Galina Gheihman | Master of Medical Sciences in Medical Education

In academic medicine, the best clinicians are often the best teachers—and the most effective teachers never stop being students. That principle defines Galina Gheihman, MD, Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and general neurologist at Mass General Brigham, who is now deepening her expertise through the Master of Medical Sciences in Medical Education program.

“I’m a full-time, part-time student,” she says with a laugh. “The part-time program definitely stretches beyond what’s written on the calendar. But I think what’s great about the program is that it’s very hands-on. We’re encouraged to take the concepts we’re learning in class and put them into action.” That mindset of linking theory and practice has defined Gheihman’s approach to both medicine and education.

Originally from Toronto, Canada, she studied neuroscience and psychology at the University of Toronto before earning her medical degree at Harvard Medical School. After completing her neurology residency in the Mass General Brigham Neurology Residency Program, where she served as chief resident, Gheihman began shaping educational initiatives that would leave a lasting mark on the department.

During her residency, she helped design and evaluate the Acute Neurology Simulation Curriculum, the Outpatient Neurology Series, and the Bedside Rounding Alliance for Internal Medicine and Neurology (BRAINS) Program. She also founded NeuEJM, the Neurology Medical Education Journal Club; co-founded the national NeuroHumanities Network; and co-directs the Neurology for the Non-Neurologist continuing medical education course at Mass General Brigham.

Now as a faculty member, she co-leads the Medical Education Certificate Program for the neurology residency and serves on the national organizing committee for the Neurology Education Room at the American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting.

“I really see education as one of the main tools we have to improve the quality of the care we provide,” Gheihman says. “If we can improve neurology educators, we can improve neurology education, and ultimately improve the neurological care for our patients.”

The Master of Medical Sciences in Medical Education program, designed for health professionals who wish to advance the science and practice of medical teaching, has given Gheihman the framework to study her craft with scholarly rigor.

One of the program’s greatest strengths, she notes, is its emphasis on translational learning, using real-world teaching challenges as the foundation for academic inquiry. In a recent quantitative research methods course, for example, Gheihman used her assignments to strengthen the evaluation for a neuro skills workshop she leads for advanced practice providers.

“In the past, we’d just do a quick post-workshop survey,” she explains. “Now I’m thinking about how to design more rigorous outcome measures.” Such changes look not just at participant satisfaction, but also at how the workshop changes clinical behavior or even patient outcomes.

That synthesis of teaching, research, and reflection also shapes her developing thesis, which explores how clinician-educators in neurology cultivate their skills, identity, and professional fulfillment.

“It’s a little meta,” she says. “I’m interested in the development of clinician educators in neurology—people like me who want to dedicate their careers to teaching, and what knowledge, skills, and attitudes make them effective educators.”

For Gheihman, the program has also deepened her understanding of how medical education fits within the larger structure of academic medicine. “Programs like this help us recognize education as an evidence-based practice in its own right,” she notes.

Rather than advocating for formal requirements, Gheihman envisions a future where medical education training is incentivized, accessible, and meaningfully integrated into clinicians’ professional development. “The more we acknowledge that teaching is a skill that can be developed, measured, and refined,” she says, “the better we can serve both learners and patients.”

Although the master’s program is delivered virtually, Gheihman emphasizes that it feels anything but distant. “There are actually more upsides to the virtual environment than downsides,” she says. “Because it’s accessible to an international cohort, the diversity of perspectives is so much richer. It’s fascinating to learn about something completely different from our context. It makes you question the things around you that you took for granted.”

The small cohort size creates a connected learning community. “We celebrate each other’s milestones like birthdays and births. We get to know each other really well. We share papers, mentor one another, and even meet up in person when we can,” she says. “The bonds we’ve formed are one of the best parts of the experience.”

Looking ahead, Gheihman hopes to strengthen the professional pathways for clinician-educator development and create scalable models for effective teaching in neurology. Her advice for those considering the program is simple but sincere: protect your time.

“The program is enriching, and you get out what you put in,” she says. “If someone’s wondering if it’s too early or too late to be in the program, I’d say it’s always the perfect time to enroll, if you can get the time.”

For Gheihman, that investment of time is more than academic—it’s a way to ensure that the next generation of neurologists will learn not only what to teach, but also how to teach it.

Written by Bailey Merlin