Limited spots remaining for AAMC's Medical Education Research Certificate Program

The Office of Faculty Affairs and Faculty Development has announced that only a few spots remain in the upcoming cohort for the Association of American Medical Colleges' (AAMC) Medical Education Research Certificate (MERC) Program. This prestigious professional development opportunity will run from August 2025 through May 2026.

The MERC program provides educators with essential knowledge to understand, evaluate, and participate in medical education research, becoming both informed consumers of research literature and valuable research collaborators.

David Williams, Ph.D., MPA, assistant dean for institutional and academic success at the Whiddon College of Medicine, said, “The MERC program gave me practical tools to connect educational research skills with the expanding scope of scholarship at the Whiddon COM — helping us study and improve teaching, learning, and assessment across the medical education continuum.”

Participants attend monthly sessions and must complete six workshops to earn the certificate. All workshops will be held at the Goodwill Gulf Coast - Main Office, 2440 Gordon Smith Drive, from noon to 4 p.m. on the scheduled dates. All program costs are covered by the Office of Faculty Affairs and Faculty Development.

Workshop Schedule

Aug. 14, 2025: Searching and Evaluating Literature
Develop strategies for effectively navigating and evaluating medical education literature.

Sept. 11, 2025: Formulating Research Questions
Create FINER research questions (feasible, interesting, novel, ethical, relevant) and appropriate research designs.

Oct. 9, 2025: Introduction to Qualitative Data
Gain skills for conducting focus groups, interviews, and collecting observational data.

Nov. 13, 2025: Questionnaire Design/Survey Research
Create effective surveys with well-constructed questions and appropriate response formats.

December 2025: No session

Jan. 8, 2026: Measuring Educational Outcomes
Master reliability and validity concepts in educational measurement.

Feb. 12, 2026: Data Management
Learn to collect, organize, and clean data while effectively communicating with statisticians.

March 12, 2026: Program Evaluation
Develop systematic evaluation plans for educational programs.

April 9, 2026: Scholarly Writing
Analyze components of successful scholarly publications and improve writing skills.

May 14, 2026: Symposium
The program concludes with a symposium at which participants can showcase their learning and research interests.

This program is ideal for:

• Faculty interested in developing medical education research skills
• Clinician educators seeking to better understand educational scholarship
• Curriculum developers and assessment specialists
• Staff involved in educational program development and evaluation
• Both clinicians and non-clinicians with interest in medical education research

To express interest, contact Amanda Arnold at akarnold@southalabama.edu.

Learn more about the AAMC MERC Program.