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    Education in Pediatrics Across the Continuum (The EPAC Project)

    The Education in Pediatrics Across the Continuum (EPAC) project is an exciting pilot to test the feasibility of medical education and training that is based on the demonstration of defined outcomes rather than on time, from early in medical school through completion of residency.

    EPAC Foundational Documents


    About EPAC

    EPAC is the brainchild of Dr. Deborah Powell, Dean Emeritus of the University of Minnesota School of Medicine, who partnered with Dr. Carol Aschenbrener at the Association of American Medical Colleges in 2009 to explore the concept. They approached Drs. Carol Carraccio and Doug Jones who were leading efforts in pediatric educational innovation and had leadership positions at the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP), both of whom enthusiastically endorsed the concept and were “all-in” for exploring a pilot.

    They then engaged the leadership of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), and the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) to see if proceeding with a pilot of time-variable, competency-based education in pediatrics was worth pursuing and something the accrediting agencies and licensing boards could support. After a unanimous agreement, the project moved forward with the Universities of Colorado, Maryland, Minnesota, and Utah signing on to be the pioneers.

    Drs. Powell, Aschenbrener, and Carraccio formed the steering committee for the project. They engaged consultation in the areas of assessment, program evaluation, and longitudinal integrated clerkships.

    In 2010 the University of California at San Francisco was added as a fifth site, and in 2011 the University of Maryland withdrew from the pilot.

    In 2013, the AAMC received a grant from the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation to provide direct faculty support to each of the four EPAC sites. Therefore, each of the four sites is scheduled to recruit its first EPAC students sometime soon. More