Critical Care to Underserved Patients

Nov 28, 2025 - Clinician shortages are a common problem across academic medicine—but the challenges, along with potential solutions, are connected to broader shifts in health care around the world. Michael Good, MD, Emeritus CEO at University of Utah Health, joins Sawsan Abdel-Razig, MD, Chief Academic Officer at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, and Vishna Devi Nadarajah, MHPE, PhD, CEO and Provost of Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia, to talk about the physician well-being, support for medical students, and the bold steps required to better sustain the global workforce.

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Helping Students Find Their North Star

Dec 4, 2024 - Medical students enter their first year with passion and dedication. But when classroom curriculum is paired early on with clinical immersion, the next generation can find their north star more quickly. Jed Gonzalo, MD, MSc, Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, joins Sara Lamb, MD, Vice Dean of Education at the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah, to talk about the changing face of medical education.

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Improving Access to Care in Rural Areas

Dec 3, 2024 - Public institutions have a tremendous responsibility to provide health care in rural parts of the United States. But how can public policy solve these difficult problems? How can universities and government agencies better define the problems faced by people in rural areas? How do we help patients with intractable issues like substance use disorders while training the next generation of physicians to better structure and deliver care? Atul Grover, MD, PhD, Executive Director of the AAMC Research and Action Institute, joins Sam Finlayson, MD, Interim Dean of the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah, to discuss.

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Building Pathways for Student Leadership

Dec 2, 2024 - Medical schools often struggle to deliver leadership development content alongside standard curriculum. But when students are empowered to provide their personal perspective, magic can happen. Tom Hurtado, EdD, senior director of student affairs at the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah, convenes a conversation with three medical students: Nick Kieran from the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, Noah Danesh from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, and Greg Memmott from SFESOM at the U. They remind us that learners are matches to be lit—not vessels to be filled.

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Setting First-Year Learners Up for Long-Term Success

Dec 1, 2024 - Alice Snelling and Cade Solich were elected to the AAMC's Organization for Student Representatives (OSR) one week before the annual Learn Serve Lead 2024 conference. So the two first-year students at the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah packed their bags and zoomed out from their specific experiences on campus to consider how academic medicine works on the national stage. They join Tom Hurtado, EdD, senior director of student affairs at SFESOM, to talk about who they met, what they learned, and how they'll bring those insights back to Utah.

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Bringing Personal Perspectives to Rural Medicine

Nov 30, 2024 - What can one student from rural Colorado and one from suburban Detroit learn from each other about delivering care to underserved patients? Rachel Pernick and Tashi Hackett discuss their respective upbringings and how those life lessons inform their medical education, their collaboration with programs like TRUE and RUUTE, and their future outlook at the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah.

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Rediscovering the Joys in Academic Medicine

Nov 6, 2023 - Rising burnout. “Quiet quitting.” The “great resignation.” “Don’t think of me as a ‘provider.’” These are some of the terms we in academic medicine have become accustomed to hearing over the past few years from our colleagues, at conferences, and even just in conversation over coffee. Michael Good, MD, CEO and Senior Vice President for Health Sciences at University of Utah Health, joins Nita Ahuja, MD, MBA, FACS, Chair of the Department of Surgery and Associate Cancer Center Director of Surgical Services at Yale School of Medicine, to talk about how to look forward rather than back at what a reimagined future might look like.

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Is Climate Change a Health Care Issue?

Nov 16, 2023 - The well-documented impacts of climate change on human health are getting worse—and academic medicine cannot improve the health of people everywhere if their institutions are contributing to the problem. Smith Warrier, MD, Medical Director of Environmental and Social Sustainability and Associate Professor at University of Utah Health, and Vidya Raman, MD, Anesthesia Lead on Sustainability at OSU Wexler Medical Center, talk about their progress in decarbonization across mission areas.

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Rolling Out a New Medical School Curriculum

Nov 9, 2023 - Last year, Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah rolled out a new mission-driven MD program that featured an overhaul of curriculum. Driven in large part by faculty, students, and leadership who felt the community could do better, the decision aligned with one undertaken at a different institution, Baylor College of Medicine. Sara Lamb, MD, Vice Dean of Education at SFESOM, and Jenny Christner, MD, Senior Dean of the School of Medicine and the School of Health Professions at Baylor, talk about lessons learned, the outcomes they're measuring, and the adjustments they've had to make after their respective new curriculum rollouts.

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Elevating Underrepresented Voices and Viewpoints

Nov 27, 2023 - How do today's health care leaders inspire and empower the next generation? It can happen in the classroom—but it can also happen online, through podcasting, videos, and other multimedia content. Marina Capella, MD, Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics at the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at University of Utah, is the producer and co-host of "The Future Minority Doctor Podcast." She joins Tonya Bailey, PhD, Associate Dean of Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, to talk about elevating underrepresented voices and viewpoints in medicine.

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How to Create a Leadership Development Program for Learners

Nov 13, 2023 - Strong leadership is needed in academic medicine, and starting early makes a difference, instilling healthy habits and effective behavior in students while offering more time to practice and reinforce these behaviors. Tom Hurtado, EdD, Senior Director of Student Affairs at Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah, and Shira Kaplan, Director of Leadership Programs at AAMC, discuss actionable steps and institutional buy-in to provide meaningful leadership and professional development resources for the next generation of future health care leaders.

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Translating Population Health Lessons from the Classroom to the Community

Nov 22, 2023 - How can medical students apply what they learn in the classroom to the broader community? How can training in public health and medicine address broader inequities here in the United States? The Intermountain Population Health Scholars Program at Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah is designed to help tomorrow's doctors grapple with those questions today. Second-year medical students Kathryn Corona and Sanila Math discuss their experiences in the program and their hopes for the future of primary care, family medicine, and health equity.

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Developing Leadership Opportunities for Women in Academic Medicine

Nov 19, 2023 - We can't talk about the challenges facing women in academia without talking about a dearth of opportunities for meaningful leadership. So what kinds of changes can have a positive impact? Exposure to coaching, mentoring, and guidance is a good first step. Immersion in community and leadership training is another. April Mohanty, PhD, MPH, Vice Chair for EDI in the Department of Internal Medicine, joins Michael Rubin, MD, PhD, MPH, Vice Chair for Faculty Affairs and Faculty Development in the Department of Internal Medicine, to talk about charting a new course for women leaders at University of Utah Health.

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Expanding the Criteria for Medical Student Success

Nov 20, 2023 - It isn't easy to assess non-cognitive skills in admissions and through the medical school experience in order to train caring and capable physicians. But many schools have moved in the direction of holistic review, which complements knowledge assessments like the MCAT and GRE with situational judgment (SJT) assessments of skills like compassion, caring, and teamwork. Paloma Cariello, MD, MPH, Associate Dean of Health Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, joins Boyd Richards, PhD, Director of Educational Research and Scholarship to talk about their work at Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah using SJT methodology.

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New Tactics to Recruit Excellent Senior Leadership

Nov 27, 2023 - Finding great senior leadership isn't easy—especially in today's highly competitive market for job seekers. So what helps one institution stand out when compared to another? What are the most important elements of the recruitment process, for interviewers and interviewees alike? Pilar Varela, Director of Operations and Logistics in the Senior Vice President's Office for Health Sciences at University of Utah Health, and Shannon Yeatman, consultant for Spencer Stuart, an executive search and leadership advisory firm, talk about their experience recruiting excellent leaders and how things have changed in the recruitment landscape.

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Rethinking Population Health Care and Education

Dec 09, 2022 - There’s no doubt that population health is a buzz word in health care. But if we truly want to change the way we care for patients to address the specific needs of certain populations, then we also need to change the way we educate students to prepare them for this new model of care. The Population Health Scholars Program at the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine does just that. By partnering with Intermountain Healthcare, the program provides medical students with foundational knowledge, practical experience, longitudinal mentoring, guaranteed work, and tuition relief. Sound too good to be true? Learn more.

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Grappling with Post-Pandemic Burnout and Trauma

Dec 04, 2022 - For many, the intersection of the COVID-19 pandemic, an EDI reckoning, and record levels of burnout have radically changed the way we think about our professional and personal lives. With burnout, trauma, and exhaustion still prevalent in health care and academic medicine, have we really moved past the pandemic? Can we ever return to “normal?” And what lessons have the last two-and-a-half years taught us about resiliency for individual employees and the collective workforce?

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Doing the Work: EDI as a Shared Responsibility

Dec 05, 2022 - For many, the intersection of the COVID-19 pandemic, an EDI reckoning, and record levels of burnout have radically changed the way we think about our professional and personal lives. With burnout, trauma, and exhaustion still prevalent in health care and academic medicine, have we really moved past the pandemic? Can we ever return to “normal?” And what lessons have the last two-and-a-half years taught us about resiliency for individual employees and the collective workforce?

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The Power of Diversity in Medicine

Dec 08, 2022 - Teaching cultural competency only gets you so far in medicine. It’s made us nicer, posits one physician, but it hasn’t really addressed health disparities and inequities. Instead, training more diverse students to be part of health care teams builds trust all around and creates a more holistic understanding of a patient’s needs. It also inspires more diversity. As they say: You can only be what you can see. Listen in as a medical student and his mentor discuss the promising future of an increasingly diverse workforce.

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Reducing the Distance Between Patient and Provider

Dec 06, 2022 - What happens when you give a medical student the opportunity to care for a family for four years—in their own home? A lot. The physical and emotional distance between a patient and provider disappears. If the patient has an infestation, the provider is now experiencing it as well. If the patient has a leaky roof, the water is now dripping on the provider’s head, too. Sound like a pipe dream? Listen in to find out how two visionaries are training tomorrow’s doctors by creating shared experiences and focusing on a family’s most urgent needs.

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Personal Identity and the Philosophy of Caring

Dec 05, 2022 - The profession of medicine is rooted in an ancient foundation of character and caring. But how does the Hippocratic Oath pertain to modern health care and the complex ecosystem of academic medicine? Have today’s doctors drifted from their original mission? And what role does professional identity development play in the training of tomorrow’s clinicians? While medical school is characterized as a high-pressure environment aimed at academic achievement, programs like RealMD bring students, faculty, and staff together to support and challenge one another to maintain a focus on one’s highest purpose in medicine.

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Finding the Right Balance as a Medical Student

Dec 03, 2022 - Medical school isn't easy—the work is complex, the schedule is demanding, and students need mental endurance to balance all of their responsibilities. But with the right support, they can find meaning in everyday tasks—and inspiration in the relationships they make in class and at conferences like AAMC Learn Serve Lead.

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Meeting Local Needs, in Wisconsin and Utah

Dec 02, 2022 - Health care and medical education have traditionally been centered in big cities. But 20% of the U.S. population lives in rural areas—and only 5% of applicants to medical school come from those same rural areas. Two leaders in academic medicine discuss pathways at their respective schools and ideas they can share to get better together.

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