The Kern Institute Launches Podcast, Medical Education Matters

From the March 24, 2023 issue of the Transformational Times

 

The Kern Institute Launches Podcast, Medical Education Matters 

The team members share their biggest podcast influences

  

Greetings from Kern Institute podcasters Jeff Amundson, Michael T. Braun, Anita Bublik-Anderson, and Herodotos Ellinas!

 

We're here today to announce the official launch of the Kern Institute Podcast Network! We call it a network because we have ambitions to expand, and right now, you can subscribe to our show, Medical Education Matters (https://med-ed-matters.captivate.fm) wherever you get your podcasts. Please consider subscribing and leave us a review. It helps people find the show and helps us grow our audience.  

 

Why are we launching a podcast network? We can give you the standard reasons — it's good to explore novel ways to disseminate info, podcasts continue to be popular, and working remotely makes recording easier, thanks to Zoom. But the main reason is because podcasts are fun to make and enjoyable for listeners. When we interact with each other in virtual meetings, we have so many conversations about the work of the Kern Institute and our goals of transforming medical education. Why not take these interactions and put them out for others to hear. 

 

In addition, we all come to podcasting from unique places. When Jeff first started in a post-doc role at MCW, he launched a short-lived podcast which included original content and studio-recorded, original music! Anita did podcasting with students – as another way to get students excited about education. Herodotos brought the idea of podcasting to me as a way to distribute information from our Kern Collaboratories groups. Michael dabbled in podcasting in 2005 and otherwise came to the effort with an enthusiastic "let's do it!" voice and drive.  

 

What will you find when you subscribe to the show? First, you'll see we've been busy! We have over a dozen episodes already up -- a rich catalogue for you to dig into. We purposefully put off the official launch until we had episodes recorded and released. Launching a new venture with a single show available felt anti-climactic. Where was the guarantee this work would continue? Where could you hear more?  

 

Second, you'll see a mix of show formats. Our main show features panel discussions of themed topics. We took advantage of a string of holidays when producing these shows, so you'll find Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Valentine's Day represented. We tie the themes of holidays to medical education and enjoy riffing on the topic.  

 

Another series of episodes begins with the acronym MEDICC, which stands for Medical Education in Countryside Communities. This podcast features interviews with educators and learners on our MCW-Central Wisconsin campus in Wausau. It’s led by Drs. Amundson and Bublik-Anderson. It's great to hear from this campus and learn more about medical education focused on the concerns of rural areas.  

 

Still another podcast is our "collaboratory conversations." The Kern Collaboratories program, as you may know, is a small grants program for transformative medical education research. We currently fund six collaborative research efforts with teams spread across the country. Dr. Ellinas and Dr. Braun run this program and have recorded conversations with these groups so you can learn more about their research.  

 

We look forward to bringing you other types of shows as our podcast network expands! This could also include spinning off shows in their own "feed," so you can subscribe to just shows of a particular type. Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for you to get shows you like from the Kern Institute Podcast Network.  

 

This raises a key question: What is it that you like to listen to? It's something we talked to a lot of people about when planning. We also considered the podcasting, radio, and television personalities that influenced us. There are a lot of podcast formats, and we settled on a few key facets. We wanted our shows to be conversational, rather than formal and highly produced. We wanted them to be longer to allow time for digging into topics and real interactions. And we wanted to make sure our effort was sustainable. We decided to put out a new episode every two weeks.  

 

So, what are you waiting for? Head to wherever you get your podcasts and subscribe! Not a podcast listener? Find the podcast app available for your smartphone. Search for "Medical Education Matters" and subscribe. We can't wait to start speaking directly to you!  

 

 

Our Biggest Podcasting Influences 

 

Jeff Amundson, PhD: 

Oddly, I do not listen to podcasts. My influence for podcasting comes from television, specifically, Dick Cavett. Dick Cavett was a comedic writer who eventually started his own show in 1969, which ran until 1995. His style was very conversational with a sense of curiosity that prompted deep thoughts from those being interviewed. And he had a comical spin which made the conversation as a listener a pleasant process baited with anticipation as to how his wit would be taken, given the contentious times and the guests. It was another time in our American culture with much division around social issues (e.g., counterculture, Vietnam war, civil rights). But as Michael Schulman points out in the above article, Cavett always found a way to exist on both sides of such issues, which made his show inviting to all types of guests from Groucho Marx to Muhammad Ali. (Sorry to those readers not familiar with either, but hey, that’s why we have Google.) I only started watching The Dick Cavett Show a few years ago on the “re-run” channel. What captivated me was how his topics are still relevant today. For example, when he met with the likes of Lucille Ball and Carrol Burnett and discussed the challenges of being female in Hollywood. A topic sadly still relevant today. And the use of the word met captures the essence of what he was trying to do. That is, something like a conversation one might have in a chance meeting with an old friend or a stranger while sitting at the bar, having a drink.  

I try to emulate Cavett’s free-flow approach by always having a conversation rather than an objective based on guiding principles of interviewing. I try to find my spot in the conversation, like the timing of a good comedian. One needs to be able to place a thought/response/subsequent question at the right moment, like hitting the right note when jamming with a group of musicians. And, like the placing of a good joke or comical response or striking of a chord, the placement of my next thought or question can shift the conversation up or down, left or right, tangential, (which can be good or bad) or deeper than expected. I prefer just being Jeff in the conversation -- curious enough about others so they can be who they are, as well.  

 

Or, as Michael Schulman wrote, “Cavett gently prodded his subjects into revealing themselves.”  

Michael T. Braun, PhD:  

Apple added podcasts to iTunes in 2005, and at the time, I enjoyed downloading shows like This American Life to listen to while painting my aunt's house one summer. Other than that, podcasts weren't a part of my life until around 2011, when I began running competitively and training for longer distances. I needed something to listen to that made me think; the music was too easy to tune out and left me focused on how good it would feel to walk for a little while. That's when I found the podcast The B.S. Report from Bill Simmons, who worked for ESPN at the time.  

 

Who is Bill Simmons? First and foremost, he's a sports columnist who got his start in the early days of the Internet. If you like your sports columnists to have a rooting interest in a team, rather than stand as objective observers of sport, then you have Simmons to thank. Simmons began his writing for AOL; next moved to ESPN where, among other things, he ran the vaunted website Grantland.com (R.I.P.); and he's now with a website he founded, TheRinger.com.  

 

Simmons is also an early adopter of podcasting and perhaps the originator of the casual conversation podcast, in which the host isn't interviewing but rather an active participant in the conversation. Simmons's podcasting work involves talking with athletes and celebrities, with his signature mix of pop culture and sports, but it also means talking with old college roommates, family members (most notably, his dad, but also recently, his teenage children), former co-workers, and other friends. Listening to Simmons's current podcast--The Bill Simmons Podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network--gives you a sense of what it would be like to sit and have coffee with Simmons, different from the formal tones of an NPR interview or the hyper-produced and edited interactions of other podcasts.  

 

So, yah—I want to be Bill Simmons in my conversations, and I want to record a podcast with Simmons for his show and for our show. That's unlikely to happen, but Simmons is my podcasting role model, and I hope our little corner of the podcasting world can reflect the influence Simmons has had on my work.  

 

Anita Bublik-Anderson, MD:  

My podcast muse is Larry Meiller. This man is a treasure and is my date from 11 am. -- 12:30 p.m. on Wisconsin Public Radio, Ideas Network.  It was Covid that steered me to him. While locked down in my basement and weary of the body counts, riots, and uncertainty of democracy, I found The Larry Meiller Show and haven’t looked back. This is a call-in show with local, mostly Wisconsin folks with expertise in topics from amateur astronomy, general contracting, physical therapy or gardening.  As I listen to all the people calling in with questions, I am transported out of my usual world to wonder about stuff I never considered before, like turkey hunting or the science behind how snow smells. How interesting! (It has something to do with ozone.) 

 

His show may be “everyday” but I’m always learning, which is my jam. I love you, Larry Meiller! 

 

Herodotos Ellinas, MD, MHPE:  

Though I am not a “full-time” podcast listener, I love a great talk while I am walking or running. I was introduced to podcasting by my cousin, who is a managing director for a national advisory practice and an avid podcaster in her free time. We were talking about the state of affairs in our country around the George Floyd murder when she brought up Scene on Radio. This show is produced at the Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) at Duke University and discusses relevant, challenging topics that should be considered by all of us. The hosts, CDS audio director John Biewen and his collaborators, explore history, delve into sexism, and look deeper into our roots to evaluate where we have been and where perhaps we are heading. Season two (14 episodes) examined race and got me obsessed with this transformative podcast series in my role as co-chair for the diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice committee for the Society for Education in Anesthesia. The episodes are engaging, informative, and most of all, thought-provoking. Listen to the last episode where Mr. Biewen and guests explore solutions and responses to America’s deep history of white supremacy. You will not be disappointed. 

 

 

Jeff Amundson, PhD, is assistant professor at MCW-CW. Michael T. Braun, PhD, is program manager in the Kern Institute. Anita Bublik-Anderson, MD, is assistant professor at MCW-CW. Herodotos Ellinas, MD, MHPE, is professor at the University of Minnesota.