Brian Lin, MD
“It’s of utmost importance to me that I teach in a way that is always respectful of the student, and also teach them the importance of being respectful, present, and accountable to their patients.”
“Before I became a doctor, I wanted to be a teacher,” says Brian Lin, MD, TPMG director of undergraduate medical education and program director of the KP Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (KLIC) at KP San Francisco. “That was my ambition, but medicine was also in my blood.”
Dr. Lin’s father is a KP physician and his mother was a nurse, “so I was kind of born to do this,” he says. “The way I reconciled it is that I realized I could be a teacher within medicine.”
“He is passionate about medical education,” says Ted O’Connell, MD, FAAFP, director of medical education for KP Northern California. “Many students have commented on how invested he is in their success and their involvement with medicine, and that he follows up with them long after they’ve finished their rotations.”
Developed by Dr. Lin and launched in 2019, KLIC-SF is a comprehensive curriculum and mentorship program for 3rd-year medical students. In addition to rotations in multiple specialties, learners build their own patient panels, attend biweekly and monthly educational meetings, receive quarterly assessments, and participate in reflection sessions.
The TPMG physicians who train the clerkship students also receive in-depth guidance and support from Dr. Lin. “The best approach I recommend for any clinician who teaches is to realize that students are learning from every observation they make about the way you work. When we teach expository knowledge, like a medical fact, we are giving them a chapter or a page from our playbook. But what we role model in our interactions with patients, with staff, and with other physicians—that speaks volumes.”
Always the educator, Dr. Lin has given dozens of invited lectures on emergency medicine at local, regional, national, and international meetings and conferences; hosted grand rounds for academic residencies; served as a peer reviewer and contributor to numerous journals and blogs; and recorded more than 20 segments on medical podcasts.
“No matter how unassuming the patient’s case might appear, Dr. Lin always finds a teachable moment,” says Monica Kendrick, MD, physician-in-chief of KP San Francisco. “His outstanding clinical bedside teaching is what most impresses his colleagues and learners.”