The Past Four Years: A Reflection

The following post was written by Ihsan Elkhider, MS, who is the Director of Instructional Design at USCSOMG. She and her husband, BMS faculty member Mo Khalil, DVM, PhD, are originally from Sudan and moved from central Florida to become part of the founding team of the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville.

I was very pleased to hear the announcement that Mayor Knox White had declared May 6, 2016 to be USC School of Medicine Greenville Day, I felt so honored and thrilled! The success of USCSOMG is so personal for me and my husband.

I remember four years ago at the kitchen table when Mo (Dr. Khalil) asked me, “Will you consider moving to South Carolina?” I thought he was joking. At that time our life was well established in central Florida. Both of us were at the peak of our careers working for great institutions, and I had been promoted to a higher level position. Mo was excited about the opportunity to be part of building a second new medical school in Greenville. We had a long discussion, but he did not win my heart or my mind. I was thinking about the great future we would have in Florida. As a mom, I was also thinking about my middle school kids’ future and their educational opportunities. Parents of teenagers will understand how hard it is to convince them to move away from their friends and communities. After long debates and discussions, we decided to visit Greenville and the new medical school to make a more informed decision.

During our first visit to Greenville, I was struck by the combination of its Southern charm and European style. I felt like I was in a small European town hidden inside the USA. The vision and the mission of the new medical school caught our attention. We felt the strong commitment of the founding dean, Dr. Youkey, for innovation and the endless possibilities for educating the physicians of the future. It has been our dream to be part of such invention. Our education, our training and our expertise seem to be good fits for the school vision. We were very excited that we have the opportunity to bring our dreams into reality and be part of the USCSOMG founding team.

The four past years have been an amazing experience for us. Dr. Khalil empowers students to take charge of their learning, and he actively engages them in his laboratory sessions using his blended learning approach complemented by his e-laboratory manual for Histology and other electronic supports.

I have had so much fun working with faculty designing and developing educational games for their classes. I still laugh at the titles that Dr. Reuben chooses for her Jeopardy!-style game categories (“TB or Not TB?,” “Lactam Smackdown,” “No Country for Old Drugs,” etc.). I am very impressed by our faculty subject matter knowledge and devotion to their students’ success. I really enjoy working with our bright and polite students. I have even learned a couple of medical terms in Spanish and a little bit about the John Snow Society while working with students on their small projects, whether for their class work or interest groups. I’ve enjoyed supporting faculty using sound pedagogy and innovative technology to improve medical education, and I will continue to pursue new and innovative ways to teach and learn at USCSOMG.