Mary Carol Burkhardt, MD, honored for resident teaching
When Mary Carol Burkhardt dreamed of becoming a doctor, she had no idea she would spend nearly half her time teaching residents. But it’s turned out to be one of the things she loves most about her job.
Burkhardt will be honored with the Ray Baker Teaching Award at the Cincinnati Pediatric Society’s Fall Awards Dinner on November 19.
“We have 33 residents who rotate through the Hopple Street Neighborhood Health Center for their primary care continuity clinic,” says Burkhardt, who has served as medical director there for the past 3½ years. “Along with precepting, I do didactic teaching once a week before clinic. We have a topic of the week and hold a mini-case conference for about 15 minutes.”
Burkhardt, who was born and raised in Dayton, OH, attended the UC College of Medicine, where she graduated AOA in 2007 with her MD. From there, she completed her residency at Cincinnati Children’s in 2010 and went on to earn her MHA from Ohio University College of Health Science and Professions in 2013.
“I’ve always wanted to help the underserved,” she says, so working at Hopple Street is her dream – especially because the center has resources, like an onsite social worker and a food pantry, to address an array of families’ needs. Teaching has added a whole different dimension that benefits her and the families.
“Hopple Street and the other primary care centers at Cincinnati Children’s are set up so that teaching residents is integral to what we do. We could not run our clinics without them,” she explains. “They teach me, they challenge me. They give me the opportunity to engage in rich medical conversations because they are such good thinkers.”
But as they challenge her, Burkhardt invites them to broaden their perspective. “I teach them about topics beyond medicine – about what it’s like to raise kids and what it means to live in poverty. Most of the residents have never experienced that, so I try to give them context regarding the social and emotional aspects of their patients’ lives. I want to increase their understanding and foster a sense of compassion.”
Burkhardt believes it’s important to give residents autonomy to make their own decisions. “I always ask them what they would do if I weren’t here,” she says. “At the same time, I let them know I am always open to questions.”
Burkhardt finds it especially gratifying to work with the doctors who once taught her. “It’s so cool to call these great teachers my peers, to work beside the people who taught me the foundation of medicine,” she says. “I am humbled to receive the Ray Baker Teaching Award, and I am very appreciative of the residents who nominated me. They are phenomenal, and I give all credit to them and to my teachers who were such good role models.”
