Kevin Eva Selected as 2013 Hubbard Award Recipient
The National Board of Medical Examiners is pleased to announce that Kevin Wayne Eva, PhD was selected as the recipient of the 2013 John P. Hubbard Award. The award is given to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the pursuit of excellence in the field of evaluation in medicine. John J. Norcini, PhD, Chair of the 2013 Hubbard Award Committee, announced Dr. Eva's selection at the Annual Meeting of the NBME Membership on April 4, 2013.
In presenting the award, Dr. Norcini stated: "In recognition of his remarkable leadership in assessment innovation and scholarship, I am pleased to announce that the recipient of the 2013 Hubbard Award is Kevin Eva. Dr. Eva's contributions to evaluation in medicine include his experimental research in assessment, particularly related to the Multiple Mini Interview; studies involving Objective Structured Clinical Examinations, in-training evaluation reports and direct observation; theoretical work related to self-assessment and decision-making; dissemination and adoption of his work; mentorship of students and colleagues; and leadership and improvement of the journal, Medical Education. He is the recipient of significant national and international awards from organizations such as the Medical Council of Canada, Canadian Association for Medical Education, and Asia-Pacific Medical Education Conference. Today we are delighted to add the Hubbard Award to these honors.
"Dr. Eva has truly excelled in every area described in the criteria for the Hubbard Award. As one example, I would like to focus on his creation of the MMI. Selecting the 'best' people into educational programs, particularly those programs with finite resources and high expectations for student/professional performance, is extremely difficult. Dr. Eva created, psychometrically assessed, sustained, and monitored the MMI, designed for the assessment of individuals for entry into undergraduate medicine. The MMI is the admission assessment tool that has had the greatest impact on selection processes, thinking, and policy change in the last decade. Dr. Eva's work on the MMI began a continued and sustained program of research that was funded with a grant from the NBME and judicious leverage of internal resources. His studies have shown that the MMI is superior to other interview formats, provides high levels of evidence of validity/reliability in various settings, and can predict performance on national examinations several years after admission.
"Dr. Eva's valuable work in other assessment areas includes the OSCE, TOSCE, and in-training evaluation reports. In all of these areas, he has conducted studies which have improved and/or questioned these tools. Dr. Eva draws on his initial training in applied psychology to contribute to both the fields of cognitive psychology and medical education. This is particularly clear when one reads the papers he has written on self-assessment of health professional competencies and its role in professional self-regulation.
"Dr. Eva's contributions to applied research are also apparent in the work he has done related to clinical reasoning, clinical decision-making, and novice-expert reasoning. Much of this work is based on human subject experiments with a strong underlay of theory drawn from cognitive and social psychology as well as learning theory. These studies published across several different medical and educational journals inform both the medical profession and medical education researchers and practitioners.
"At an organizational level, Dr. Eva has also played and important leadership role, locally, nationally and internationally. His service to journals, reviews of research grants, and service as an external examiner for advanced degree theses also attest to the quality of his work. A prolific author and researcher himself, as editor of Medical Education he has worked hard to ensure a uniform and high standard for all of the research and evaluation studies that are published in the journal, further ensuring that people contemplating or undertaking similar studies recognize the bar that has been set.
"In attempting to encapsulate his achievements, the Hubbard Award Committee noted, 'it is not simply the amount of scholarship that qualifies Dr. Eva for this award, but also the quality and thoughtfulness of his research. Dr. Eva is an international star in this field. His work in medical education and assessment is superior.'"
Dr. Eva is Professor and Director of Education Research and Scholarship in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC; Founding Co-director, Maastricht-Canadian Master's in Health Professional Education Program; Senior Scientist at the Centre for Health Education Scholarship, University of British Columbia; and Editor-in-Chief, Medical Education.
The NBME established the Hubbard Award in 1983 in special tribute to the late John P. Hubbard, MD. Honoring Dr. Hubbard as a principal, guiding force of the NBME, this award acknowledges his creative and inspired leadership of the organization during his 25-year tenure as its chief executive. Dr. Eva deservedly joins the ranks of the distinguished individuals whom the NBME has honored over the years with this prestigious award. His selection as the recipient followed a call for nominations published widely in the spring of 2012. The 2013 Hubbard Award Committee, chaired by John J. Norcini, PhD, included as members Freda M. Bush, MD, Susan R. Johnson, MD, MS, Kenneth M. Ludmerer, MD, MA, Mark R. Raymond, PhD, and Patricia N. Whitley-Williams, MD.