The following are various programs and workshops for School of Medicine faculty with useful resources that can be utilized during endeavors to advance their careers. Please explore each program to learn more about the curriculum, schedule, and registration information.
We greatly value your input on topics of interest! If you have suggestions for future training sessions, please feel free to submit them here at any time.
FRAME (Faculty Reaching for Academic Medical Excellence) is offered to all full-time junior faculty (i.e., instructors, senior instructors and assistant professors). FRAME provides participants with the tools and time for individualized career self-reflection; a list of campus resources to support one’s work; guidance and insights from university leaders; and the opportunity to build a cohort of colleagues within the School of Medicine. The program consists of seven half-day sessions, including one individualized one-hour coaching session with a Board Certified Coach.
There is a 600.00 fee to participate in the program, paid by the participant or their department.
The curriculum includes activities in the following areas:
- Articulating your values and defining individual success
- Navigating and working within the culture of academic medicine
- Developing a career vision and career action plan
- Balancing work-life integration and maximizing effective time management to avoid burnout
- Learning best practices in networking, mentoring and sponsorship
- Identifying campus resources for working with students, honing presentation and teaching skills, and utilizing library resources
- Advancing your academic career (tenure-track and non-tenure track)
- Successfully managing an effective team (i.e., lab, project management)
- Developing research and grants management skills to ensure future success
- Understanding microaggressions and unconscious bias
- Improving your communication skills (e.g., writing)
- Mapping future steps on the leadership journey
Sessions
- Session 1: Who You Are in the Larger Context
- Session 2: Defining Success and Developing a Plan
- Session 3: Connections, Internal and Extern
- Session 4: Teaching and Presenting
- Session 5: Academic Advancement and Scholarship
- Session 6: Teams and Inclusive Excellence
- Session 7: Onward to the Future
REFRAME is a professional development program for mid- to late-career School of Medicine faculty. At this point in your career, you may be questioning what you defined as success earlier in your academic life. This program will take you through the process of career revisioning and provide resources and insights to guide you in reengaging with your career.
The program consists of six half-day sessions. The curriculum will include developing a career vision statement, emotional intelligence, change and transition, risk-taking, leadership lessons, and moving into the future. All class members will be eligible to participate in a 360-degree assessment.
Sessions
- Session 1: Your Career Vision
- Session 2: Change and Transition
- Session 3: A Hero's Journey
- Session 4: Emotional Intelligence
- Session 5: Relationships on Your Journey
- Session 6: The Future
The class will be limited to 25 participants and will be based on creating an interdisciplinary cohort. There is a $750 fee associated with this program.
Applications will open in spring 2026.
FLEX is a School of Medicine leadership development program for emerging and current leaders in clinical and academic settings who seek to enhance their leadership skills and executive presence. The five full-day sessions invite the selected participants to dig deep in understanding their emotional intelligence and its role in leadership; develop a personal vision statement through guided articulation of one’s values, aspirations, and expertise; discuss and experience effective and dynamic executive presence skills; recognize sources of personal power in negotiations and difficult conversations; and develop an overall learning plan for moving into one’s desired future.
Classes are composed of approximately 12 individuals who are selected by a committee of FLEX graduates and others familiar with faculty development programs. Criteria for selection is based on the individual’s ability to articulate short and long term goals or the challenges in describing those goals, sense of strengths and acknowledgement of personal barriers, and motivation and commitment to participating in the program.
Sessions
- Session 1: Values, Vision, and Mission Statement
- Session 2: Emotional Intelligence
- Session 3: Influencing Culture and Executive Presence
- Session 4: Negotiations and Difficult Conversations
- Session 5: Charting Your Path Forward
For those who fit the criteria and eligibility for FLEX and are selected, the School of Medicine will subsidize the cost of the program for participants. The tuition cost to participants is $2750 for the program, comprising approximately five days of workshops, relevant reading materials, and interactive sessions.
Application Information
All those who hold a faculty appointment at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine are eligible for FLEX training.
Please submit your candidacy and accompanying materials through the online application.
Please submit the following three (3) documents as PDF files with your application.
- Letter of Support from Chairman or Division Chief: The letter must contain a commitment to allow the applicant time off from regular duties and assignments to attend the mandatory meetings and coaching sessions. These will include five (5) full-day sessions, plus one (1)-hour individual coaching sessions.
- Letter of Intent: Please provide a brief synopsis of how you believe FLEX will benefit you, why you have chosen to apply now, and how participation in the program might benefit your department or school.
- A current copy of your Curriculum Vitae.
A note about applications: We are looking for applicants to provide thoughtful, personal responses about your own experiences. Our questions are designed to help show applicants’ motivation for being in the program, level of commitment to the university, and communication skills. We do not intend to share information with your Chair, Chief, or Dean. All application materials will be available to the review committee in order to select participants. The information in the electronic application form will be aggregated and de-identified before the program coaches and program leaders will have access to it. The program coaches will assess the information to tailor the curriculum to fit the unique needs of each class.
Previous Presentations
Donations
FLEX relies on donors like you to help transform the landscape in health sciences and health care by increasing the number of women in leadership positions. Consider the following opportunities:
- Sponsor a class
- Sponsor participants
- Sponsor a participant in a particular area of medicine
- In-kind leadership contributions/mixers/networking events
FLEX Leadership
- Cynthia Kubu, PhD, Vice Dean of Faculty, CWRU School of Medicine
- Susan Freimark, Manager of FLEX
- Sumita Khatri, MD, Founder of FLEX
Please contact us at sbf@case.edu or somfacdev@case.edu for any questions relating to the FLEX Program.
Offered by the Office of Faculty Development and the Provost’s Office, this program is open to all CWRU second-year tenure track faculty. The curriculum includes:
- Intentional Career Development
- Managing People
- Professional Development
- Self-Advocacy, Time Management, and Work Life Integration
- Navigating the Organization
- Two private coaching sessions
There is a fee associated with this program. Please visit the Faculty Advancement website to learn more.
Open to all Basic Science Faculty, these 1-hour and 30-minute lunch-and-learn sessions cover topics from research, budgets/grants management, and lab recruitment.
Have a topic you would like to see covered at one of our sessions? Please email all topic suggestions to som-facultydevelopment@case.edu.
Cleveland Clinic’s Office of Educator & Scholar Development is sharing free on-demand faculty development lessons with the CWRU community via the Healthcare Education and Training portal.
Current offerings in the Educator Development On-Demand course include:
- Teaching with Adult Learners in Mind
- Exploring Social Cognitive Learning Theory
- Writing Effective Learning Objectives
- Make Your Teaching Interactive! A Focus on Gagne’s Events of Instruction
- Assessment Within Competency Frameworks: Are We All on the Same Page?
- Enhancing Your Written Feedback
Cleveland Clinic employees can access courses via MyLearning.
Non-Cleveland Clinic faculty:
Interfolio provides free training resources for users. Please explore the Interfolio e-Learning Training Courses page.
Other helpful resources:
CWRU offers a comprehensive training guide for faculty and staff. Please explore the FIS User Support page for more information.
ORCID is a free, unique persistent identifier (PID) for individuals. ORCID or ORCID iD is a 16-digit number and the associated profile that links all research activities to an individual author/researcher. Learn more about ORCID.
Upcoming Training Sessions
New Faculty Orientation (open to all faculty)
March 30, 2026, 4–6 p.m.
In-person, Biomedical Research Building (BRB), room 105