Background

Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM) recognizes the importance of having individuals from outside of the WUSM community contribute to the educational goals of students in the MD program. The following policies apply to the financial compensation of individuals who do not have formal ties to Washington University in St. Louis and who function as speakers to medical students in the core curriculum of the MD program. In keeping with element 9.1, WUSM ensures that all non-university-affiliated instructors are familiar with the relevant learning objectives of the course or clerkship and that they are prepared for their roles in teaching.

Policies/Requirements

All requests for external speakers should be presented for review by the Senior Manager in the Office of Medical Student Education at least 21 days prior to their inclusion in learning sessions. The Office of Medical Student Education may exercise discretion in accepting late requests made under rare extenuating circumstances.

Speakers who require little to no advanced preparation for their involvement (e.g., someone sharing their lived experience as a patient) will be compensated $50 per session in addition to reimbursement for parking or public transportation.

Speakers who will have a leadership role in an instructional session (e.g., via a lecture or facilitated discussion) that will require substantive advanced preparation of more than 5 hours will be compensated $200 per session in addition to reimbursement for parking or public transportation.

For situations in which the requested speaker compensation exceeds the rates established above, requests should be submitted for review by the Office of Medical Student Education; final approval will be given by the Executive Director for Education Administration and Finance in the Office of Education Administration & Finance unit at least 60 days prior to the speaker engaging in any session-related activities. In all cases, a narrative explaining the need for a higher rate — along with supporting documentation demonstrating that an effort to negotiate the speaker's rates to remain within the WUSM policy parameters has occurred — must be submitted.

For any guest speaker sessions to be recorded and any other artifacts captured (e.g., photos) and to be later made available through the WUSM Office of Medical Student Education, explicit permission from the guest speaker must be provided, with details on where these materials will be housed and how they will be used in the future.

Last approved on September 13, 2021

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