Laura E. Hirshfield, PhD
Associate Professor
Director of Graduate Programs (PhD, MHPE, and CHPE)
Department of Medical Education
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Contact
Building & Room:
986 CMET
Address:
MC 591
Office Phone:
Fax:
Email:
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About
Laura E. Hirshfield, PhD is Director of Graduate Programs (CHPE, MHPE, and PhD) and Associate Professor in the Department of Medical Education. She is also a faculty affiliate in the Department of Sociology at UIC. She received her PhD in Sociology from the University of Michigan and her BA from Swarthmore College, where she studied Sociology/Anthropology and Education.
A sociologist and ethnographer by training, Laura is broadly interested in social interaction, identity, education, science, work/organizations, and medicine. Her research centers on inequality in academic and clinical settings, particularly in the natural sciences and medicine. More recently, Laura’s work has examined the impact of identity on the professional socialization of medical trainees. Her research has been funded by the National Board of Medical Examiners' (NBME) Edward J. Stemmler Medical Education Research Fund, the ACGME, the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, the AAMC, and UIC's Chicago Area Study. Laura’s research has been published in Academic Medicine, Medical Education, JHSB, Social Science & Medicine, and JAMA Surgery, among other venues. She is also the co-founder of the Sociologists for Health Professions Education Collaborative, an international group that aims to bridge disciplinary divides between health professions educators and sociologists.
Laura was the founding director of UIC's PhD in Health Professions Education and was the associate program director for the Master of Health Professions Education (MHPE) program from 2020-26. She is the course director for HPE 504 (Leadership in HPE), as well as several electives, including Qualitative Methods and Leadership & Professional Identity. She also has extensive experience teaching and working with medical students here at UIC; she is co-mentor of the UICOM’s Student Curricular Board’s Curricular Project Team. She also was named mentor of the year for her work as advisor of UICOM’s International Medical Student Association.
Education
University of Michigan