• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
The Association for Surgical Education

The Association for Surgical Education

Impacting Surgical Education Globally

  • About
    • By-Laws
    • Contact the ASE
    • Leadership
    • Past Presidents
    • Standing Committees
    • Global Surgical Education-Journal of the ASE
  • Join!
  • Meeting
    • Annual Meeting Information
    • Call For Abstracts
      • Scientific Sessions
      • Candlelight Session
      • Multi-Institutional Research Submissions
      • Thinking Out of the Box
    • Exhibits and Commercial Promotion Opportunities
    • 2020 Recognition
    • Meetings Archives
    • Media Gallery
  • Awards & Programs
    • Academy of Clerkship Directors
    • Academic Program Administrator Certification in Surgery
    • ASE/APDS: Collaborative Grant Initiative
    • Education Awards
    • Multi-Institutional Research Grant
    • Surgical Education and Leadership Fellowship (SELF)
    • Surgical Education Research Fellowship (SERF)
      • Surgical Education Research Fellowship Graduates
    • Visiting Scholar Fellowship
  • Foundation
    • Donate Now!
    • Foundation Board
    • Honoring Our Surgical Education Mentors and Educators
    • The ASE Foundation: Building for the Future – Donors
    • Dr. Debra DaRosa Career Development Scholarship – Donors
    • 2023 CESERT Pyramid Grant Application
    • 2022 & 2021 CESERT Pyramid Grant Awardees!
    • Newsletter
    • Annual Report
    • Review Committee
    • Grants Awarded
    • Corporate Partners
  • Resources
    • Policy for Conducting Survey Research of ASE Members
    • Nonphysician Professional Educator
    • Educational Materials
    • Collaborative Curricula
    • Getting Started in Surgical Education Research
    • Surgical Education Research Modules
    • Surgical Education Research Webinar Series
    • Podcasts
    • Teaching Modules
    • Troubleshooting Workshop Resources
  • ATLAS
  • Log In
  • Donate

Nonphysician Professional Educators

Laura Torbeck, PhD
Laura Torbeck, PhD

Welcome, new professional educators to the exciting and somewhat daunting field of surgery!

Core to the success of the Association for Surgical Education (ASE) is the group of nonphysician professional educators who strive to bring education rigor to surgical education by enhancing teaching, research and professional development endeavors.

These individuals have either a masters or doctorate degree in education or a related field and offer added value through their alternative perspectives on topics, trends, and problems in medical education. Currently there are over 50 nonphysician professional educators working in surgery.

We welcome new professional educators and appreciate the valuable contributions that the experienced professional educators have provided throughout the years. We invite you to explore the resources we have assembled here.


Quick Navigation

About Laura Torbeck | Annual Meeting Events | Educator Spotlights | List of Nonphysician Educators | Selected Readings


About Laura Torbeck, PhD

Vice Chair for Professional Development, Surgical Educator
Assistant Dean for Educational Affairs and Faculty Development
Indiana University School of Medicine
Email: ltorbeck@iupui.edu

As a professional educator who began my career in surgery back in 2004 as the Department of Surgery’s first Surgical Educator, I remember the challenge of getting started with a blank slate. Our roles, responsibilities and expectations are likely very new and different from our doctoral and masters training programs. Having a support system and identified resources is essential to making the transition into surgery a smooth and successful one.

​The selected readings below can help you get a sense of what has been written about non physician professional educators in surgery. The ASE main website also has resources for education and research. For networking, joining ASE and attending the ASE annual spring meeting will allow you to join committees, meet other professional educators, and gain awareness of surgery education initiatives and research innovation.

​Finally, if you would like to have an individual consultation with me to help navigate your new position or career in surgery as a professional educator, I would be delighted to schedule a time for a phone call.

​As your liaison to establishing yourself as a professional educator in surgery, I welcome you once again.


Annual Meeting Events

Nonphysician Professional Educator Development Session

Friday April 29, 2020, from  9:00am to 10:30 am in the Grand Crescent Room.

Session title:  You get what you ask for – Guidelines to creating quality evaluation forms
Facilitator:  Judith French, PhD and Lily Pien, MD, MHPE

Session Description: During a review of evaluation forms for various residency programs, we discovered a wide variety of styles and instructions. Our original focus was on the written narrative portion but our analysis showed there are many areas for improvement (e.g., number of questions, unclear instructions, core competencies and milestone usage, and open comment boxes). We’ve created some guidelines we think are useful to getting the information you need to help your trainees grow and provide data to your training program. This workshop gives you the chance to evaluate evaluation forms using a guideline template we created and to modify the guideline template to help make it work. This is your chance to be the critic!


Educator Spotlights

  • Dr. Patricia S. O’Sullivan

Click here to see previous Educator Spotlights


Nonphysician Professional Educators List

The ASE and Dr. Torbeck have shared a list of nonphysician professional educators. If you are a member of the ASE, please login to your member account and you will be able to see and contact the listed educators via emails.  If you are not logged in, you will only see their names and institutions.


Selected Readings

  1. Rosenberg H and Polonsky B. The role of nonphysician consultants as health-care educators in postgraduate programs of anesthesiology. Acad Med 1990; 119-122.
  2. Mendoza K, Hauge L, DaRosa D. The responsibilities and contributions of professional educators in surgery departments. AJS 2004; 188:126-130.
  3. Risenberg LA, Little BW, Wright V. Nonphysician medical educators: A literature review and job description resource. Academic Medicine 2009; 84(8):1078-1088.
  4. Torbeck et al. How to recruit, retain, and reap the rewards of working with PhD/EdD educators in surgery. JSE 2012; 70(2): 212-216.
  5. Sanfey H, Boehler M, DaRosa D, Dunnington G. Career development needs of vice chairs for education in departments of surgery. JSE 2012; 69(2):156-461.
  6. Tarpley M, Davidson M, and Tarpley J. The role of the nonphysician educator in general surgery residency training: from outcome project and duty-hours restrictions to the next accreditation system and milestones. JSE 2013; 71(1): 119-124.

Footer

Contact the ASE

11300 W. Olympic Blvd
Suite 600
Los Angeles, CA 90064 USA
(310) 215-1226
info@surgicaleducation.com

Follow ASE on Twitter

  • Twitter

Advanced Training in Laparoscopic Suturing

The Official Journal of the Association for Surgical Education

Follow GSE on Twitter

  • Twitter