Evolution of the Medical Education Research and Scholarship Unit at LKCMedicine

Excellence in medical education is one of LKCMedicine’s key mission. Combined with the evidence-based standards and best practices developed by the global medical education community, LKCMedicine strives to be a centre for transformative research and a model for innovative medical education. The Medical Education Research and Scholarship Unit (MERSU), established in 2014, plays a central role in enhancing the theories and practice of medical education in LKCMedicine, enacted through: (i) creating new knowledge through research, scholarship and informed innovation; (ii) building capacity through the development of a strong research environment and (iii) fostering a culture of collaborative and scholarly thinking in medical education and aligned with the ethos of LKCMedicine We will share the key milestones of MERSU the last three years (2016-2018) that have led to the establishment of an inclusive medical education research and scholarship ecosystem at LKCMedicine. Housed previously within a shared office space, MERSU has since grew and moved to the newly completed Clinical Sciences Building at Mandalay Road, occupying a dedicated environment optimised for building an inclusive community of practice and inquiry. It is composed of an ‘idea incubator and accelerator’ space hosting scholarship activities like seminars, journal clubs, brainstorming sessions and experiments. The Wall of MedEd acknowledges the contributions of staff and students. Within LKCMedicine, knowledge and expertise on medical education are constantly shared through the supervision of Year 4 medical students’ scholarly projects by MERSU. Collaborations with our partners e.g. research projects with CRADLE@NTU, joint exhibition booth at AMEE conferences with Imperial College London - Medical Education Research Unit and National Healthcare Group - HOMER further enhance the reputation and ecosystem of medical education in Singapore. The latest development with medical education research in LKCMedicine is a strategic research plan that outlines three programmatic research directions: Emerging Technologies (ET), Team-Based Learning (TBL); and Diagnostic Reasoning. Through an effective organisational alignment that allows both needs-driven scholarship efforts and globally relevant research and innovation, MERSU aims to become a Centre for Excellence in Medical Education.