Medical Education/Simulation Fellowship

Our fellowship program aims to prepare emergency medicine physicians for productive and satisfying careers as clinician educators. Our program focuses on the development of advanced skills in simulation, curricular design, learner assessment, education research, and program evaluation across both academic and community settings, while also developing the unique interests of each individual fellow. Fellows coordinate and execute bi-monthly simulation sessions for our emergency medicine residency program, as well as monthly in situ simulation sessions across our network's community and critical-access emergency departments. Particular emphasis is placed on high acuity, low occurrence (HALO) procedures, interdepartmental and interdisciplinary collaboration, and the delivery of emergency medical care in the rural setting. Fellows also have the opportunity to participate in the ACEP/CORD Teaching Fellowship and are supported to attend the CORD Academic Assembly as well as other education-focused regional and national conferences.

Fellows have the option to choose a one- or two-year program of study. Our two-year program includes support for the pursuit of an advanced graduate degree in medical education (e.g. MHPE, MSEd, MACM). 

The Medical Education/Simulation Fellowship impacts our UVM Health Network by spreading our academic mission across our rural community hospitals, teaching students and residents in various practice settings, and supporting faculty development for both academic and community practice physicians. The fellowship has received accreditation by the SAEM Fellowship Approval Program.

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Foundational Components

Our fellowship curriculum draws on resources both locally and nationally, and encompasses five broad domains:

Theories of learning and teaching methods

Administration and program evaluation

Didactic education and curricular design

Professional development

Education Research

Fellows will have the opportunity to tailor their experiences and areas of focus within each domain, such as engaging more in resident versus medical student education, seeking grant funding for education research, and participating in courses offered through ACEP, ALIEM, and CORD.

teaching bw

Our fellows work closely with our Didactic Education Leadership Team to optimize our weekly didactic curriculum for residents and rotating students. Fellows will engage in both the behind-the-scenes preparation and the learner-facing delivery of interactive lectures, simulation scenarios, oral-boards-style Foundations cases, and challenging training exercises in austere environments. Our EM faculty group includes educators with incredible teaching skills (some of whom have been nationally recognized for teaching), and our fellow will join this team in providing the highest quality education to our LCOM students and EM residents.

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The Larner College of Medicine Teaching Academy supports our fellowship by providing a community of educators that leads educational innovation and scholarship, and provides fellows with access to many resources to further their teaching skills, networking, and professional development.

Clinical Work

Fellows that join our group work clinically as ED attendings both at our academic medical center and at one of the community hospitals in our Network.

University of Vermont Medical Center, Burlington VT (UVMMC): UVM Medical Center's ED has more than 65,000 patient visits a year. It has 62 beds, with some specifically designated for trauma and major resuscitation. It has a separate pediatric ED affiliated with the University of Vermont Children's Hospital, and currently one evening shift per day is staffed by our specialty-trained PEM faculty. Shifts at UVMMC will involve the supervision of EM residents, off-service residents, medical students, and physician assistants.

Community hospitals in the University of Vermont Health Network where fellows may work include:

Central Vermont Medical Center, Berlin, VT (CVMC)

Porter Medical Center, Middlebury, VT (PMC)

Elizabethtown Community Hospital, Elizabethtown, NY (ECH)

Champlain Valley Physicians' Hospital, Plattsburgh, NY (CVPH)

Moonlighting/ additional pay opportunities: Fellows will have the opportunity to take on additional shifts at UVMMC and Network community hospitals during time periods that there is no conflict with fellowship responsibilities.


Arlene S. Chung, MD, MACM
Vice Chair of Academic Affairs
Fellowship Director

 Arlene Chung

Dr. Chung is a Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont and also serves as the Vice Chair of Academic Affairs for the Department of Emergency Medicine. She has served on the Board of Directors for the Council of Residency Directors in Emergency Medicine and was honored nationally as the 2022 Residency Director of the Year by EMRA. She joined the faculty at UVMHN in January 2024. As a widely recognized speaker and educator, Dr. Chung has made advocating for physician wellness a central focus of her career though lectures, teaching, policy development, and creating sustainable solutions for the future.

Daniel Ackil, DO
Assistant Dean of Simulation
Fellowship Director

Daniel Ackil

Dr. Ackil is the Assistant Dean for Simulation an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Larner College of Medicine. Previously he held the role of Director of Simulation and Procedural Training for the EM residency program. He joined the UVMHN faculty in 2018 after completing a four year EM residency program at Kent County Hospital and an Emergency Ultrasound Fellowship at Denver Health. He completed the LCOM Teaching Academy Medical Education Fellowship in 2019, which led to the creation of a transition to practice course for senior medical students. His interests and scholarly work include high acuity low occurrence (HALO) procedures, procedural competency assessments, mastery level curriculum development, POCUS, and wilderness medicine. 

John Priester, MD
Past Fellow 2024
Priester grad action

A graduate of our second residency class, John Priester was an absolute favorite of both students and colleagues in the ED. He decided to stay on as our Medical Education Fellow for 2023-24, to contribute to our clinical and academic missions at UVMMC and CVPH. 

Tabitha Ford, MD
Inaugural Fellow

Tabitha

Our inaugural 2020-2021 Med Ed Fellow, Tabitha Ford, came to us after serving as Chief Resident at Utah's EM program. She helped us to develop our first fellowship program and exceeded all expectations, and decided to continue with our group as a member of our leadership team. Tabitha now serves as our Associate Program Director and our Director of Didactic Education.