F. Stanford Massie Jr., MD, FACP, University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine
Having dedicated his career to the education and well-being of medical students, F. Stanford Massie Jr., MD “exemplifies the qualities and skills of a master clinician-educator,” says Selwyn M. Vickers, MD, senior vice president for medicine and dean of the School of Medicine, University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB).
Since 1999, Dr. Massie has created formative experiences for thousands of first and second-year medical students at UAB as course director for Introduction to Clinical Medicine (ICM). ICM helps thousands of students uncover their deep passion for medicine while they develop the foundational skills to become successful physicians. Dr. Massie’s commitment to student learning and peer education is evident in the curricular changes he has helped introduce for the course, including the creation of a Clinical Skills Teaching Associates Elective, in which fourth-year medical students enhance their teaching and clinical examination skills by assisting with ICM.
Dr. Massie has also made significant contributions to professional development for his faculty peers. In 2013, he founded the Clinical Skills Scholars Program, which supports clinical faculty members in enhancing their education skills while they administer an integrated clinical skills curriculum for UAB. In 2011, he cofounded a national professional organization, Directors of Clinical Skills Courses, which today has participants from nearly all U.S. medical schools. He has served on the organization’s executive committee since its inception, including as president in 2014–2015. Dr. Massie also serves on the test development committee for the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 2 Clinical Skills exam.
For his teaching expertise, Dr. Massie, professor of medicine at UAB, has been honored many times by medical students, residents, and faculty peers alike. He is consistently rated among the top 10 percent of teachers within the Department of Medicine and has received the Department of Medicine Award for Clinical Excellence and the Department of Medicine Teaching Excellence Award multiple times. In 2016, he was awarded the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Dr. Massie’s dedication to students is equally evident in his scholarship. Having served as co-investigator in the Medical Student Well-Being Multicenter Collaborative Study, Dr. Massie has carried out research to identify the causes of burnout among medical students. Published in a series of prominent medical journals, his discoveries have indicated that half of medical students experience burnout during medical school and that burnout is associated with unprofessional conduct. Collectively, his scholarship has served as a framework for medical schools to identify interventions that can mitigate the challenges medical students experience and enhance student well-being.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in religious studies at the University of Virginia and his MD at the Medical College of Virginia. Dr. Massie completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he served as chief resident.