BY JAMIU BUSARI (@JOBUSAR)
Dr. Roberta Inés Ladenheim
Vice-Rector, University of the Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires; Masters in Health Professions Education; Faculty and researcher in Health Professions Education; Medical Specialist in Internal Medicine; Member of the CIEPS (Center for Research in Health Professions Education) Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires; Buenos Aires, Argentina. Email: roberta.ladenheim@hospitalitaliano.org.ar; Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roberta-ladenheim-30787968/
Dr. Roberta Inés Ladenheim is an internal medicine specialist and clinician educator from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is currently the Vice-Rector of the University of the Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires. Her career she says, has been a journey of personal and professional transformation—driven by a deep love for her patients and a commitment to improving the training of health professionals in real clinical settings.
Dr Ladenheim completed her residency in Internal Medicine at the Centro de Educación Médica e Investigaciones Clínicas (CEMIC) in Buenos Aires. After finishing her residency in 2008, she worked as a staff physician in the inpatient Internal Medicine service. During these early years in a teaching hospital, she observed the often invisible challenges of healthcare, which included poor communication, fragmented teamwork, and decision-making that neglected patients. Roberta realized that these were not just clinical issues but also educational problems and decided to do something about it. In her words, she said; “I became passionate about understanding learning processes in the hospital environment, seeing the relationship between educational quality and professional training; and realizing that transforming the practices that needed to be changed required understanding how health professionals are trained and working to make the necessary changes.”
Her passion for workplace-based learning led Roberta to professionalize her role and pursue a master’s degree in health professions education (MHPE) at the University of Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires shortly after completing her internal medicine residency. She recollects that she was one of the youngest applicants when she started her MHPE in 2010, with very little teaching experience. Nonetheless, she was convinced she needed the skills and tools to achieve the educational transformations she envisioned.”
Shortly after completing her MHPE, Roberta found herself in many decision-making spaces, building a voice about what needed change, and connecting with others who shared similar concerns. As her interest in driving change grew, Dr Ladenheim took on broader responsibilities and saw herself moving into leadership roles in both health and education systems. For example, between 2014 and 2018, she served as the coordinator of the Internal Medicine residency program at CEMIC, where she graduated, and in 2017, she became the director of the undergraduate medical program at the same institution. Subsequently, she served as the Human Resources for Health Training coordinator from 2018 to 2020, overseeing the National Health Team Residency System and the National Accreditation System for Residency Programs within the Ministry of Health of Argentina.
She elaborates, saying “I didn’t plan to move away from clinical work or the classroom. But I understood that I had to get involved in decision-making if I wanted to make changes happen. We need people who care about education to step into leadership—and to be prepared for it.” This realization led her to focus on professionalizing educational leadership. Roberta believes that transforming health systems requires not only great teachers but also skilled educational managers—people who know how to design, support, and sustain meaningful learning throughout the continuum of care.
In a country where health professions education remains largely traditional and classroom-based, her major contribution has been to elevate the value of workplace-based learning. She has advocated for recognizing clinical environments as rich, complex educational spaces—and for legitimizing the supervision, feedback, and trust-building that occur in daily practice. Roberta believes that the type of teaching skills that clinical supervisors need is not the same as those required for classroom teaching or other settings. Clinical supervisors in my context need very specific tools that are not always available in faculty development programs in my region.
Dividing her time
In response to how she divides her time among her various responsibilities, Roberta said that her current role mainly involves educational management as Vice-Rector (80%) of the university. She mentioned that she also dedicates a portion of her time (20%) to faculty development, both within her university and as a guest lecturer at multiple academic and governmental institutions across Latin America. She has also collaborated with initiatives of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), including coordinating a regional educational leadership course for 19 Latin American and Caribbean countries. Internationally, Dr Landenheim has been invited as a faculty member to the international course ‘Entrustable professional activities In and Outs’, led by Professor Olle ten Cate. Recently, she joined the International Competency-Based Medical Education (ICBME) Collaborators.
As a faculty member of the Master’s Program in Health Professions Education at her university and of the CIEPS, Roberta collaborates with other faculty members to develop educational research in Latin America. She also participates in research projects and supervises numerous master’s theses. Additionally, she serves on the editorial board of the Argentine Journal of Medical Education. Finally, in her current role of strategic leadership and faculty development in one of Argentina’s most prominent university hospitals, Roberta realizes that she is not as close to learners as she used to be, but still thinks like a clinical educator in every decision she makes. In her words she explains that
“I don’t forget about people—our patients, those in training, and the healthcare professionals who take on clinical teaching roles. In my context, everyone is in a vulnerable situation and needs policies that consider them and ensure their well-being.”
Challenges in her work
When asked what are some of the challenges she faces in her work, Roberta responded saying that One of the biggest challenges she faces is transforming educational practices that are deeply rooted in traditional models of health professional training,in a
context where there is also a manifest crisis in the healthcare system.
In Argentina, the healthcare system currently faces a significant crisis characterized by barriers to access, inequity, and low quality of care in many areas. There is also an absence of strong workforce planning policies, leading to a mismatch between healthcare demands and the availability of trained professionals. This situation was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which highlighted the structural weaknesses in the healthcare system, including the scarcity of human resources and inadequate distribution of healthcare workers. Poor working conditions, including long hours, insufficient compensation, and limited opportunities for continuous professional development, also contribute to the existent workforce crisis in healthcare. These factors affect the quality of patient care and impact the well-being and retention of health professionals.
Addressing these challenges requires not only healthcare policy reform but also educational transformation. Educational systems often lag behind the rapidly changing needs of the healthcare sector. Traditional, classroom-based training does not fully prepare graduates to work in complex, resource-constrained environments. Thus, bridging the gap between education and clinical practice remains a critical challenge.
According to Roberta, it takes persistence to change the traditional mindsets of training health professionals and delivering healthcare.” I have seen how powerful it can be when workplace learning is given the place it deserves—not just as something informal, but as a fundamental pillar of professional development.”
Four tips for junior CEs:
Lastly, Roberta was asked to provide three tips for young and upcoming clinician educators. However, she had an additional fourth one to share. The tips included:
- Don’t be afraid to lead. If you care about education, you will eventually find yourself in spaces where decisions are made. Prepare yourself for that. Leading is not just an act reserved for those in formal leadership roles.
- Honor your context. Look outward for inspiration but inward for solutions. Educational change must grow from local realities to truly take root.
- Value workplace-based learning. Don’t underestimate what happens at the bedside, in the hallway, or in the middle of a busy shift. That’s where real formation happens—and where we can have the biggest impact.
- Ask yourself if you have the tools for the role you want to take on. And if your training didn’t give you those tools—or if no one expects you to be trained in that—go find them. The education system often evolves more slowly than the healthcare system. You may already be sensing that evolution in your practice and realizing that your training did not prepare you for it. That’s the beginning of a new kind of learning.
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