Novel, Low-Cost Intervention to Promote Women's Advancement in Global Health Research.

PROBLEM: Women comprise 7 out of every 10 health care workers globally yet are significantly underrepresented in leadership positions. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated underlying gender disparities, placing additional burdens on many female global health professionals. APPROACH: The authors describe the development of a novel, low-cost pilot program-the Female Global Scholars Program (Weill Cornell Medicine)-established in April 2018 to promote the advancement of female global health research professionals and prepare them for leadership positions in this field. Using a logic model, the program was informed by discussion with peers at scientific symposia, qualitative research examining the barriers women experience in global health, discussions with experts in the fields of global health and medical education, and a literature review of other initiatives focused on fostering female advancement. The program provides opportunities to learn leadership skills and peer mentoring to female junior investigators in global health research over the course of 2 years through attendance of a symposium and skill-building workshop, skill-building webinars, and the building of a peer mentor group. OUTCOMES: The inaugural cohort of the Female Global Scholars Program (April 2018-March 2020) included 10 female global health researchers from 6 countries (Haiti, India, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and the United States) across 3 continents. By the end of year 1, 6 participants received academic promotions. Additionally, the inaugural 10 scholars collectively presented at 11 international conferences and submitted 22 abstracts and 19 manuscripts. NEXT STEPS: The authors hope to provide additional support and guidance to scholars as they become leaders of their own versions of this program at their home sites and plan to expand the faculty group to further lessen the time burden, while enabling the program to provide additional research mentorship to scholars.

INteractive Virtual Expert-Led Skills Training: A Multi-Modal Curriculum for Medical Trainees.

Background: Internationally, pediatric depression and suicide are significant issues. Additionally, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, pediatric mental health needs are rising astronomically. In light of Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist (CAP) subspecialist shortages in the United States (US), there is an increasing call for primary care physicians in Family Medicine and Pediatrics to address an increasingly broad variety of patient needs. Here we report on the development and preliminary evaluation of medical student and resident perceptions on the "INteractive Virtual Expert-led Skills Training" (INVEST) medical education curriculum, a virtual synchronous CAP curriculum employing active learning strategies, including expert-led discussion and video modeling, and discussion designed to meet those priorities. Methods: In a standardized 60-min training format, our curriculum leverages audience response system polling, video modeling of key clinical skills, and interactive discussion with an expert subspecialist, over a virtual video conferencing platform. The primary educational strategy relies on use of video modeling to demonstrate best practice with CAP led group discussion to solidify and explain important concepts. Five waves of medical students and residents (N = 149) participated in the INVEST curriculum and completed pre- and post-training surveys regarding knowledge and comfort in the management of pediatric patients with depression and suicidality. Results: Trainee participants reported significant positive gains in perceived likelihood of encountering pediatric suicidality as well as knowledge/comfort with depression screening and suicidality assessment in a primary care setting. Across some competency areas, there was an effect of medical learner level. Learners at lower levels generally reported the highest benefit. Medical students reported significant increases in their comfort interpreting and discussing positive depression screens and evidenced the greatest relative benefit in comfort with discussing suicidality. Conclusion: To our knowledge, INVEST is the first fully virtual, multimodal curriculum led by expert CAP subspecialists. Our findings suggest that INVEST shows promise for equipping medical learners with baseline knowledge for caring for patients with pediatric depression and suicidality. This synchronous, virtually delivered curriculum allows for critical training delivered to diverse medical learners regardless of geographic location, a particular benefit during the current COVID-19 pandemic.