The addition of Dean David J. Ninan, DO, FAOCA, CPE, means the proposed KHSC-KansasCOM will be at the forefront of needed and timely innovations in medical education and patient care.
From curriculum development and classroom instruction to overseeing residency programs and serving on the national review committee for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, David Ninan, DO, FAOCA, CPE, has seen—and been involved in—medical school education from virtually every possible angle.
But it’s his passion for innovation in health care that makes him the perfect addition to the proposed Kansas Health Science Center—Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine (KHSC-KansasCOM) leadership team.
In addition to Dr. Ninan’s experience in academia, he was previously medical staff president at Riverside University Health System (RUHS) in Moreno Valley, California, where he oversaw the evaluation of new medical technology, streamlined physician education by creating a centralized repository of educational resources, and instituted an organization-wide lean transformation designed to increase efficiencies and decrease waste.
While at RUHS, Dr. Ninan also implemented a “flipped classroom” model, which allowed resident physicians to study lecture content at their own convenience and use classroom time to interact with others and apply what they learned in real-world settings—something he is excited to see planned for the proposed KHSC-KansasCOM, which he joins as dean and chief academic officer.
“What I like about the proposed KHSC-KansasCOM is that it plans on bringing people from the real world into the college. It’s advantageous to take that perspective and build on it,” Dr. Ninan says.
One of the ways Dr. Ninan plans to build on the proposed KHSC-KansasCOM’s real-world approach to physician education is by heading up the school’s Center for Innovation in Healthcare & Education, which he hopes will position the school as a thought leader in the industry while preparing students for current—and future—advances in technology.
To do this, the school has partnered with Medical Intelligence 10 (MI10) to become the first osteopathic college of medicine to formally utilize MI10’s educational modules to deliver curriculum related to advanced technology and medical intelligence. Through the modules, students will learn to utilize artificial intelligence and data science to deliver care in an effective, efficient, safe and equitable manner.
In addition to working with MI10, the Center for Innovation in Healthcare & Education also plans to establish an advisory board made up of leaders in the innovation community to generate ideas for the proposed KHSC-KansasCOM’s programs.
To help the broader community understand medical innovations, the Center will also host a 10-part podcast covering innovations in education and medicine. The podcast—which will be co-hosted by Dr. Ninan along with Eric Olson, Ph.D., the CEO of a UCLA-based internet health care startup who has previously worked with clients including Microsoft, Ford, GitHub, IBM, The Coca-Cola Company, Disney, and Novartis—will be available at kansashsc.org.