Meet Dr. Grant Chen, Physician Lead, Faculty Development at the Scarborough Academy of Medicine
Dr. Grant Chen is the inaugural Physician Lead, Faculty Development at the Scarborough Academy of Medicine and a lecturer in the Division of Gastroenterology within the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto. Dr. Chen graduated from medical school at the University of Toronto in 2000. He completed his postgraduate training in Internal Medicine at Western University and in Gastroenterology at Dalhousie University. He then finished a clinical fellowship in Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. Currently, he serves as the Clinical Skills Site Lead for Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. Since 2008, Dr. Chen has been a full-time medical staff member at the Scarborough Health Network, where he also acts as the Gastroenterology Education Lead.
What excites you the most about your role as Physician Lead, Faculty Development at Scarborough Academy of Medicine?
What excites me about this role is the unique opportunity to help build the academy from the ground up and I’m looking forward to shaping and enhancing the medical education experience for both faculty and students. We’ll be drawing on a deep well of expertise from colleagues in Scarborough and the University of Toronto and I’m very excited about that partnership. My goal is to foster a truly collaborative environment focused on continuous improvement based on self-reflection and feedback. It’s my hope to help build a community of educators with that mindset to help inspire the next generation of physicians.
What do you hope to achieve during your time in this role?
One of my goals is to implement a comprehensive faculty development program where our faculty feel fully supported in maximizing their potential to deliver excellent educational experiences to all of our learners in different settings. I want to build a robust community of practice for medical education that also takes advantage of the unique opportunity that SAMIH offers faculty members in the MD program to collaborate with our colleagues in Nursing, Physical Therapy, and other health sciences programs. Supporting the development of this community of practice and the potential collaborations for our faculty will also directly benefit our students.
Can you share a little about what drew you to medicine and your journey through medical school?
My experience with the health care system and doctors started from a very young age as I was born with a cleft lip and palate, so I spent a lot of time at SickKids early in my formative years. While that experience itself was not what drew me towards medicine as a career, it always stuck with me how knowledgeable, caring and empathetic the medical professionals were. This initial experience ultimately inspired me to volunteer at my local hospital in high school as I enjoyed helping people when I had the ability to.
It wasn’t until I was completing my undergraduate degree that the lightbulb came on that I would like to become a doctor. This was after spending time with surgeons at Toronto General Hospital and observing the huge impact they made on the lives of their patients.
For me, medical school was both very rewarding and challenging. I fell somewhere in the middle of the pack – not the best student, but not the worst either. I think being in that situation can be a new and difficult experience for many of us who pursue this path as we’re typically used to being high achievers. However, I’m grateful for the struggles I had with parts of the pre-clerkship curriculum and during clerkship. It wasn’t easy for me to deal with at the time, but the whole endeavour ended up being productive for my own personal growth. I developed a greater empathy for the learner, which drove me to approach different topics with flexibility and honed my ability to view medicine through different lenses. This experience also led to me reflect on my own struggles in the curriculum and how I could use that experience to help me become a better teacher.
What sparked your interest in medical education?
I’ve always had an interest in teaching and started developing that part of my identity in high school. I would often read ahead in the subjects I enjoyed and tutor my classmates. One of my teachers noticed this and gave me free rein to teach a class on quantum mechanics – I really enjoyed the experience of seeing my classmates understand what I was explaining, and I got hooked on teaching. I continued to hone my teaching abilities throughout my undergraduate degree and brought my skills to the community by participating in literacy outreach programs. It’s always been something I enjoyed, so when I experienced my own struggles in medical school, I was inspired to pursue medical education too. I wanted to explore different ways of learning and understanding and how we can improve those experiences for medical students.
I was Chief Medical Resident at Western University and Chief GI Resident at Dalhousie University. In these roles, I was excited to try out different teaching methods and see those lightbulb moments for medical students and residents. I completed the Master Teacher Program at U of T to further develop my own teaching skills. I continue to be inspired by students to further seek improvements to medical education.
If medicine was not a career option, I would have become a teacher so I’m very fortunate to have a career that allows me to do both.
What piece of advice would you give current MD students?
First, I want to remind MD students that it’s not uncommon to struggle in medical school. The important thing is to learn from those struggles and use them for personal growth. Find an opportunity in every challenge and consider how you can adapt or see things in a different light based on that experience. Remember, the ideal learning zone comes with some discomfort because that’s where the growth happens. Be kind to yourself and reach out for help or support when you need it.
The second piece of advice I have is to take care of yourself. Medicine is both a difficult and immensely rewarding profession. The world of medicine is full of opportunities, and you will have the opportunity to explore many different avenues. To maintain a long and happy career you also need to take time for yourself and stop and smell the roses outside medicine.
Lastly, I’d encourage you to seek out mentors who can not only challenge you but also offer support and guidance. There’s something to learn from everyone, and when you encounter an individual who mirrors what you like about medicine and practises in a way that resonates with you, I encourage you to approach them. If you can put yourself out there, you’ll open up even more learning and growth opportunities. There are also formal mentorship programs available to students.
Do you have a personal connection to Scarborough? What does the expansion of the MD program to Scarborough mean to you?
My connection to Scarborough began when I started working here almost 20 years ago. This community means a lot to me – in many ways the community mirrors my own values. One of the qualities my classmates and colleagues see in me is that I’m always ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work at the front lines. I’m always ready to be a part of the team and step outside of the normal “physician” role to help my health care colleagues. The nurses at Sunnybrook would call me “Nurse Chen” because I would help with moving patients or jump in to support them when needed. I think the community of Scarborough shares a lot of those values and that mentality. Scarborough has a lot of grit and has managed to achieve a lot with very little and this expansion and investment is long overdue.
Scarborough has a bright future ahead and I’m proud and excited to be a part of building that future. We’re ready to share how amazing it is to practice in Scarborough – one of the most diverse parts of the GTA – and inspire the next generation of homegrown physicians. There are so many opportunities to be had here, and SAM is going play a huge role in that.
