Javier A. Gonzalez del Rey, DIO, MD, MEd

My clinical specialty is emergency medicine. While I enjoy providing direct medical care, I love my role as an educator. It is gratifying to see how medical students, residents and fellows become the future workforce by caring for patients and interacting with me during emergency department (ED) clinical shifts.

Several people inspired me to become a physician educator, including my mother, who was a teacher for 30 years. In addition, Dr. Benjamin Berliner, my first chair of Pediatrics at the University of Connecticut, and clinicians at Cincinnati Children's, including Dr. Mike Farrell, Dr. Richard Ruddy and Dr. Tom DeWitt, to name a few, were very inspirational.

Medicine has been very traditional in how students and residents are taught. It is not until recent years that we have incorporated technology and new educational methodology into our curriculum and training. In 2002, I enrolled in a Master of Medical Education program. I found this very eye-opening since it taught me how to adapt and modify how I interact with students and how to revise the curriculum to match current generational learning styles. This fluid approach to education allows me to incorporate generational styles in my daily work, facilitating my interactions with trainees at different levels. I believe it is essential to preach and walk the talk and be a role model in daily practice and interactions with my team.

Providing the best medical care and education requires incorporating quality improvement science. This approach allows us to make needed evidence-based changes once we evaluate the impact of new care strategies and find them beneficial. It also helps us think outside the box and the traditional way we teach. I believe that research discovers cures but educating others about those discoveries is the best way to ensure our patients receive the best care.

I’m also very involved in international education, mainly in Latin America, in pediatric emergency medicine and global cast evidence-based dissemination. I love when I hear students or residents using phrases or approaches that I use. Sometimes, they even use my Spanglish!

I am certified in Pediatrics and Pediatric Emergency Medicine. I am honored to have won numerous teaching awards, including:

• Faculty Teaching Award from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center Golden Apple Award from the University of Cincinnati Department of Emergency Medicine
• The Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award by the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education
• The Walter W. Tunnessen, Jr., MD Award by the Association of Pediatric Program Directors (APPD) for advancing pediatric residency education
• The Steve Miller Award for Excellence in Education & Mentorship by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) section of emergency medicine
• The Marianne Gausche-Hill Mentorship in Teaching Award by the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine
• Reconocimtiento Profesor Educador Pediatria de Urgencias from the Hospital Infantil Dr. Robert Reid Cabral.

In addition, I was nominated and elected to the United States medical schools Alpha Omega Alpha Chapter and Golden Humanism Society for outstanding contributions to residents’ and medical students' education.

I enjoy cooking, running, traveling and sailing when I'm not working.