Purpose
Most health professions faculty receive minimal training in effective teaching methodologies, impacting the quality of education for future healthcare professionals. With a growing interest among health professions students seeking opportunities for support and preparation for teaching roles and performing education-focused research, we developed the Medical Education Teaching and Scholarship (METAS) Distinction, a pathway program for medical students to prepare them as health profession educators. This session describes the METAS Distinction and its outcomes.

Methods
The METAS Distinction was co-created by faculty and student champions, designing a four-year longitudinal curriculum to prepare medical students as future educators and educational scholars. The curriculum includes: (1) learning fundamental teaching and medical education skills, (2) engaging in teaching activities, (3) implementing and disseminating a medical education research project, and (4) writing a teaching philosophy and building an educator portfolio. We reviewed applications and feedback from accepted students, analyzing their goals and thematic elements from their essays.

Results
Since summer 2023, 62 students have been accepted into the METAS Distinction: 19 M1s, 21 M2s, 16 M3s, and 6 M4s. Analysis of student essays revealed seven themes of student interest in the program: (1) mentorship (11.32%), (2) training future physicians (60.38%), (3) academic medicine (50.94%), (4) research (30.19%), (5) curriculum development (32.08%), (6) educational skills (64.15%), and (7) current teaching (18.87%). Feedback indicated that METAS activities provided knowledge in curriculum development and experience in designing medical education research projects.

Conclusion
Preparing medical students for future roles as health professions faculty is critical. The METAS Distinction aims to meet this need, ensuring the next generation of educators is well-equipped to deliver high-quality education.