Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences fellow Christian G. Cavalieri, MD, left, has always been passionate about teaching. He's enrolled in the Residents and Fellows as Educators Pathway program, preparing for a career as a physician-educator.
Program Prepares Trainees to Be Physician-Educators
Certificates, Degrees Offered Through Residents and Fellows as Educators Pathway
By Keith Gillogly
Published June 26, 2025
As a medical student making his way through clinical rotations, Christian G. Cavalieri, MD ’21, already knew he wanted to teach. He was drawn to the residents and attending physicians who were passionate about teaching and promised himself that, as a resident, he would make teaching his focus.
His dedication never wavered. Now a cardiology fellow at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Cavalieri already earned a certificate through the Residents and Fellows as Educators Pathway program during residency at the Jacobs School. He’s currently working toward a master’s degree in the program.
Launched during the 2022-2023 academic year, the Residents and Fellows as Educators Pathway program offers trainees formal training in medical education in preparation for careers as physician-educators in academic medicine.
Originally aimed at residents, the program recently expanded to include fellows and has eight residents and six fellows enrolled for the next academic year. Participants can earn either a one-year certificate or two-year master’s in educational studies degree through UB’s Graduate School of Education in conjunction with the Jacobs School’s Medical Education and Educational Research Institute (MEERI).
“I really like teaching. And as I move forward through medicine, I realize how important education is,” Cavalieri says, noting that throughout medical education, being both the educator and learner is a constant.
Christian G. Cavalieri, MD
Enhancing Teaching and Clinical Skills
Alysia V. Kwiatkowski, DO, assistant dean for medical curriculum and associate professor of medicine, joined the Jacobs School in 2019, and soon after began developing the Residents as Educators Pathway program with Jennifer A. Meka, PhD, director of MEERI. The program aims to serve trainees focused on not just being excellent clinicians but great teachers, too.
“Knowing that many of our trainees want to pursue careers in medical education at academic health centers, the program provides a really nice opportunity for us to develop a more robust pathway and offering,” says Meka, who’s also associate dean for medical education and an assistant professor of medicine.
Trainees spend much of their time honing clinical skills and conducting research. But Kwiatkowski says there’s a need to enhance teaching skills through formal certificate and master’s programs. While careers and training in academic medicine have traditionally focused on clinical work, research, and education, she says, the role of the niche educator has become more prominent.
“Overall we wanted to provide formal educator training because it’s rare, it’s forward thinking, and it recognizes and develops the teaching role of physicians early in their careers,” says Kwiatkowski, who’s also the educator development specialist in the MEERI.
Fellows Prepared for Educator Careers
Cavalieri, who recently received a Siegel Award recognizing his teaching aptitude, says that participation in the program will help him stand out. “In interviews in the future for jobs, I will feel comfortable saying I have teaching skills. I will know exactly what they are, and I think that will set my application apart in the academic setting,” he says.
While he plans to be an electrophysiologist, Cavalieri recalls his confusion when first looking at EKGs. It wasn’t until a cardiology fellow took time to walk him through the process that he became more comfortable reading EKGs.
“Now that I'm in cardiology, my favorite topic for med students is demystifying EKGs,” he says. “I have a pretty good process in place and am able to bring it down to their level, and I feel that a lot students are able to improve.”
Participation in the pathway has given him exposure to all types of teaching, he says, from bedside teaching to lecturing to working with medical students individually. He even had a chance to sit in on curriculum development sessions and learn more about administrative education processes, he says.
Jessica Baek, MD, who’s in her second year of a pulmonary critical care fellowship at the Jacobs School, is also enrolled in the Fellows as Educators Pathway program.
During medical school, she was a teacher’s assistant, and, as a resident, she mentored medical students. “All throughout my medical training, I felt like I was always in that role of being taught and also passing on knowledge to other people,” she says.
Her involvement with teaching made the educators pathway a natural fit. Baek says that even if she eventually practices in a community setting, as opposed to an academic one, being an educator will always be central to being a doctor. Teaching has already played a major role in her fellowship.
“As a fellow, whether it’s in the ICU setting or a clinical setting, you’re always in a teaching role, teaching residents and medical students and even staff like the nurses and respiratory therapists. I feel like that’s a huge part of being a fellow.”
Jessica Baek, MD, center
Curriculum Rooted in Education Principles, Practices
Jennifer A. Meka, PhD
The program’s curriculum involves a range of workshops and sessions covering the learning environment, culturally responsive education, designing teaching sessions, giving feedback, teaching procedural skills, and many other topics concerning teaching and medical education. Pathway participants also complete an applied learning/medical education research project.
Meka notes that she earned her PhD at UB’s Graduate School of Education and that her background is as an educator, not a clinician. And while trainees focus on learning and teaching medicine, the program emphasizes concepts and learning techniques drawn from the discipline of education, she says.
“Oftentimes there are silos in higher education,” Meka says. “But there’s so much that we can learn from education as we’re designing our curriculum and education programs.”
As part of the pathway, residents and fellows learn and teach using established educational techniques that emphasize experiential practice, giving and receiving feedback, pushing outside of comfort zones, and other core principles. Not just learning but constantly applying what’s learned is key, Meka says.
“As educators, our role is not to tell people what they need to know but to create and establish learning experiences and educational experiences that are going to allow learners to create that meaning while providing the guidance,” Meka says. “We want learners to have opportunities to practice applying what they’re learning with feedback.”
Program Fulfills Need for Education Training
Alysia V. Kwiatkowski, DO
Training programs focused on educators require the right resources, funding, and expertise, Kwiatkowski says, including faculty with a background in educator training. But such programs have been, and remain, uncommon.
Kwiatkowski recalls that, following her own residency, she sought a fellowship program with formal educator training but struggled to find any offering a certificate or master’s degree in education. While she eventually found a few, her search underscores the rarity of such programs for trainees.
The Jacobs School educators pathway program, therefore, fulfills a need while also enhancing patient care. “I think the program demonstrates UB’s commitment to advancing medical education excellence,” Kwiatkowski says. “If we’re training residents and fellows to be exceptional educators, this raises the overall quality of the medical training, translating into better patient care.”
While the pathway provides an alternative to focusing on purely clinical research or basic science research while training, the residents and fellows who’ve enrolled have been enthusiastic about developing teaching skills. “All of them are passionate about teaching,” Kwiatkowski says. “They want to be able to teach. They want to be able to do it the right way.”
Kwiatkowski adds that a certificate or master’s degree in education following program completion has been a standout for residents applying to fellowships. “This was looked at very highly by fellowship program directors. It was viewed as a huge strength in applications, it was mentioned in all of the interviews,” she says, adding that an advanced education degree is also becoming more essential for program director-level roles and beyond in academic settings.
Focus on Retaining Physicians, Trainees
Training and retaining physicians to care for Western New York’s dynamic patient population has been an ongoing and critical goal for the Jacobs School.
Kwiatkowski says that residents and fellows play an integral role shaping medical students’ experiences during clinical rotations and other learning opportunities. These positive experiences early on can influence students’ decision to stay at the Jacobs School for training and even encourage practicing in Western New York.
“We have to try to ensure that our medical students have the best educational experience, especially in their clinical years, and the residents and fellows are a huge, integral part of what that environment is like and what that medical experience is for a medical student,” she says.
Cavalieri, a Western New York native, notes that he, for one, plans to stay in Buffalo for his medical career. “Never left, never plan to leave,” he says.