For more than seven years, Dr. Michael Busha has been deeply involved in academic medicine, serving in numerous leadership roles at the largest medical school in the country – Indiana University School of Medicine.
Now, on October 2, 2017, he will take the helm as the new associate dean for Educational Affairs at WMed, as well as serving as chair of the Department of Medical Education.
“WMed offers a lot of excitement in medical education around cutting-edge innovations,” Dr. Busha said recently. “It’s an extremely exciting time to join the team at WMed.”
During his tenure at IU School of Medicine, Dr. Busha was an assistant professor of Clinical Family Medicine and, most recently, served as the institution’s assistant dean for Career Mentoring and Wellness, as well as assistant dean for Graduate Medical Education and associate dean for Statewide System Advancement.
Additionally, he served as the founding program director of the medical school’s Arnett Family Medicine Residency and he was the program director of the IU-Methodist Family Medicine Residency from 2012 to 2016.
Dr. Busha is a native of south Texas and an alumnus of University of Texas Southwestern Medical School where he graduated in 2001. After medical school, he completed a three-year Family Medicine residency in Greenwood, South Carolina and followed that up with an obstetrics fellowship at the Spartanburg Regional Hospital System in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
In 2010, Dr. Busha earned his MBA from George Washington University. He and his wife, who also is a family physician, have three children.
Outside of his extensive work in medical education, Dr. Busha has been a leader in the clinical setting, as well. From 2015 to 2017, he served roles as the Medical Director for Quality in Primary Care and Ambulatory Services, for IU Health Physicians with a focus on value based compensation models and integration of quality programs into patient care infrastructure.
At WMed, Dr. Busha will be responsible for the oversight, coordination and staff support of the medical school’s MD program. He also is charged with the oversight of other degree and certificate programs, and continuing education programs, among his other duties.
Dr. Busha said he is excited about the chance he will get at WMed to play a role in helping focus in on strategies and curriculum aimed at student success.
“I think that’s the constant challenge – not becoming static in education and curriculum and staying on a continuous quality improvement pathway so that you’re consistently evolving the curriculum based on student outcomes and student feedback,” he said.
On his to-do list once he gets to WMed, Dr. Busha said, is to focus on a comprehensive evaluation of the clinical integration of third- and fourth-year medical students through their rotations with WMed’s clinical affiliates. He said he also wants to help drive progress in the improvement of student experiences and student outcomes at WMed.
“Ultimately, that’s the goal of the position, to continually improve student outcomes and student experiences,” Dr. Busha said.
Shortly after Dr. Busha’s arrival to WMed in October, the medical school is scheduled to host an on-site visit with peer reviewers from the Liaison Committee for Medical Education for full accreditation. When he spoke recently about the upcoming LCME accreditation visit, Dr. Busha said he believes WMed is well-positioned “to move beyond a focus on accreditation and drive educational outcomes through comprehensive strategic planning and continuous quality improvement.”
“The medical school appears to be very well prepared for the site visit and it will be an opportunity to listen and to hear all of the perspectives on where we are,” he said.
In making the decision to come to WMed, Dr. Busha said he was struck, when interviewing for his new role, by the exciting opportunities that exist for him at the medical school and in Kalamazoo.
“There really did seem to be a unique fit between my skill set and experiences and the needs for the position,” he said.