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2015 Penn Vet Teaching Award Winners |
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May 26, 2015, Volume 61, No. 35 |
The Zoetis Distinguished Teacher Award
This year’s Zoetis Distinguished Teacher Award was presented to Amy Durham. The Zoetis Distinguished Teacher Award is the most prestigious teaching award in veterinary medicine. It is presented annually to a faculty member at each college of veterinary medicine in the United States. Its purpose is “to improve veterinary medicine education by recognizing outstanding instructors who, through their ability, dedication, character and leadership, contribute significantly to the advancement of the profession.” The entire Penn Vet student body votes on the recipient.
Dr. Durham is an assistant professor of pathobiology at the Penn School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet) and is also the residency director for the anatomic pathology program and director of the comparative pathology core.
Dr. Durham earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia. After earning her MS in neuroscience from Georgetown University, she attended Penn Vet and graduated in 2005.
Dr. Durham completed residency training at Penn Vet in veterinary anatomic pathology and is board certified by the American College of Veterinary Pathologists. Her research focuses on oncologic pathology with a particular interest in lymphoma and employing the World Health Organization classification system for lymphoid neoplasms in domestic animals.
“From the student perspective, I can attest that this teacher exemplifies all of the qualities you listed and more. This teacher took on the monumental task of serving as course organizer for one of the largest and most important courses in our curriculum.” One student wrote that this was their favorite course “thanks to this course organizer’s teaching, clarity and how they engage the classroom. These qualities certainly extend to her teaching in the laboratory, and to the point of almost adopting a little foster dog with a big underbite named Lulu from our classmate." |
The Boucher Award
The Boucher Award honors a house officer at New Bolton Center for excellent teaching, as was exemplified by William Boucher over four decades at Penn Vet.
This year’s winner is Nicole Scherrer. Dr. Scherrer graduated from the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine in 2010. She is currently a resident in ophthalmology at Penn Vet’s New Bolton Center.
“Dr. Scherrer is extremely hard-working and committed to providing excellent patient care, but she is equally committed to teaching the students assigned to her clinical service. She goes out of her way to provide extra teaching labs and other learning opportunities despite a busy clinic appointment schedule.”
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Class of 2015 Philadelphia Campus Teaching Award
JD Foster graduated from Penn Vet in 2007. After practicing in a private small animal clinic, followed by a rotating small animal internship, he completed his small animal internal medicine residency training at the University of Wisconsin. During his residency, Dr. Foster developed a strong interest in nephrology and received training in nephrology and hemodialysis under the guidance of Larry Cowgill of the University of California, Davis. After completing his residency training and acquiring board certification in small animal internal medicine by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine, Dr. Foster returned to Penn Vet as a lecturer within the small animal internal medicine service. At Penn, he restarted the hemodialysis service, which quickly grew to become one of the busiest veterinary dialysis centers in the nation.
“Dr. Foster is a beloved resource, both in the classroom and in clinics. His lectures, rounds and anecdotes are all equally engaging and interesting. He provides enthusiasm, encouragement and excellent teaching, and is the only person that can make sitting through a hemodialysis session bearable!”
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Class of 2015 New Bolton Center Teaching Award
Ray Sweeney earned his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College and graduated from Penn Vet in 1982, followed by an internship and residency at Penn Vet’s New Bolton Center. He has spent his entire 30-year career at New Bolton Center, where he is currently professor of medicine and chief of the Section of Medicine and Ophthalmology. Dr. Sweeney’s clinical specialty is internal medicine of large animals, and his research work is focused on paratuberculosis and other infectious diseases of cattle. He teaches in all four years of the veterinary curriculum, including lectures, hands-on laboratories and clinical instruction of fourth-year students. Dr. Sweeney has been a four-time winner of the Carl Norden-Pfizer Distinguished Teacher Award, was a recipient of the 1991 Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching and in 1992 was awarded the North American Outstanding Teacher Award by the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges.
“The Class of 2015’s love for Dr. Sweeney has been evident since the very beginning, but he has earned it time and time again with his calming demeanor, lighthearted jokes and dedication to learning as opposed to simply teaching the material. It has truly been a delight to have him as a part of so many of 2015’s lectures, clinical experiences and major events. We are very grateful to have had the opportunity to learn about medicine and life from him.” |
Class of 2016 Philadelphia Campus Teaching Award
Jeffrey J. Runge graduated from Dickinson College and then received his DVM from Ross University. Following his internship at the Animal Medical Center in New York, Dr. Runge went on to do his surgical training at Penn Vet, which included a one-year fellowship and a three-year small animal surgical residency. Dr. Runge is currently assistant professor of minimally invasive surgery at Penn Vet. He focuses primarily on laparoscopic and thoracoscopic minimally invasive surgery, and has lectured on single port and multiport laparoscopic surgery alike. Through ongoing collaboration with leading human laparoscopic surgeons, Dr. Runge and Penn Vet have become leaders in veterinary reduced port surgery.
“His passion and excitement for teaching makes it easy to feel comfortable learning a new technique or skill. Watching how excited he gets when we do something correctly for the first time is such a confidence boost. He makes me want to learn and want to be a better doctor. That ability to inspire students is why he is more than deserving of this award.”
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Class of 2016 New Bolton Center Teaching Award
Regina Turner graduated from Penn Vet in 1989. After a year in a private mixed animal practice, Dr. Turner returned to Penn Vet’s New Bolton Center to complete a two-year residency in large animal reproduction. She then stayed on as a lecturer and became board certified in theriogenology in 1994. Between 1995 and 1999, Dr. Turner completed a PhD in cell and molecular biology at Penn Med. After completion of her PhD, she was hired at New Bolton Center, where she currently serves as associate professor of large animal reproduction and is chief of the Section of Reproduction and Behavior. Dr. Turner lectures on reproductive physiology to first-year students and provides lecture and laboratory instruction to third-year students in their Core Clinical Reproduction and Large Animal Reproduction elective courses. She also is heavily involved in teaching fourth-year students in the Large Animal Clinical Reproduction elective.
“Dr. Turner is an approachable and friendly mentor. She has taught all of us how to have fun while practicing exceptional medicine, and is an excellent example of the caliber of teachers here at Penn Vet. During Large Animal Block, she helped many of us collect our first stallion, and her endless supply of Girl Scout cookies kept everyone well nourished. Her phenomenal teaching style makes learning fun and memorable, and most importantly, her jokes during lectures always bring a sense of humor to the classroom.” |
Class of 2017 Philadelphia Campus Teaching Award
Melissa D. Sánchez is an assistant professor in the department of pathobiology at Penn Vet. She received her undergraduate degree from Michigan State University and completed her VMD and her PhD in virology at the University of Pennsylvania, followed by an anatomic pathology residency, also at Penn. She heads the small animal autopsy and immunohistochemistry services, and is course organizer for the Diagnostic Services clinical rotation. Her research focuses on canine and feline oral pathology with a focus on oral neoplasms.
“Dr. Sánchez presented all of the material in such an incredibly easy to follow manner while constantly reinforcing key points that we all left her classes already feeling truly in the material. Dr. Sánchez always followed up her classes with emails with supplemental information to further help any student who may have been confused about a topic. Not only is she an amazing lecturer, Dr. Sánchez also set up pathology labs that further drilled home key topics and always engaged the class with a great sense of humor.”
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Class of 2017 New Bolton Center Teaching Award
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Corinne Sweeney graduated from the University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine in 1978. Prior to her appointment as associate dean of New Bolton Center in 2005, Dr. Sweeney had served for 27 years at Penn Vet as an equine internal medicine specialist with clinical and research interests in respiratory and neurological problems of the horse. Dr. Sweeney has been the recipient of many teaching awards, including the 2004 Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, the Veterinary School’s Norden Distinguished Teaching Award and the Executive Board of Alumni’s Excellence in Teaching Award; she has also received the Veterinary Medical Student Government Outstanding Faculty Member Award twice. She has served as president of the American Association of Veterinary Clinicians and the Comparative Respiratory Society and has served for 19 years as an elected Pennsylvania School Board Director. Dr. Sweeney is a member of the Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission, having served on the Commission since 2008.
“Within the first five minutes of your first lecture, the entire class fell in love with you and as if we were a part of your family. Besides presenting the material in a clear and easy to follow manner, Dr. Sweeney made sure to follow up in emails all questions and concerns any students had. Our class cannot wait to get out to New Bolton to spend more time with Dr. Sweeney and take her up on those M&M’s in her office.” |
Class of 2018 Lecture Teaching Award
Rose Nolen-Walston grew up on a farm in England and dropped out of high school at 15 to become a professional dressage rider. She spent several years working at many top international dressage facilities in Germany, Holland and the US, but was hampered by a complete lack of talent in that sport. At 18, she moved to the US, and after a two-year stint of teaching riding to severely emotionally disturbed children at a residential treatment center in rural Georgia, she went back to school. In 2001, Dr. Nolen-Walston graduated with her DVM from the University of Georgia, then did an internship and residency in large animal internal medicine at Tufts University. She spent a subsequent year at Tufts doing research in adult stem cell biology in mice, then joined the faculty at Penn Vet, where she has been teaching and practicing internal medicine for the last eight years.
“It isn’t commonplace to have a lecturer who makes a diverse class look forward to coming to school no matter what the topic, but Dr. Nolen-Walston’s vigor and desire for us to excel is beyond evident in the classroom. She makes everyone so excited to learn, and even has brought people from the “dark side” and gotten them revved up about equine medicine. Thank you for bringing your personality, a set of horse lungs and your passion to class to share with us!”
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Class of 2018 Laboratory Teaching Award
Peter Hand received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University, then graduated from Penn Vet in 1961. He earned his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1964. Dr. Hand is currently emeritus professor of anatomy after a 35-year career at Penn Vet and continues to help out during anatomy labs.
“We are blessed to have a wonderful teaching staff in all of our laboratory sections, but our class was extremely impressed by the love of teaching that this next recipient has. Dr. Hand exudes a passion for veterinary medicine as well as love of foundational science that shows in every lab section he has taught, every lecture he has given, and each chalk talk he has presented. V’18 sincerely thanks you for being such an inspiration and for your infectious love of cranial nerves, your incredibly helpful spinal cord dissection videos, and taking time out of your personal life to hold extra review sessions!”
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Almanac -
May 26, 2015, Volume 61, No. 35
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