The STFM Podcast
Bonus Conference Episode: Conference on Medical Student Education 2025
In Pursuit of Fairness: Overcoming Bias in Assessment
Presented by Karen Hauer, PhD; University of California, San Francisco
STFM Conference on Medical Student Education 2025 Scott Fields Lecture | Saturday, February 1, 2025
Bias in assessment of medical learners presents a critical, ongoing challenge to the quality of medical education. Experiences of bias may manifest in access to learning opportunities as well as in quantitative ratings and qualitative comments describing performance. This bias interferes with learners’ developmental progress through training and has consequences for their future careers and the patients they may serve. Solutions to address bias are needed for individual faculty and leaders designing and implementing education systems.
This session reviews the literature on the causes and consequences of bias in assessment of learner performance in medical education. Dr Karen Hauer discusses recommendations to avoid bias in assessment drawn from the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation Conference on Ensuring Fairness in Medical Education Assessment: Conference Recommendations Report. The speaker shares resources for implementing recommendations and using them in faculty development.
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this session, participants should be able to:
- Identify causes and consequences of bias in assessment of clinical learners
- Apply recommendations to avoid bias in assessment
- Describe the design and implementation of an equitable assessment system
Copyright © Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, 2025
Karen Hauer, PhD
Dr Hauer is vice dean for Education and Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). As vice dean, she is responsible for post-baccalaureate premedical, undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education across the multiple UCSF clinical training sites. In her prior position as associate dean for Competency Assessment and Professional Standards, she designed and led the program of assessment in the UCSF School of Medicine Bridges curriculum and developed and directed the School’s medical student coaching program. For this work, she led the team which received the ASPIRE international award for excellence in student assessment. She is an active researcher in medical education and a research mentor for fellows, residents, students, and faculty with a focus on competency-based medical education, learner assessment, equity in assessment, coaching, and remediation. She completed a PhD in Medical Education through a joint program with UCSF and the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands. She received the 2024 Hubbard Award from the NBME for excellence in medical education assessment. She has served on leadership committees with the National Board of Medical Examiners and Macy Foundation, served as deputy editor for the journal Medical Education, and is past president of the Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine national organization.
