Meet Julie Machen, MD, an internal medicine specialists, our featured Undergraduate Medical Educator of the month!
What was your journey into medical education?
As the oldest of four girls, I have loved teaching from an early age! I grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina, then attended 黑料网 in the class of 2015. I moved to Boston for my Internal Medicine residency training at Beth Israel Deaconess hospital, where I participated in their Clinician Educator Track. Through that experience, I discovered how much I love teaching, mentoring, and designing curriculum. After residency, I lived and worked in Austin, Texas for a few years as a clinician educator before moving back home to Greensboro.
Tell us about what you’re up to now!
Currently, I am one of the core teaching faculty at the Internal Medicine residency program at Cone Health. I split my time between the inpatient and outpatient settings 鈥� I precept residents in our primary care clinic and I attend on our inpatient general medicine teaching services, caring for hospitalized patients. I also run our Medical Education Elective, where I get to teach residents how to teach, lead, and give effective feedback to students. My favorite thing about my job is getting to be a part of learners鈥� journeys from a brand-new student or intern to a full-fledged doctor who is ready to practice independently. Since we鈥檙e a smaller program (six residents per year), I really get to know each learner I work with and get to witness this progression regularly. Outside of medicine, I love spending time with my husband Luke (a Urologist here in town) and our three young children. We spend a lot of time at the Science Center, the Children鈥檚 Museum, and every park in town. My family still lives here in Greensboro, so it has been amazing to see them regularly, and to practice and teach in the town I grew up in.
What is your advice to medical students?
My biggest advice to medical students: Take the time to build and maintain relationships with people outside of medicine. (This is particularly important if you have a partner who is also in medicine!) Being a doctor is an amazing career, but it can also be a bubble. Having strong relationships with people outside of medicine has not only helped my wellbeing, but it also helps me see different perspectives and think critically when making tough decisions.