Michelle Doll, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Infectious Disease, Health System Epidemiologist, Virginia Commonwealth University

Michelle Doll, MD, MPH is a clinical infectious disease physician and teaches fellows, residents, and students on their consult services and ambulatory clinics. She teaches public health to the pre-clinical medical students. She is also the medical co-director of the Virginia Infection Prevention Training Center, a state-wide curriculum providing infection prevention and control education to anyone working in the healthcare field.

How did you get interested in medical education?

My parents and grandparents were primary or secondary school teachers, so education has always been prioritized in my career path. I have always seen education as part of practicing medicine because much of the work involves educating patients and their families. My interest in public health led me to academic medicine, where we continue to spend a lot of time educating in infection control. Medical education for me extends well beyond medical school students, to include other healthcare provider, patients and families, and the general public.

How have you integrated medical education into your career?

Early in my career, I had the opportunity to teach a formal graduate course in public health for VCU. Because of my epidemiology training, I was also asked to lecture to pre-clinical medical students. Once I was teaching these courses and feedback was good, I was asked to lecture more and more. Most recently, we were fortunate to receive a grant to set up a training program for infection prevention to serve the state of Virginia. This was a large undertaking, but the grant allowed me to cut back on some of my clinical time to work on the training program.

How did you transform your interest in medical education into a career?

With healthcare epidemiology, education both formal and informal is a big part of the job. I think medical education fits naturally into this career path.

How have you transformed your medical education work into a scholarship?

Not as much as I would like to! We have published on educational needs identified in infection control and prevention, however, there is more opportunity to transform our work into scholarship than we have taken advantage of!

What are some of the most rewarding aspects of your career as an educator thus far?

I have had patients tell me that I made them feel better about their situation. I have been told I can distill very complicated concepts into ideas that my learners can understand. I enjoy sharing the knowledge I have been privileged to accumulate over the years with others and it is very rewarding to hear that the efforts are helpful.