Dana Rachel Vashdi
Associate Professor
School of Political Sciences
Faculty of Social Sciences
Fields of Research:
Organizational Behavior; Public Administration; Human Resource Management
SHORT BIO
Born to a mother who was a social worker and a father who was a statistics professor, I earned a BA in Psychology and Statistics from Tel Aviv University. Subsequently, I completed an MA and PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology at the Technion, followed by postdoctoral research training at Cornell University in the USA. In 2007, I joined the Division of Public Administration and Policy within the School of Political Sciences at the University of Haifa, where I currently serve as an associate professor and head of the school.
My research focuses on teamwork, particularly examining ways to enhance team learning and team members’ well-being. Driven by national and international adverse events, changes in the working world, and the associated stress, I also explore questions on learning and collaboration between teams and organizations, as well as between the government and its citizens. As a field researcher, I conduct field experiments and survey-based research in various types of organizations, with a significant portion of my research carried out in medical institutions. In my free time, I enjoy traveling with my husband and three children, running, swimming, and singing in a choir.
Competency-Based Medical Education: How can it be done & Why it will work?
“Have you ever felt that your doctor didn’t explain your condition clearly or with empathy? Consider this: during the long years of medical school and residency, doctors-in-training are so focused on mastering medical skills that there’s often little time for developing critical abilities like: communication, management under stress, leading a team, teaching interns, or conducting research. Our longitudinal study explores a new approach to residency training, called Competency-Based Medical Education, which prioritizes the development of a broad range of skills essential to becoming a well-rounded and emotionally grounded medical expert.“
– Dr. Dana Vashdi
FUNDRAISING NEEDS
In the last five years, I lead a multidisciplinary steering committee within the Israeli medical association that is trying to change the entire fellowship program in all areas of medicine. The idea behind this change is to create a program that is “competency based” changing the focus of medical education and the medical fellowship and residency programs. Through a comprehensive study in the Neonatology wards, we are implementing a very new, groundbreaking fellowship program, empirically testing it, amending it, testing it again and examining different factors that enhance its success. There are many additional medical specialties that would like to implement such a change and accompany it with rigorous research examining the change, enhancing our understanding of the competency based approach and showing its consequences.
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