Medical education continues to rely on standardized curricula and assessments, even though learners progress at different rates and bring different needs, strengths, and contexts to training. As expectations grow around equity, accountability, and outcomes, many educators are questioning whether one-size-fits-all approaches still serve learners or patients.

In this episode of The Precision Educator Podcast, Dr. Larry Chu and Dr. Viji Kurup introduce precision education as the educational parallel to precision medicine. Drawing on their work with Stanford Medicine and the Society for Education in Anesthesia, they explore what precision education actually means, why it matters now, and how it differs from earlier reform efforts in medical education.

The conversation moves from concept to practice, examining how personalization can be operationalized through coaching, assessment, and data-informed decision-making in real training programs.

Key takeaways from this episode:

A clear definition of precision education in medical training
Why standardized approaches struggle to meet modern educational demands
How precision education connects learning outcomes to patient care
What distinguishes precision education from prior competency-based models

Especially useful for:

Program directors, associate program directors, faculty developers, clinical competency committee members, and education researchers seeking a shared language and framework for personalized learning.

Related episode:

If you are interested in how personalization happens in day-to-day training, listen next to Episode 2: Coaching as Precision Education, which explores coaching as a core mechanism for individualized growth.

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Triola, Marc M. MD1; Burk-Rafel, Jesse MD, MRes2. Precision Medical Education. Academic Medicine 98(7):p 775-781, July 2023. | DOI: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000005227
Garibaldi, Brian T. MD, MEHP; Hollon, McKenzie M. MD; Woodworth, Glenn E. MD; Winkel, Abigail Ford MD, MHPE; Desai, Sanjay V. MD. Navigating the Landscape of Precision Education: Insights From On-the-Ground Initiatives. Academic Medicine 99(4S):p S71-S76, April 2024. | DOI: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000005606

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