Faculty Factory

Remembering why you first entered the wonderful and challenging world of academic medicine might be just the boost of joy you need to stave off burnout. Our guest this week on the Faculty Factory Podcast is Geeta Singhal, MD, MEd, FAAP, whom we warmly welcome for her first-ever (and very memorable) appearance on our program. She does a brilliant job painting a picture for us of ways to uncover joy amidst the challenges of patient care, teaching, research, and many other rich, rewarding, and difficult tasks of the academic medicine journey. Dr. Singhal currently serves as Executive Vice Chair of the Department of Pediatrics, Professor of Pediatrics, Director of Academics in the Division of Pediatric Hospital Medicine, Attending Physician, and Co-Director of Pediatric Hospital Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM). She is also a Faculty Leadership Development Program Partner at BCM and a Professionalism Partner at Texas Children's Hospital.  Learn more: http://facultyfactory.org/Geeta-Singhal 

Daniel Almeida, PhD, also known as the “Strengths Professor,” visits us this week on the Faculty Factory Podcast. Dr. Almeida is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, California. As mentioned throughout this interview, he works diligently to incorporate Clifton Strengths into his teaching, coaching, and research. Learn More: https://facultyfactory.org/daniel-almeida 

This week's episode of the Faculty Factory Podcast features a rebroadcast of "Rethinking Success in Academic Medicine," a webinar that was co-presented by Heather Brod and Kimberly Skarupski, PhD, MPH in May 2025. This broadcast has been edited and shortened to enhance the podcast listening experience. Learn more:  https://facultyfactory.org/rethink-success/ For more visuals, you can watch the video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/oClCmjhs1V4 You can also access handouts that accompany the session: Rethinking Success in Academic Medicine Case Studies [pdf] Clarify Shift Explore Template [pdf]

The vital role of the humanities in shaping empathetic communication skills and critical-minded healthcare professionals is explored today with our guest, P. Ravi Shankar, MBBS, MD. Dr. Shankar, MBBS, MD, currently serves as faculty and program coordinator at the IMU Centre for Education in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He is a Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER) Institutes Scholar and a prolific researcher. Read more: http://facultyfactory.org/ravi-shankar 

The Faculty Factory podcast is back this week with a deep exploration of academic promotions for clinicians as we interview Anne Walling, MB, ChB, who has written extensively about the topic. Her writings are based on her years of practical on-the-job experience with faculty. Dr. Walling is a professor emerita at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita in Wichita, Kansas and is the author of Academic Promotion for Clinicians: A Practical Guide to Promotion and Tenure in Medical Schools. She joins our show this week as a first-time guest to discuss the second edition of this book, along with exploring a variety of aspects related to promotions in academic medicine from many different angles. You can learn more about her book here: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-84036-4

The five keys that will lead you toward a successful clinical education career are outlined in-depth this week on the Faculty Factory Podcast, featuring our first-time guest, the amazing and encouraging Carla L. Spagnoletti, MD, MS. With the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Dr. Spagnoletti serves as Professor of Medicine and holds the George H. Taber Endowed Chair in General Internal Medicine. In addition, she is the Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, the Associate Division Chief for Education in GIM, and the Associate Director of the Masters and Certificate Programs in Medical Education within the Institute for Clinical Research Education. The five tips that Dr. Spagnoletti encourages us to employ for building a successful clinical education career are as follows: Proactively develop your skills. Let your mission drive your career. Turn everyday work into scholarship. Face and embrace failure. Build and maintain relationships. Make sure to tune into today's episode for a deep dive on each of the five tips. You will also learn the story of how Dr. Spagnoletti's unique career journey led her to this wisdom.

Today’s episode of the Faculty Factory Podcast explores strategies for embracing a new career challenge or retirement itself. This broadcast features a recording from a recent lecture led by Faculty Factory Podcast host Kimberly Skarupski, PhD, MPH. Dr. Skarupski is Associate Vice Provost, Leadership Development, in the Office of Faculty Affairs with UTMB Health in Galveston, Texas. She is a tenured Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Geriatrics in the John Sealy School of Medicine and in the Department of Epidemiology in the School of Public and Population Health. If you'd like to see the slides from the lecture that this podcast is based on, you can access them here. More Faculty Factory Resources: https://facultyfactory.org/ 

We’re honored to have Janet Bickel, MA, join the Faculty Factory Podcast for the third time in our show’s history this week. We’re discussing the art of adaptability and how to hone it as a skill set to build a successful career in academic medicine. Janet is an acclaimed leadership and career development coach with more than five decades of experience in academic medicine and science. She started her academic career with Brown University’s Medical School (now called The Warren Alpert Medical School) in 1972. Resources to Explore Academic Medicine Letter to the Editor: “Helping Medical Education Faculty Navigate a Post-Academic Landing Pad”: https://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/citation/9900/helping_medical_education_faculty_navigate_a.1175.aspx Janet Bickel’s Official Website: https://janetbickel.com/ Equip Your Inner Coach: Personal, Career and Leadership Development in an Uncertain Age: https://www.amazon.com/Equip-Your-Inner-Coach-Development/dp/B0BLFSRKG1 We're Put Here to Love: A Memoir with Poems: https://www.amazon.com/Were-Put-Here-Love-Memoir/dp/B0DDTK7NHM Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock the Potential in Yourself and Your Organization (Leadership for the Common Good): https://www.amazon.com/Immunity-Change-Potential-Organization-Leadership/dp/1422117367 More Janet Bickel Interviews As mentioned above, this is Janet’s third appearance on our podcast. You can revisit her first time joining us back in June 2019, when she shared with us 7 Crucial Books and Resources for Faculty Affairs Professionals. In March 2022, she joined us once again for a reunion episode, where we caught up with her to discuss what’s new in her world of leadership and career development coaching since we last spoke. 

Patrick Louchouarn, PhD, is a Leadership & Performance Coach and Senior Vice Provost for Faculty at The Ohio State University. He dives into the inspiring motivation behind academic medicine and the altruism driving health professionals. Louchouarn discusses the risks of straying from core values, emphasizing the need for purpose-driven dialogue. He also touches on cultivating postdocs’ leadership skills and attracting young talent by aligning personal values with community health goals. Strategies for navigating leadership transitions are explored, highlighting mentorship and succession planning.

We’ve all heard of medical malpractice and its dire costs, but what about leadership malpractice? Should there be consequences or at least more resistance to those implementing non-evidence-based leadership tactics in academic medicine? Those questions and much more are explored in depth with our guest this week on the Faculty Factory Podcast, author Joshua Hartzell, MD, MS-HPEd, FACP, FIDSA, who joins us to discuss: Leadership responsibility and development Cultural strategies from the military that could be woven into academic health Excellence through empathy and compassion Utilizing delegation as a growth opportunity for others With 25 years in military medicine under his belt, Dr. Hartzell is a retired army colonel and a practicing internal medicine and infectious diseases physician. It’s all about being more intentional with how we lead and taking care of people—that is what a healthy workplace culture rides on, according to this interview with Dr. Hartzell. "Most of the things we experience and our challenges are not clinical care issues. It’s a leadership issue. We’re really good at the clinical care part, but not so much the messy leadership stuff and how to deal with that," he said. Learn More Explore his book, "A Prescription for Caring in Healthcare Leadership: Building a Culture of Compassion and Excellence": https://www.amazon.com/Prescription-Caring-Healthcare-Leadership-Compassion/dp/B0DSQ4276K Visit Faculty Factory: https://facultyfactory.org/