ADMSEP’s Ambitious Agenda
In 1974 a small group of psychiatrists who educate medical students about psychiatry decided they and their colleagues needed an official forum for exchanging curriculum ideas and keeping abreast of developments in this corner of medical education. By the next year, as a result of their initiative, a new organization was born—the Association of Directors of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry (ADMSEP).
Now with a membership of more than 130 educators representing medical schools throughout the United States and Canada, ADMSEP puts on a popular annual meeting and has an active list serve. Questions raised by members on the list serve have, in fact, generated several research projects in the field.
ADMSEP declares its mission to be
| •. | Championing excellence in medical student psychiatric education. | ||||
| •. | Supporting, developing, and disseminating research and innovation in teaching methods, content, and evaluation. | ||||
| •. | Developing goals and objectives for medical student psychiatric education. | ||||
| •. | Fostering the professional development and career satisfaction of medical student psychiatric educators. | ||||
| •. | Providing support, guidance, and resources to medical students considering a career in psychiatry. | ||||
| •. | Collaborating with other psychiatric and medical education organizations to pursue common interests. | ||||
ADMSEP leaders made a concerted effort to enhance the group’s collaborations with other psychiatric organizations focused on education and training in the early 1990s, when there was a dramatic drop in the number of medical graduates opting for careers in psychiatry. These liaisons were with organizations such as the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training, Association for Academic Psychiatry, and APA.
Over its nearly three decades, ADMSEP’s “most valuable product,” according to former president Irwin Hassenfeld, M.D., “has been the informal relationships and friendships formed among members.”
