ACGME-I Honoring Excellence: Q and A with Sawsan Abdel-Razig, MD, MEHP

I was particularly moved by the lived experiences of women, who often serve as primary caretakers and household decision makers. Many of the decisions made by women centered around and defined family and community understandings of health. My primary driver into medicine was in seeking a path that would be useful to the many women who colored my life and the lives of so many. As I entered practice early on in my career, in the global context of the United Arab Emirates, it was evident that medical education and academic medicine were among the primary levers in addressing workforce shortages in the global space. Moreover, as is seen everywhere in the world, women made up the majority of the health care workforce. So, I naturally gravitated towards this legion of academic professionals dedicated to being drivers of change both at point-of-care and “point-of-learning” transactions.

ACGME-I: What does this award mean to you?

Dr. Abdel-Razig: When I heard about receiving this award, I was overwhelmed with a sense of humility and gratitude. It is particularly gratifying to receive recognition for work in the international context of medical education and academic medicine, spaces that often go unrecognized. I am immediately cognizant of so many people and institutions that made much of our collective efforts possible, and accept the award on their behalf as well. Lastly, perhaps the most humbling realization is that the award decision is made by esteemed peers in the graduate medical education community.

ACGME-I: As this award reflects the contributions you’ve made to graduate medical education (GME) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), what would you consider to be the most important?

Dr. Abdel-Razig: I have had the privilege to work on both regulatory and operational levels in GME in the UAE. This is an opportunity that is somewhat rare for many medical educators and has afforded me an important vantage point in understanding the interplay between frontline medical educator work and health system’s needs, policies, and regulations. I’ve worked on macro-level initiatives, such as GME funding reform efforts at the government level, implanting residency match processes and procedures, and aligning GME with workforce planning while having served as a program director, faculty member, and designated institutional official. Perhaps the most important work has been in strengthening the value proposition for GME by aligning its inputs, processes, and outcomes to national health needs. In many ways, the UAE has led in this space. Additionally, there is respect for social constructs that affect education, learning, and physicianhood that is led by many educators internationally as they adopt competency-based medical education (CBME)-based frameworks that are often developed outside of their cultures. This work is critical to advancing the relevance of educational outcomes to population health needs. These have been the most important lessons learned in my journey.

ACGME-I: In your view, how has the overall strengthening of GME, especially through international accreditation, benefited the UAE’s medical education and health care systems?

Dr. Abdel-Razig: In numerous ways! The reform efforts toward CBME would not be possible without clear frameworks provided through accreditation. By far, these serve to guide curricula, as well as teaching and assessment strategies. The Requirements and the Milestones also serve to provide a common “lexicon,” so to speak, and shared mental model for developmental stages of proficiency of specific knowledge, behaviors, and skill sets. This is very important in the UAE context where practitioners often come from different educational systems. Additionally, accreditation has also served to standardize expectations of residents and fellows on their educational journeys and have led to numerous learning communities internationally, with faculty members from various ACGME-I-accredited facilities around the world convening in scholarly pursuits.

ACGME-I: Having played a key role in the evolution of GME in the UAE, what would you like to see happen in the UAE’s GME environment in the future?

Dr. Abdel-Razig: There is so much more to come. The UAE continues to expand its subspecialty program (fellowship) offerings, with more of its workforce being educated and trained locally with benchmarked standards in GME. Additionally, I envision that increasingly novel career tracks in GME will grow, such as in areas of artificial intelligence, genomics, and other cutting edge areas. There is also a concomitant increase in faculty expertise, which will drive forward the UAE’s aspirations toward leading as a knowledge-based economy that helps shape regional and global expertise in medical education. I’m very excited for what is to come.