Faculty Development Opportunities at UC-COM

The Office of Faculty Affairs & Development have created new development programming for our faculty in the areas of professional development, research development, teaching and education development, and wellness. Programs in these four tracks will be offered on a monthly basis during the academic year. Complete listing of development programs being offered 2025-2026 Programs (PDF).

April 2026

APRIL 7, 2026 Managing Difficult Conversations with Compassion & Resilience

Facilitator: Chad Zender, MD
Via: Microsoft Teams
Time: 12-1:00pm

Description: How to conduct difficult patient conversations with compassion, including communicating a terminal diagnosis, the futility of further aggressive medical treatment, and end-of-life discussions and developing your personal strategies to recharge after difficult conversations.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand what makes something a “difficult conversation”
2. Increase comfort addressing emotion during a difficult conversation
3. Build a repository of key words, phrases, and actions to utilize when having a difficult conversation with a patient
4. (Start to) Develop your personal strategies to recharge after a difficult conversation

APRIL 9, 2026 Championing Culture Building in your Department (repeat)

Facilitator: Steven D Kniffley Jr., PsyD MPA ABPP HSP
Via: Microsoft Teams
Time: 7:00am - 8:00am

Description: Training will provide COM departments with practical tools needed to foster comprehensive excellence for students, faculty and staff. Specifically, this training will cover the following areas: conducting a cultural audit and assessing culture change and impact.

APRIL 21, 2026 A Physician’s Journey in Personalized Wellness: Health, Longevity, and Lifecycles

Facilitator: Marcus Lehman, MD, MBA
Via: Microsoft Teams
Time: 12-1:00pm

Learning Objectives:

1. A "modern" update on Disease Prevention and Longevity
2. Evaluating shifts in perspective in personal Risk Assessment and Health Awareness
3. Understanding the Opportunity of Nutrition, Exercise, Fasting, and Medicine
4. Connect the Science of Longevity to the Philosophy of Living Well
5. Have ideas for creating a Personalized Approach to Lifelong Health Optimization

APRIL 28, 2026 Qualtrics: Survey Migration and Optimization

Facilitators: Adam Webb and Seth Overla
Via: Zoom
Time: 12-1:00pm

Learning Objectives:

1. Convert surveys from external platforms into Qualtrics
2. Familiarize with how data exports and analysis operate
3. Optimize survey distribution to handle faculty needs

APRIL 29, 2026 Medpace Series:  The Future of Medicine and Science in Turbulent Times: Two Minutes of Bad News and Thirty Minutes of Good News

Facilitators:Frank Smith, MD, SVP Medical Dept, Medpace, and Dan Starczynowski, PhD, CCHMC
Via: MSB E255 (preferred) and via Microsoft Teams
Time: 12-1:00pm

May 2026

May 12, 2026 | Managing Cross-Cultural Patient Encounters (repeat)

May 19, 2026 | Navigating a Crazy Work Environment