Jan Carline is admired by his colleagues for his knowledge of educational theory and practice, and his generosity and kindness.

Add to this: his strong opinions, tenacity and occasional irreverence. “Jan does his work behind the scenes,” said Dr. Suzanne Allen, vice dean for academic, rural and regional affairs.“ That work is the underpinning that makes us successful.”

As director of educational evaluation and professor of biomedical informatics and medical education at the UW School of Medicine, Dr. Carline was especially influential in developing the program objectives for the new curriculum that began in 2015 (see Sidebar).

He “worked for years to change the culture around UW Medicine,” said Dr. Michael Ryan, associate dean for curriculum. “He believed that every course and clerkship should be evaluated on the basis of the curriculum’s overall objectives and goals. Once all assessments are adequately mapped, we can make curricular changes based on outcomes.”

He has been “enormously influential in setting the standard for student assessment and program evaluation in the new medical school curriculum,” added Dr. Marj Wenrich, associate dean for education strategies.

After 41 years at the UW School of Medicine, Carline retired in January. In his honor, UW Medicine has established the Jan D. Carline Award of Excellence in Scholarship of Education, which will be awarded to one medical student each year (see Sidebar).

Carline has published more than 80 articles in peer-reviewed journals, and he served as co-director of the Teaching Scholars Program for the past 10 years. He has worked with three medical schools in China and made about 18 trips to Saudi Arabia for faculty training and workshops on assessment and evaluation. He is an associate editor of Academic Medicine, the journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges and one of the top medical education journals in the world.

In a recent conversation, Carline talked about his career and future plans. While he will continue to work on special projects as professor emeritus, he looks forward to spending less time in committee meetings and having more time to pursue his personal interests.