Center for Professionalism Creation of Community

Ellen M. Friedman, M.D., is the senior associate dean of Professionalism and the Director for the Center for Professionalism in Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. She is a Professor in the department of Otolaryngology.

Stacey Rose, M.D., is associate professor in the Department of Medicine, Infectious Diseases. She has a long standing interest in professionalism, humanism in medicine and provider well-being. She has been involved with professionalism activities such as the Back to Bedside ACGME program, and co-directed a medical student elective facilitating clinical observation skills through exposure to fine art (in collaboration with MFAH). She now serves as Associate Director for the Center for Professionalism. 

Melissa Carbajal, M.D., is associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatology.  She has been the Fellowship Program Director for the Neonatal Perinatal Medicine Fellowship Program for 10 years and her academic pursuits and interests include the Role of Spirituality in Clinical Care (a Pediatric Resident elective), medical education research, and Professional Identity Formation for physician trainees.  She now serves as a Partner in Professionalism at the BCM Center for Professionalism.   

Kim-Lan Czelusta, M.D., is associate professor and the Brown Foundation Chair for Psychiatric Education in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.  Her areas of interest include professionalism, empathy, and psychodynamic psychotherapy.  

Holland Kaplan, M.D., is an assistant professor of general internal medicine and clinical ethics. She practices hospital medicine at Ben Taub General Hospital and sees clinical ethics consults at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center and Ben Taub. In addition to ethics, her interests include medical education, professional identity formation, and medicine after the Holocaust. 

Geeta Singhal, M.D., is a professor in the Department of Pediatrics. She has a long standing interest in faculty development, in education and communication at the bedside with patients and their families. She has worked on professionalism projects for over a decade. 

Eric C. Swindell, Ph.D., is the associate dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) and an Associate Professor in BCM’s Department of Education, Innovation and Technology. He has a long-standing interest in graduate education and professionalism. 

Paige Farinholt, M.D. is an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine and provides palliative care within the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center. Her work with patients centers around finding meaning and improving quality of life and she works with colleagues to achieve these same goals by fostering professional satisfaction and building community in order to prevent burnout. Her interests include improving communication skills for faculty and students and supporting interdisciplinary teamwork. She now serves as a member of the Professionalism Partners.

The POP award Committee receives and reviews every POP Award nomination to ensure it includes a specified example of an observed professional behavior. Once approved the nomination is passed to the nominee's chief to confirm the individual is a member of good professional standing within their department. 

The Mini Grant Committee receives and reviews all Mini Grant Applications to ensure applications support the mission of the College and have a direct impact on learners. 

The Sound of Well-Being Series, in collaboration with BCM BeWell, was a musical journey to well-being that covered topics such as increasing resiliency by creating music, music in family life, and the impact of music on the brain. The mini-series was presented by the award-winning Texas Medical Orchestra includes members of the BCM community and features musically inspired presentations, conducted by Libi Lebel.

Due to the success of the project, and because the BCM community requested, the Texas Medical Orchestra has continued this lunchtime series for your enjoyment. 

These sessions are in person, live at Noon in the Cullen Auditorium, and are available via Zoom. Check your recent Newslink for announced concerts.

The Center for Professionalism and BCM BeWell groups joined together to help participants think about their current definition of success and shift these goals to internal rather than external ones. This was a four-session series during the month of August 2021, National Happiness Month. The Hap-PIE-ness Project’s distinguished speakers guided participants through creating a new mindset for enhancing personal happiness, healthy mind, physical health, success, and well-being.

View the following videos as informational learning tools: 

• Introduction
• Mental Health (Temporarily unavailable)
• Physical Activity
• Final

There have been several previous successful Education and Training Initiatives from the Center for Professionalism under the umbrella of the Physician and Scientist Satisfaction Initiative, which helped create community, engagement, and trust among members of the Baylor College of Medicine community.

Lunch with the Boss

Every other month, 10 faculty members were invited to eat lunch with President and CEO, Dr. Paul Klotman. The goal was to increase faculty exposure to senior leadership; open lines of communication between senior leadership and faculty; and improve the sense of connection and purpose with the Baylor mission, vision, and values.

Walk in My Shoes

Once a quarter selected administrators/clinic managers throughout Baylor were invited to shadow a faculty member for three hours of a routine day. The goal was to build stronger relationships between faculty and administrators and foster a better understanding of each pair’s daily work.

Physician engagement is critical and its success was reflected in various ways: Retention/Turnover, Patient Safety/Quality, and Patient Satisfaction | Press Ganey Scores

P E E P S S

Six groups of 12 members of the Baylor faculty assembled into Professionalism and Engagement Elevating Physician and Scientist Satisfaction (PEEPSS) groups that met once a month for six months to build a network of colleagues and socialize.

The goals were to increase familiarity among clinicians, decrease referral leakage, and improve the sense of connection. The Burnout index tool was used as a measurement tool.