The fourth-annual Medical Education Week at the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine (HMSOM) brought together experts, students, and insights from across the school and the Hackensack Meridian Health network from May 11 to 14, 2026.
The events spanned workshops, discussions, poster sessions, awards for outstanding work, panels, presentations, and distinguished guest speakers from other institutions.
“I can’t help but think back to our foundational vision and goals — which drive all that we continue to do today,” said Miriam Hoffman, M.D., vice dean for Academic Affairs at the school. “You can see this well reflected in the breadth and depth of activities and presentations taking place during this year’s Medical Education Week.”
A welcome session and “Med Ed Journal Club” focused on precision medical education kicked off the week on Monday, facilitated by Hoffman. That hour was followed by an in-person panel entitled “Academic Med Interest Group: Building the Next Generation of Academic Physicians,” which featured Judy Aschner, M.D., member of the Center for Discovery and Innovation and noted physician-scientist; Laurie Jacobs, M.D., FACP, AGSF, associate dean of Faculty Development; and Marygrace Zetkulic, M.D., assistant professor at the school.
Med Ed Scholarship Day was Tuesday and featured concurrent workshops on strategies for sharpening clinical reasoning; AI and counseling patients on using it safely and responsibly; building clinical competency in obesity medicine; and using the Student Attribute Survey effectively for medical-education research.
The award winners for Med Ed Scholarship Day:
- Guy Stein, fourth-year medical student, Best Innovation Abstract Trainee
- Alina Mitina, D.O., clinical faculty in Emergency Medicine from Hackensack University Medical Center, Best Research Abstract by Faculty/Staff
- Quinn Adams, fourth-year medical student, Best Research Abstract Trainee
- Bridget Tracy, M.D., Community-Engaged Master Educator, Best Innovation Abstract by Faculty/Staff
The plenary speaker followed. Adina Kalet, M.D., MPH, chair of Medical Education at the City University of New York School of Medicine, posed the question and offered some answers on “Is Trust an Educationally Sensitive Patient Outcome?” Her remarks were insightful and timely, informing much of the work HMSOM faculty are currently focusing on across the school. Med Ed research and innovation poster sessions with students, faculty, staff, and residents from across HMSOM and HMH closed out the day.
Human Dimension Capstone Scholarship Day was presented on Wednesday by benefactors Jonathan and Lizzie Tisch. The keynote speaker to kick off the day was Kelly M. Doran, M.D., MHS, an emergency physician at NYU Langone Health and co-director of the Health x Housing Lab. Doran spoke about how her research assesses how health systems might better address the impact of homelessness.
The proceedings on Wednesday also included three poster sessions in which all third-year students presented their required scholarly projects — nearly 200 of them in all. Each one was based on a clinical experience from their clerkship year, and students selected a specific challenge connected to one determinant of health for which they explored, analyzed, and proposed systems-level solutions.
Also during Capstone Day, a wide array of student awards were presented for those projects:
- Lauren Sandberg received the United States Public Health Services Excellence in Public Health Award.
- Matthew Luebke, Charles Palmer, Abinav Udaiyar, and Kailynn Chajub earned the Quest for Community Wellness Awards for their projects.
-
Determinants of Health Awards went to:
- Farishta Saifi and Ryan Kern, Access to Healthcare
- Hannah Varkey, Environmental
- Tasfia Rahman, Behavioral
- Sanjana Sharma, Biologic/Genetic
- MacKenzie Walz, Social Determinants of Health
- Evangelin Samuel won an HMH Quality Improvement Award.
- Andrew Blum won the HMH Bear’s Den Challenge Innovation Award.
All the Capstone Scholarly Projects were aimed at addressing social, economic, and environmental factors impacting health over the course of the students’ education.
“Med Ed Week” wrapped up with Library Day on Thursday afternoon, featuring workshops to help students with their current and future research.