The assessment of learners in health professions education – an interview with Dr Shiphra Ginsburg

Dr Shiphra Ginsburg is a professor of medicine at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, a staff physician at Mount Sinai Hospital and a scientist at the Wilson Centre for Research in Education. She is also the Canada Research Chair in Health Professions Education.  Her research looks at the assessment of learners in health professions education - an area which has historically focused on numeric scores, rating scales and standardized, “objective” tests. This has led to a situation where subjectivity, which is a natural part of how human beings make judgments and decisions about each other, is ignored and devalued. As a result, assessment has become inadvertently undermined in multiple contexts. Dr Ginsburg’s research aims to reposition the importance of context and subjectivity in assessment and feedback.