We at ALiEM are incredibly excited to publicly announce the 2015-16 ALiEM Chief Resident (CR) Incubator. Every single year, I have seen Chief Residents struggle with their new role as a near-peer leader in the residency program. Because Chief Residents are generally high-functioning individuals, they usually figure it out as the year progresses. Why is it that we can’t we do better and prepare them for what is to come?
The Emperor of All Maladies has become my 
touchstone for medicine. Siddhartha Mukherjee writes in a poignant and humanist voice as he beautifully captures the “Biography of Cancer.” Interweaving science, stories, and his experiences as an oncology fellow, Mukherjee begins his examination of cancer in the ancient Egyptian times with the story of Imhotep, and carries us through to the modern 21st century diagnosis and management of cancer. From laboratory to bedside, Mukherjee provides both a panoramic and microscopic view of the advances and setbacks of cancer discovery, definition, and understanding.
The Case of Breaking Bad News Badly precipitated yet another thoughtful and riveting discussion over the past week. We are now proud to present to you the Curated Community Commentary and our two expert opinions. Thank-you again to all our experts and participants for contributing again this week to the ALiEM MEdIC series.
Code status. Do not resuscitate. Allow natural death… These can be some of the most daunting concepts for new learners to explain to patients, but they can also be the most critical. Depending on the circumstances, discussing these topics may be difficult for the most advanced clinicians. This month’s ALiEM MEdIC series case considers how we might help a learner through a bad experience with end-of-life care discussions. Please join us in discussing the case this month, we would love your thoughts and advice.
Welcome to the newest member of our team, Dr. Matthew Zuckerman (@matthew608b), who is an Assistant Professor in Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus. He will serve as our inaugural 2015 ALiEM-AAEM Social Media and Digital Scholarship Fellow, working on advancing medical education and upgrading the AAEM e-book “Rules of the Road for Young Emergency Physicians.”
“Looking back at this time, I see that I’d begun to surrender to the disease, allowing all the aspects of my personality that I value – patience, kindness, and courteousness – to evaporate. I was a slave to the machinations of my aberrant brain. We are, in the end, a sum of our parts, and when the body fails, all the virtues we hold dear go with it.” – Brain on Fire, Susannah Cahalan
Let’s talk journals, knowledge translation, and building our community of practice around scholarship hot topics specifically in medical education. This week we are piloting a cross-disciplinary discussion week, featuring and co-hosted by the Journal of Graduate Medical Education (JGME). We talk about the hot topic of the Resident As Teacher role in the JGME publication entitled “What Makes a Great Resident Teacher? A Multicenter Survey of Medical Students Attending an Internal Medicine Conference” by Melvin et al. using the Twitter hashtag #JGMEscholar.