title: Training Tomorrow's Teachers Today: a national medical student teaching and leadership retreat.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Challenges to American academic medical centers have diverted attention and resources away from the core missions of teacher and leader development. To train the next generation of medical education leaders, substantial and institutionalized new programs are necessary.
  
  
  METHODS
  The American Medical Student Association, with the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, designed the Training Tomorrow's Teachers Today national medical student retreat. The week-long course endeavors to enhance participants' clinical teaching and academic leadership skills. The program also trains students to execute a required medical education project. At the end of the course, attendees evaluated their baseline and post-course teaching and leadership effectiveness. Long-term follow-up was also completed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Attendees (n = 23) self-reported statistically significant (p < 0.05) improvement in teaching and leadership. The greatest improvements in teaching scores were in the area of communicating goals. The largest leadership score improvements were: defining goals; defining constituents, allies, and opponents; and delineating organization strengths/weaknesses. 13 participants engaged in medical education projects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This program helps fill a gap in medical education training. Program data suggest enhancement of students' teaching and leadership skills. A competitive application process demonstrates interest in such training. These results suggest that medical schools should offer and/or fund undergraduate teaching and leadership training.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, NY 10029, USA.
authors.forename: Kristofer L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Dustin J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Petersen
authors.forename: Rainier
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Soriano
authors.forename: Erica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Friedman
authors.forename: Lisa D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Bensinger
mesh_terms: D004493:Education; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D012577:Schools, Medical; D013337:Students, Medical; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods*; D014481:United States