SEPTEMBER 6, 2024
About the Presentation: Healthcare training demands rapid mastery of complex knowledge and social skills in a high-pressure environment. Research at the Neuroscience-Informed Learning & Education (NILE) Lableverages innovative technologies to create optimal learning conditions tailored to the unique needs of healthcare trainees. Recognizing the importance of individual variability and brain function in learning, we employ a precision approach to education and well-being. Our Precision Well-Being framework integrates measures of anxiety, depression, and flourishing into a quantitative model based on distinct well-being profiles. In the Wearable Wellness Study, we longitudinally track changes in medical student well-being using wearable fitness trackers and ecological momentary assessments (EMAs), allowing for the identification of both individual and systemic risk and resilience factors.
Our work in precision medical education includes the AI Patient Actor, powered by a Large Language Model, which enables trainees to practice patient interviews and diagnostic skills by simulating real doctor-patient interactions. This app, currently implemented in the MD curriculum at Geisel and a new medical school in Kenya, provides immediate, personalized feedback to foster skill refinement. Additionally, specialized applications have been developed to train students in how to conduct difficult conversations, such as breaking bad news, with AI patients reflecting complex personalities and diverse cultural backgrounds. We are also adapting the app to train lay mental health counselors in Liberia, customizing the AI’s responses to align with local vernacular and culturally appropriate patient profiles. Finally, I will describe our pilot studies on coaching for health behaviors supported by digital technology, utilizing both human and AI coaches. Together, these efforts represent an innovative and technology-supported approach to medical education and well-being, to improve both the learning experience and the quality of care provided by healthcare professionals globally.
About the Presenter: Dr. Thomas Thesen is an Associate Professor of Medical Education at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, an Adjunct Associate Professor of Computer Science at Dartmouth College, an Affiliate Faculty member at the Center for Technology & Behavioral Health, and a Visiting Scientist at the Brain & Mind Institute at Aga Khan University in Kenya. He earned his Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience from Oxford University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in psychophysiology and brain imaging at the University of California, San Diego. For over a decade, Dr. Thesen led a brain imaging lab at the New York University School of Medicine and later contributed to the establishment of a mission-driven medical school in Houston, Texas before coming to Dartmouth.
His research has been funded by the NIH, NSF, Wellcome Trust, American Medical Association, and other nonprofit and philanthropic organizations. At Geisel, Dr. Thesen directs the Neuroscience & Neurology course and the Medical Learning Sciences course in the MD program. A dedicated educator, he has received several teaching awards, including the Distinguished Lecturer Award at Geisel and the A.B. Baker Teacher Recognition Award from the American Academy of Neurology.