Meyer Earns ADMSEP Distinguished Faculty Award

Air Force Maj. (Dr.) Eric Meyer speaks to four students while seated at a table.
By Sarah Marshall

Air Force Maj. (Dr.) Eric Meyer was recently recognized by the Association of Directors of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry (ADMSEP) for his contributions to medical student education.

During the ADMSEP’s annual meeting June 15-17 in New Mexico, Meyer accepted the association’s 2017 Devneil Vaidya Junior Faculty Award, presented each year to a promising early career ADMSEP member who demonstrates excellence in teaching, mentoring, and curricular innovations related to medical education. With an emphasis on medical student education, candidates are evaluated based on the quality of their teaching, as well as their endeavors in curriculum innovation, administrative responsibilities, and presentations at meetings. They must also be a full- or part-time psychiatry faculty member at or below the rank of assistant professor, and may be nominated by their department chair or the chair’s designee.

Meyer is as an assistant professor in USU’s Department of Psychiatry (PSY), as well as the department’s associate psychiatry clerkship director, and a scientist in the University’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress. In just under two years as a faculty member, he has modernized the psychiatry clerkship’s online learning platform, making it more user-friendly and engaging for students. He has revamped the clerkship’s clinical assessments, too, making the process more transparent for faculty and students – resulting in an invited paper on the results. He credits much of this success to his work as a student in USU’s new Health Professions Education program – where he receives cutting edge instruction in how to run medical education programs.

Air Force Maj. (Dr.) Eric Meyer, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and the department’s associate psychiatry clerkship director, recently received a prestigious faculty award from the Association of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry, recognizing his contributions to medical student education. Pictured here, Dr. Meyer also received an award June 20 during USU’s Education Day. (Image credit: Tom Balfour)

When he received this year’s ADMSEP award, he said, he was surprised and honored.

“It was very humbling, especially since this was only my second year in the clerkship,” he said. “Receiving this recognition from national leaders was remarkable, and it was an honor to represent the military.”

Meyer taught ninth grade physics and sixth grade English in Washington, DC, for a year after graduating from Boston University in 2005. He matriculated as an Air Force medical student at USU in 2006 where, thanks to his prior teaching experience, he became the academic representative for his class. After graduating from USU 2010 with Alpha Omega Alpha medical society honors, he completed his residency in psychiatry at the San Antonio Military Medical Center and was recognized as a Laughlin Fellow. He found opportunities to lecture at nearby Ajou Medical Center during his follow-on assignment at Osan Air Force Base in the Republic of Korea, while serving as the medical director for the 51st Mental Health Squadron, prior to returning to USU and joining the psychiatry department faculty.

Air Force Maj. (Dr.) Eric Meyer was recently recognized by the Association of Directors of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry (ADMSEP) for his contributions to medical student education.  The award recognizes excellence in teaching, mentoring, and curricular innovations related to medical education. (Image credit: Tom Balfour)
In addition to teaching neuropsychiatry, mentoring students, and overseeing the psychiatry clerkship, he also assists with the university’s annual capstone field exercise, Operation Bushmaster, supporting the Operational Stress Control Team.

His prior teaching experience has also proven to be an asset throughout his military career.

“While military physicians will have a myriad of roles and responsibilities,” he said, “teaching is always front and center – teaching patients, teaching command, and teaching yourself.”