It is with great excitement that I recently accepted the offer to join the team at PRESENT as Editor. By way of this brief note I would like to share some of my thoughts on the role that this exciting and emerging new educational medial will play in Podiatric Resident Education…

First, and most obvious, is the fact that residents at almost all programs across the country have instant access to well over 100 topic driven lectures from many of the top educators in our profession today. This format for learning is clearly one that helps to bridge the gap between programs that have the fortune of abundant local teaching resources versus those that may struggle with the implementation of a consistent didactic educational program. PRESENT certainly is not a substitute for face-to-face learning, but rather is an excellent adjunct to that type of teaching at your program and we encourage group discussion and guided debate between residents and their local attendings after viewing an online presentation.

Secondly, however, I think PRESENT can serve to bring together the resident and teaching communities in a forum that allows for interaction at many levels. We will soon implement online case presentations from member programs and will allow for feedback and discussion prior to presenting the final case outcome. We also plan to schedule additional “Night at the Lectures” sessions which will be followed by chat sessions to allow for questions to the presenter. Incentives for lecture viewing will hit home with a digital camera give-away that will be announced shortly. In addition, the famed Residency Rumble will return this year with plans for an even bigger and better tournament. The questions for each session of the Residency Rumble will be furnished by the faculty at participating colleges of Podiatric Medicine. If your program didn’t participate last time, then you certainly should not miss out on this next opportunity to compete with rival residency programs across the country.

Register for The 2005 Rumble here

Learn more about The Rumble here

I congratulate the founders of PRESENT on providing us with this great educational tool. I look forward to working with the national residency community in continuing to develop new and better ways to utilize this technology and to keep it fun every step of the way.

Please send any suggestions, thoughts, or questions to me at: editor@podiatry.com

I look forward to a great year!



John S. Steinberg, DPM
Editor, PRESENT