The Association of Pediatric Program Directors’ Strategic Plan: An Opportunity for Transformational Change

In late February 2010, the leadership of the Association of Pediatric Program Directors (APPD) assembled key representatives of the pediatric undergraduate medical education and graduate medical education community to develop a new APPD strategic plan, a road map that could potentially transform pediatric medical education. This collaborative process included past and present leaders of APPD and current leaders of the Academic Pediatric Association (APA); the dialogue served to inform our understanding of history, where we are now, and consider what we might want to explore. It is unusual for strategic planning to take place in the presence of others outside an organization, but within the same field. However, the APPD board felt that the inclusion of all key stakeholders was critical to our deliberations and would allow us to learn and grow from the valuable contributions of many current and past leaders in pediatric medical education. In addition to the APPD leaders and representatives, others present for the 2-day proceedings were Gail McGuinness, APPD member and executive vice president of the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP); Janet Serwint, president elect of the APA and an associate program director; Ted Sectish, a past president of the APPD and director of the Federation of Pediatric Organizations; Jerry Woodhead, president elect of the Council on Medical Student Education in Pediatrics; Jim Bale, incoming chair of the Council of Pediatric Subspecialties; Carol Carraccio, director of the Initiative for Innovation in Pediatric Education (IIPE) and the Milestones Project; and Hilary Haftel, director of the Longitudinal Educational Assessment Research Network (LEARN). The complement of other talented individuals present represented a broad sweep of pediatric medical education.