Dr. James Erdmannimage    Dr. James Erdmann

Senior Associate Dean, Director of Research and Education
Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia
UNITED STATES



James B. Erdmann, PhD is Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and University Registrar, Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University. He is also a Professor in the College's Departments of Medicine, and Psychiatry and Human Behavior. In his Faculty Affairs role, Dr. Erdmann is responsible for providing career development and educational skills development support to the faculty. The unit he heads is also responsible for providing administrative support to the faculty committees involved in the governance of the College. His previous role in the College from 1987 to 2001 was as Associate Dean for Administration, which included the supervision of the Registrar and Financial Aid Offices of the University.

Prior to his joining Jefferson, Dr. Erdmann served for 17 years as Director of the Division of Educational Measurement and Research at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). In that capacity he was responsible for the development and conduct of the worldwide Medical College Admissions Test program. Part of his work also involved providing educational development and evaluation support services to the faculty and administrators of member medical schools and teaching hospitals, researching and developing projects to support testing programs, assisting medical schools in refining their educational programs, and providing data for academic policy decisions. In this position Dr. Erdmann:
  • Organized a comprehensive review of the criteria used in the selection of medical students and accomplished a complete revision of the testing program.Designed and implemented the current system for the operation and the research and development activities of the testing program and successfully preserved program integrity through legislative representation and federal judicial action.
  • Founded and supported the growth of the AAMC Group on Medical Education, now called the Group on Educational Affairs, an organization of key U.S. medical school educational representatives (over 1700 at the time) dedicated to improving education in medicine. He served as its Executive Secretary for the first 16 years of its existence. Guided the transformation of the Annual Conference on Research in Medical Education into a multi-faceted program viewed by researchers in medical education as their primary forum for exchange. Completed the final phase (1970-1976) of a twenty year longitudinal study of 1800 physicians, instituted an ongoing program for improving evaluation of clinical performance and launched exploration of the role of essay testing in medical admissions. Published, gave invited formal presentations, served on national external committees, and consulted widely on educational problems.
Prior to his tenure with the Association of American Medical Colleges, Dr. Erdmann was an Associate Professor of Medical Education and Educational Psychology at Michigan State University. Earlier in the 1960's, he served as Acting Director and Associate Director of Loyola's Psychometric Laboratory, and as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Loyola University of Chicago.

Dr. Erdmann is widely published and has interests in topics including the evaluation of medical student academic and clinical performance, the quality of medical education programs, the selection of medical students, the psychometric characteristics of admissions tests, the personal qualities of medical students and their association with performance, and techniques for the assessment of the problem-solving process in medicine and in more general contexts.

Dr. Erdmann has served on several editorial boards and is listed in the Dictionary of International Biography, Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in America, Men and Women in Science, Who's Who in Health Care, and Leaders in Education.

  Institute for International Medical Education.
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