Getting the work done: Dr. Luan Lawson champions the future of medical training
As senior associate dean of medical education and student affairs, Luan Lawson, M.D. is reimagining how to prepare students for a changing environment.
Luan E. Lawson, M.D. (Photography by Arda Athman, VCU School of Medicine)
Luan E. Lawson, M.D., started her journey in medicine when her father became extremely ill during her sixth-grade year.
“He spent a lot of time in the hospital,” she explains. As a result, “I saw what an impact physicians could make, both in positive and negative ways.”
She also saw a doctor’s impact wasn’t limited to those physicians with the most experience.
“My father had an incredible resident who he would have preferred to have seen over any specialist with more expertise. He felt she saw him as a person.”
Witnessing that demonstration of humanism helped shape Lawson’s future as an emergency medicine physician — and also as a medical educator.
The daughter of two school teachers, Lawson today serves as the senior associate dean of medical education and student affairs in the VCU School of Medicine.
Bringing innovation to bear
A native of Kinston, North Carolina, Lawson came to the MCV Campus in 2021 from the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. There she served as associate dean of curricular innovation in medical education and director of undergraduate medical education in emergency medicine.
An alumna of Brody — she completed medical school and residency training there — Lawson became known for her forward-thinking approach when she joined the faculty.
As the principal investigator of a five-year, $1 million American Medical Association Accelerating Change in Education grant – one of just 11 awarded nationwide – Lawson helped transform ECU’s curriculum to better prepare future physicians in patient safety, quality improvement and patient health in an environment of team-based, patient-centered care.
She also created an emergency medicine rotation with a simulation-based curriculum for all fourth-year medical students.
“I love the fast-paced nature of emergency medicine,” says the past president of Clerkship Directors in Emergency Medicine, an academy within the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, “but to me it’s really about being able to be that safety net for patients who don’t have the opportunity to access health care in traditional ways — and meeting their needs at the worst times in their lives.
“In eastern North Carolina, we treated patients in an incredibly rural area,” Lawson says. “When you look at VCU, it is very much that same mission of caring for an underserved patient population, yet in a more urban environment.”
That’s a valuable opportunity for those who are in training, and it’s one that Lawson wants to make the most of.
“From the beginning of medical school, how do we begin connecting with the community more effectively so that our students are really able to appreciate the richness of that experience? The work of a physician goes far beyond just the care we deliver in the clinic. How we engage with the community and meet those needs is critical in terms of thinking about advocacy and ensuring we care for the whole patient.”
The evolution of medical care — and education along with it
The shift from the individual practitioner model to team-based care, Lawson says, recognizes that a collection of varying expertise is essential in delivering patient care. A shift toward maintaining long-term health versus seeking treatment for illnesses in the short term is a further example of health care’s evolution.
So, too, are systems to improve patient safety.
“I was first introduced to the concept of root cause analysis when I was asked to support my resident mentee through the process following a poor patient outcome,” Lawson says. Now a systematic review of underlying problems is considered key to preventing future bad outcomes. “In that way, the culture of medicine has changed.
“Today, we create systems where the electronic health record can help ensure we don’t make errors and we have effective communication tools in place for quality improvement. All of those things are relatively new in the medical school curriculum compared to when I was a student.”
"Luan has a vision for where medical education needs to go."
That’s why, Lawson says, student success is about preparing today’s learners to adapt throughout their careers as opposed to teaching them a defined body of knowledge.
Lawson is the past chair of the Emergency Medicine Advanced Clinical Exam Committee for the National Board of Medical Examiners. Her national service also includes collaborating with the AMA and the NBME to develop a new health systems science exam designed to assess medical student readiness for residency in health system science content.
A collaborative leader
Closer to home, the question of how to best prepare students for residency – and ultimately their career — is one Lawson asks herself and her team every day. To work toward an answer, last October they assembled
a group of colleagues for a daylong medical education strategic planning session on the MCV Campus.
“We brought together students, staff and faculty to begin to envision the future of medical education,” she says. “Of course, part of that discussion included how to use AI and describing what medicine is going to look like, but it’s also important to recognize and hold on to many of the concepts that have always been foundational and essential to being a physician.”
"I love the fast-paced nature of emergency medicine, but to me it’s really about being able to be that safety net for patients who don’t have the opportunity to access health care in traditional ways — and meeting their needs at the worst times in their lives."
Lawson made a point of including perspectives from future physicians like the Class of 2027’s Rachel Fry, who attended the planning session as a student curriculum representative.
“It was an eye-opening reminder of how Dr. Lawson and other influential leaders in our school and health system truly care deeply about the development of future physicians — all the way from the big picture to the small, intricate details,” Fry says. “I appreciated the enthusiasm our group members had in hearing student perspectives. It was helpful to be reminded of the whole picture when it’s easy to get bogged down by a single week or month of my preclinical curriculum.”
More than 100 stakeholders attended the event, including Alison J. Whelan, M.D., chief academic officer of the American Association of Medical Colleges. “Dr. Lawson is a collaborative leader,” she says. “And while she has big ideas, she always keeps the learners and the mission of medical education — improving patient care — central.”
Whelan served as a panelist alongside Jed D. Gonzalo, M.D., senior associate dean for medical education at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. He was impressed with his longtime friend and colleague’s collaborative approach to the planning session ... but not surprised.
In May, the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine honored Luan E. Lawson, M.D. (right), with the Hal Jayne Excellence in Education Award for her outstanding contributions to the training of students such as Rachel Fry, from the Class of 2027. (Photography by Arda Athman, VCU School of Medicine)This story was published in the spring 2025 issue of 12th & Marshall. You can find the current and past issues online.
“Luan has a vision for where medical education needs to go in the future and she’s able to put strategies and tactics in place to support that vision. As an emergency medicine physician, she knows she’s got to get things done.”
Luan E. Lawson, M.D., started her journey in medicine when her father became extremely ill during her sixth-grade year.
“He spent a lot of time in the hospital,” she explains. As a result, “I saw what an impact physicians could make, both in positive and negative ways.”
She also saw a doctor’s impact wasn’t limited to those physicians with the most experience.
“My father had an incredible resident who he would have preferred to have seen over any specialist with more expertise. He felt she saw him as a person.”
Witnessing that demonstration of humanism helped shape Lawson’s future as an emergency medicine physician — and also as a medical educator.
The daughter of two school teachers, Lawson today serves as the senior associate dean of medical education and student affairs in the VCU School of Medicine.
Bringing innovation to bear
A native of Kinston, North Carolina, Lawson came to the MCV Campus in 2021 from the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. There she served as associate dean of curricular innovation in medical education and director of undergraduate medical education in emergency medicine.
An alumna of Brody — she completed medical school and residency training there — Lawson became known for her forward-thinking approach when she joined the faculty.
As the principal investigator of a five-year, $1 million American Medical Association Accelerating Change in Education grant – one of just 11 awarded nationwide – Lawson helped transform ECU’s curriculum to better prepare future physicians in patient safety, quality improvement and patient health in an environment of team-based, patient-centered care.
She also created an emergency medicine rotation with a simulation-based curriculum for all fourth-year medical students.
“I love the fast-paced nature of emergency medicine,” says the past president of Clerkship Directors in Emergency Medicine, an academy within the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, “but to me it’s really about being able to be that safety net for patients who don’t have the opportunity to access health care in traditional ways — and meeting their needs at the worst times in their lives.
“In eastern North Carolina, we treated patients in an incredibly rural area,” Lawson says. “When you look at VCU, it is very much that same mission of caring for an underserved patient population, yet in a more urban environment.”
That’s a valuable opportunity for those who are in training, and it’s one that Lawson wants to make the most of.
“From the beginning of medical school, how do we begin connecting with the community more effectively so that our students are really able to appreciate the richness of that experience? The work of a physician goes far beyond just the care we deliver in the clinic. How we engage with the community and meet those needs is critical in terms of thinking about advocacy and ensuring we care for the whole patient.”
The evolution of medical care — and education along with it
The shift from the individual practitioner model to team-based care, Lawson says, recognizes that a collection of varying expertise is essential in delivering patient care. A shift toward maintaining long-term health versus seeking treatment for illnesses in the short term is a further example of health care’s evolution.
So, too, are systems to improve patient safety.
“I was first introduced to the concept of root cause analysis when I was asked to support my resident mentee through the process following a poor patient outcome,” Lawson says. Now a systematic review of underlying problems is considered key to preventing future bad outcomes. “In that way, the culture of medicine has changed.
"Luan has a vision for where medical education needs to go."
“Today, we create systems where the electronic health record can help ensure we don’t make errors and we have effective communication tools in place for quality improvement. All of those things are relatively new in the medical school curriculum compared to when I was a student.”
That’s why, Lawson says, student success is about preparing today’s learners to adapt throughout their careers as opposed to teaching them a defined body of knowledge.
Lawson is the past chair of the Emergency Medicine Advanced Clinical Exam Committee for the National Board of Medical Examiners. Her national service also includes collaborating with the AMA and the NBME to develop a new health systems science exam designed to assess medical student readiness for residency in health system science content.
A collaborative leader
Closer to home, the question of how to best prepare students for residency – and ultimately their career — is one Lawson asks herself and her team every day. To work toward an answer, last October they assembled
a group of colleagues for a daylong medical education strategic planning session on the MCV Campus.
"I love the fast-paced nature of emergency medicine, but to me it’s really about being able to be that safety net for patients who don’t have the opportunity to access health care in traditional ways — and meeting their needs at the worst times in their lives."
“We brought together students, staff and faculty to begin to envision the future of medical education,” she says. “Of course, part of that discussion included how to use AI and describing what medicine is going to look like, but it’s also important to recognize and hold on to many of the concepts that have always been foundational and essential to being a physician.”
Lawson made a point of including perspectives from future physicians like the Class of 2027’s Rachel Fry, who attended the planning session as a student curriculum representative.
“It was an eye-opening reminder of how Dr. Lawson and other influential leaders in our school and health system truly care deeply about the development of future physicians — all the way from the big picture to the small, intricate details,” Fry says. “I appreciated the enthusiasm our group members had in hearing student perspectives. It was helpful to be reminded of the whole picture when it’s easy to get bogged down by a single week or month of my preclinical curriculum.”
More than 100 stakeholders attended the event, including Alison J. Whelan, M.D., chief academic officer of the American Association of Medical Colleges. “Dr. Lawson is a collaborative leader,” she says. “And while she has big ideas, she always keeps the learners and the mission of medical education — improving patient care — central.”
In May, the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine honored Luan E. Lawson, M.D. (right), with the Hal Jayne Excellence in Education Award for her outstanding contributions to the training of students such as Rachel Fry, from the Class of 2027. (Photography by Arda Athman, VCU School of Medicine)Whelan served as a panelist alongside Jed D. Gonzalo, M.D., senior associate dean for medical education at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. He was impressed with his longtime friend and colleague’s collaborative approach to the planning session ... but not surprised.
This story was published in the spring 2025 issue of 12th & Marshall. You can find the current and past issues online.
“Luan has a vision for where medical education needs to go in the future and she’s able to put strategies and tactics in place to support that vision. As an emergency medicine physician, she knows she’s got to get things done.”
Lifting the burden of debt — a life-changing gift
Among the many advancements in medical education, a persistent obstacle remains: student debt. In the Class of 2024, 26 students graduated with debt of $300,000 or more.
“Overall, the average debt for our students was just below the national average of $200,000 — thanks in large part to scholarship support,” says Luan E. Lawson, M.D., senior associate dean of medical education and student affairs in the VCU School of Medicine.
“However, it remains a tremendous debt for our students to incur to pursue their passion to care for others.”
Some medical schools around the country have been able to eliminate or greatly reduce their students’ debt with the help of transformative philanthropic gifts. On the MCV Campus, two longtime friends of the School of Medicine, James W. and Frances G. McGlothlin, have created new scholarships designed to eliminate the burden of debt and attract and reward students who demonstrate outstanding academic achievement.
In the 2024-25 academic year, 22 full-tuition scholarships were awarded to McGlothlin Scholars.
To encourage others to join the cause in the coming year, the McGlothlins have committed to match every dollar given to the School of Medicine Annual Fund — doubling the number of scholarships that could be created for students.
Lawson sees firsthand the long-lasting results of that level of scholarship support.
“With privately funded scholarships, we can provide our students with medical education at an incredible value so they’re able to launch their careers with a focus on patients as opposed to what their debt load is going to be,” she says.
“The McGlothlin matching initiative gives alumni, friends and community members a chance to make a lasting impact for students and help ensure our school is part of the national conversation on medical student debt.”
To make a matching gift, please visit go.vcu.edu/mcglothlinscholars.
