The Leonard Berwick Memorial Teaching Award

The Leonard Berwick Memorial Award was established in 1980-1981 as a memorial to Leonard Berwick by his family and the department of pathology to recognize “a member of the medical faculty who in his or her teaching effectively fuses basic science and clinical medicine.” This award recognizes outstanding teachers, particularly among our younger faculty.

David Jaffe

David L. Jaffe is professor of clinical medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and has been on the faculty since 2005. Dr. Jaffe is the director of medical student education for the division of gastroenterology. He serves as course director for the Module 2 course in GI pathophysiology as well as for the clinical electives in gastroenterology. Dr. Jaffe is the director of gastroenterology and endoscopy at Penn Medicine Radnor, and as part of Penn’s therapeutic endoscopy group, he has expertise in the management of complex pancreatic and biliary diseases. Influenced and inspired by a host of clinician-educators at Penn Medicine, Dr. Jaffe teaches medical students, residents and clinical fellows about the practice of gastroenterology and endoscopy, and he is proud to continue the department of medicine’s pursuit of excellence in medical education. Dr. Jaffe received the GI Division’s Excellence in Faculty Teaching Award in 2009 and the Penn Medical Students’ award for outstanding teacher in the GI pathophysiology course in 2012, 2014 and 2016. One of his former students commented that, “In the last six months, he has had a tremendous influence on me and I’m motivated to become an exemplary teacher like him, one who always cares for his students and brings out the best in them. Dr. Jaffe is one of the most dedicated teachers that I have encountered.”

Dean’s Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching (at an Affiliated Hospital)

The Dean’s Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching was established in 1987 to recognize clinical teaching excellence and commitment to medical education by outstanding faculty members from affiliated hospitals.  One or more Dean’s Awards are made annually, the recipients being selected on the advice of a committee composed of faculty and students. This year there are four recipients:

Kyle Kampman

Kyle Kampman is a professor of psychiatry. He is a staff physician at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Dr. Kampman graduated from Northwestern University in 1981 and Tulane University School of Medicine in 1985. He interned at the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, Maryland and served as a medical officer in the US Navy from 1985-1990. He came to the University of Pennsylvania and served as a resident in psychiatry from 1990-1993. He then completed a fellowship in addiction psychiatry. In 1994 he joined the faculty in the department of psychiatry. Dr. Kampman is the director of the department of psychiatry addiction fellowship at Penn. He supervises residents at the Addiction Recovery Unit at VA. He lectures in the Brain and Behavior course, conducts clinical case presentations and lectures to medical students during their psychiatry clinical rotations. He also supervises fourth-year medical students during an elective in Addiction Psychiatry. One of his former trainees stated, “Dr. Kampman has been instrumental in my career development as a mentor and as a teacher. He is a role model for us with his honesty, knowledge and diligence and is very popular with the residents.”

Anita Lee

Anita Lee is an associate professor of clinical medicine who practices inpatient and outpatient medicine at Penn Presbyterian and Penn Center for Primary Care. She enjoys teaching and working with all learners from first -year medical students to her peers and is especially interested in making sure the taking of an excellent history and physical with compassion remain the cornerstone of being a doctor. One of her trainees stated, “Dr. Lee devotes herself to her work with Perelman medical students. Her enthusiasm for clinical medicine is contagious and her Introduction to Clinical Medicine course is among the students’ favorites.”

Wanjiku Njoroge received her MD at Baylor College of Medicine in 1999. She then completed her adult psychiatry residency training at Penn. She completed postgraduate training programs in the areas of child and adolescent, infant/preschool psychiatry at the Yale Child Study Center as well as a post-doctoral, NIMH research fellowship at the Child Study Center. In addition, she was also a post-doctoral fellow at Yale University’s Edward Zigler Center in Child Development and Social Policy, and a Solnit fellow in the Zero to Three program based in Washington, DC.

Wanjiku Njoroge

Dr. Njoroge successfully received multiple research development awards from the National Research Service Award (NRSA), National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), and Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Currently, Dr. Njoroge is the medical director of the Young Child Clinic (YCC) at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

She is an assistant professor and is the program director for the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship Training Program in the department of child and adolescent psychiatry and behavioral sciences at CHOP. One of her former fellows stated, “It is rare to find someone like Dr. Njoroge, who not only is a brilliant, superb teacher, but also quite simply an inspiration for budding child psychiatrists and hopeful educators like myself. She is welcoming, open and gives wonderful constructive feedback that drives students to further our own learning experiences.”

Kathleen Zsolway

Kathleen Zsolway is a clinical professor of pediatrics and the medical director of the Care Network-CHOP Campus (CNCC) Pediatric Practice at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Dr. Zsolway is also the director of the medical student outpatient experience at CNCC and has devoted herself to outpatient medical student clinical education. A medical student wrote, “Dr. Zsolway makes up the heart and soul of the CNCC. She is an unbelievable physician invested in her patients and her teaching.” Another student commented, “Dr. Zsolway’s enthusiasm and passion for pediatrics and teaching were infectious, and I loved working with her. She truly went out of her way to make sure that we, as medical students, learned as much as we possibly could and I can’t say enough good things about my experience working with her.”

The Robert Dunning Dripps Memorial Award for Excellence in Graduate Medical Education

Kathleen Montone

This award was established by the department of anesthesia in 1983-1984. As a pioneer in the specialty of anesthesia and chair of the department from 1943 to 1972, Dr. Dripps was instrumental in the training of more than 300 residents and fellows, many of whom went on to chair other departments. This award is to recognize excellence as an educator of residents and fellows in clinical care, research, teaching or administration.

Kathleen Montone is a professor, clinician-educator track in the department of pathology and laboratory medicine. She graduated from Penn State University’s College of Medicine in 1989 and did her residency in anatomic pathology at HUP from  1989-1993. Following residency, Dr. Montone took a faculty position in the surgical pathology section where she concentrated her service efforts on head and neck, endocrine and infectious disease pathology. In 2010, Dr. Montone was named the surgical pathology fellowship director and in 2011 was named the chief of the surgical pathology section. In 2014, she was selected to oversee the pathology and laboratory medicine residency training program and in 2015 became the director of anatomic pathology. In 2007 and 2015, Dr. Montone received the Kevin Salhany Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching. Dr. Montone was selected for Penn’s Academy of Master Clinicians in 2015 and graduated from Drexel University’s Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine Fellowship Program in 2016. One of her former trainees stated, “Dr. Montone really cares about everyone working together with her including her fellows. She always makes sure the program is best structured for the learning of the fellows. Any questions and difficulty, she was our first person to go to.”

Blockley-Osler Award

Allison Ballantine

Created in 1987 by the Blockley section of the Philadelphia College of Physicians, this award is given annually to a member of the faculty at an affiliated hospital for excellence in teaching modern clinical medicine at the bedside in the tradition of Dr. William Osler and others who taught at Philadelphia General Hospital.

Allison Ballantine is an associate professor of clinical pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine. She is a pediatric hospitalist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia where she is the section chief of hospital medicine in the division of general pediatrics. She is also the founder and co-director of the masters in education for physicians at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. She has held multiple roles in educational leadership both locally and nationally.  She was chosen to be the speaker at the CHOP graduation in 2011 and was  a recipient of the CHOP Master Clinician Award and Faculty Teacher of the Year. In addition to her passion for clinical teaching, Dr. Ballantine has a strong interest in advancing medical education through the application of the principles of instructional design and programmatic development. One of her former residents stated, “Her pearls of wisdom were applicable on a daily basis and her ability to recognize the pain and suffering in a patient and his or her family while teaching me to examine and assess the patient are things that I have tried to mirror throughout the past three years and also pass along to junior residents.”

The Scott Mackler Award for Excellence in Substance Abuse Teaching

Benoit Dubé

This award was established in 2000 by the Penn/VA Center for Studies of Addiction and the department of psychiatry. Dr. Mackler was known for his excellence in teaching medical students, residents, post-doctoral fellows, nurses and other Penn faculty in many different departments in the area of substance abuse.

Benoit Dubé is a psychiatrist well-known to medical students. As an assistant dean for diversity and inclusion, he champions the importance of wellness during students’ academic journeys. As the director of medical student education in psychiatry, he is present in many aspects of their training: He models good communications skills for them during the Introduction to the Doctor-Patient Relationship course, makes them curious about mental health and neuropsychiatry during Brain & Behavior, and guides them through their first clinical rotation in psychiatry during their clerkships. Since significant stigma persists surrounding addiction to medicine despite improvements in our understanding of the biological underpinnings of this disease, Dr. Dubé introduced a new requirement for all medical students in 2014: attending a 12-step recovery meeting as part of their course work. Hearing first-hand about the impact of substance use disorders from addicts at various stages of recovery, rather than strictly learning from textbook cases, medical students became more aware of their own beliefs and assumptions. One of his former trainees has stated, “Dr. Dubé advocates for students to help them achieve their goals. His counseling on clerkships extends far beyond psychiatry. I cannot think of a faculty member more deserving for recognition of his efforts.”

Dean’s Award for Excellence in Medical Student Teaching by an Allied Health Professional

This award was established in 1996-1997 to recognize outstanding teaching by allied health professionals (e.g., nurses, physician’s assistants, emergency medical technicians). The two recipients were selected on the advice of a committee composed of faculty and students.

Melissa Shiner

Carol O’Donoghue

Melissa V. Shiner is a clinical pharmacy specialist who practices at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VAMC in the Inpatient Psychiatry Unit and has been there for three years. She is a board certified pharmacist in Geriatrics and Psychiatry. She graduated from Penn State University, Saint Joseph’s University, and Temple University School of Pharmacy. She completed her pharmacy practice residency at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. Dr. Shiner is a competent and professional colleague, while also being extremely easygoing and fun to work with. Dr. Shiner has an unwavering dedication to patients, unbridled enthusiasm and engaging attitude toward trainees at all levels, former medical students and residents have stated.

Carol O’Donoghue is a lecturer in the Perelman School of Medicine as well as at Penn’s School of Nursing and has been in the department of obstetrics and gynecology since 2008. Ms. O’Donoghue is a certified nurse-midwife and family nurse practitioner and has masters degrees in both nursing and public health. She has  loved teaching the Normal Labor and Delivery lecture for the OB/Gyn Clerkship as well as taking Perelman medical students through the thrill of their first delivery on the labor floor. In addition to medical students, she teaches obstetrics/gynecology, emergency and family medicine residents, as well as midwifery students. Teaching such bright, caring and motivated medical students is one of her favorite parts of her job here at Penn Medicine. One of her former students commented, “Throughout my time with her, she was also uniformly supportive and encouraging of all my questions and participation on the L&D floor. Her love of teaching was obvious and truly impressive. I only wish I could have spent more time with her because she made my time on the L&D floor so positive.”

Dean’s Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching by Housestaff

Charles Hummel

This award was established in 2015 to recognize clinical teaching excellence and commitment to medical education by outstanding house staff. One award is made annually.  The recipient is selected on the advice of a committee composed of faculty and students.

Charles Hummel is a fourth-year resident in obstetrics and gynecology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He completed MD/PhD training through the UCLA Medical Scientist Training Program, where he was involved in teaching and curriculum development. He has been passionate about medical student teaching from the beginning of residency and has been recognized as an outstanding teacher, receiving the 2015 OB/GYN Department Medical Student Teaching Award and a 2016 Penn Pearl Award. An advocate for medical student education, Dr. Hummel has been described as “the epitome of what a resident should be from the medical student standpoint. He was a skilled and knowledgeable clinician, was fantastic with his patients and therefore great to learn and observe from, and he really catered to teaching medical students to make them feel comfortable.” Dr. Hummel has used his background in research to inform his approach to teaching, and his approach to teaching inspires students to think deeply about the scientific facts underlying medical knowledge. In addition to co-authoring a medical students’ survival guide for the clerkship, as Chief Resident of Education for 2016-2017, he revamped the residency’s didactic curriculum and established a wellness program for the residency; he is also conducting educational research on the effectiveness of curriculum modifications. He will pursue work in general obstetrics and gynecology as a physician with Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center, with a focus on resident and medical student education and educational research after residency graduation in June 2017. One of his trainees commented, “His willingness to share his knowledge with me—a random medical student—and engage me on an interesting topic made me feel like he appreciated my interest in his field and wanted me to experience the same joy of learning that he clearly felt. To this day, I remember those facts not because I read them in a textbook but because a friendly resident went out of his way to share it with me.”

The Special Dean’s Award

Paul Lanken

The Special Dean’s Award was established in 1989-1990 to recognize outstanding achievements in medical education by faculty members, particularly in the development of new, innovative educational programs. The Senior Vice Dean for Education, in consultation with the Teaching Awards Selection Committee, identifies unique contributions by the faculty, resulting in their receipt of this special honor.

The 2016-2017 Special Dean’s Award honors the contributions to medical student education at the Perelman School of Medicine by Paul N. Lanken, professor emeritus of medicine and medical ethics and Health Policy at HUP. Dr. Lanken was instrumental in designing and implementing a four-year integrated curriculum related to professionalism, humanism and medical ethics for medical students. As a critical care medicine specialist in the medical intensive care unit at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania since the 1980s as well as a member of that hospital’s Ethics Consultation Committee in the early 1990s, Dr. Lanken recognized the importance of education in medical ethics and related professionalism and humanism domains. Believing that early education in these subjects was critical, he became a force for their inclusion in the medical school curriculum when the latter was being completely revised in the 1990s. Through Dr. Lanken’s leadership and efforts, teaching in these domains increased from zero curricular hours in 1990 to over 100 curricular hours currently; these efforts resulted in five new courses all of which are required for graduation. He was also the founding director of the innovative Longitudinal Experience to Appreciate Patient Perspectives (LEAPP) program in which pairs of medical students are assigned to patients with serious chronic illnesses and their families during their first month in medical school. The pairs continue to follow their assigned patients and families over the next three semesters while gaining first-hand knowledge about the impact of chronic illness on their patients and families. To further support Dr. Lanken’s efforts and in recognition of his leadership in medical education, he was appointed as Perelman’s founding associate dean for professionalism and humanism in 2004. He continued in that role until he became a professor emeritus in July 2016. One of his former students stated, “I love that Dr. Lanken is so committed to making this course the best it can be.”

Jane Glick Award

Julie Blendy

The Jane M. Glick Graduate Student Teaching Award was established in 2010 by the Glick family in remembrance of Jane Glick and her dedication to the Biomedical Graduate Studies (BGS) programs.  

This year the award is presented to Julie Blendy, professor of pharmacology. Dr. Blendy received her PhD in pharmacology at Georgetown University in 1990. She continued on to the Johns Hopkins University Medical Center in Baltimore, MD, and then to the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, Germany for her postdoctoral research before joining the pharmacology department at Penn in 1997. Dr. Blendy, who is currently chair of the pharmacology graduate group, has provided long standing, exemplary service to the BGS/PSOM/Penn core mission of education, mentoring and training the next generation of biomedical scientists.  She has received considerable praise and appreciation for her efforts as expressed by her colleagues and former trainees from the graduate program, classes and in the lab. Her dedication to these efforts exemplifies the type of scientist and educator that Dr. Glick represented.

Medical Student Government Awards

Each year the graduating class honors one clinician and one basic scientist in recognition of their excellence in teaching. These awards are determined by a vote of the class.

Clinical Teaching Award

Amy Pruitt

Amy Pruitt is a professor of neurology and director of Medical Student Education for Neurology. She is described as “a treasure” and “a fantastic teacher and physician who is loved by all trainees at all levels.” She is known to include clinical anecdotes related to case studies, making the material more tangible. As one student said, “Dr. Pruitt is quite possibly the smartest person I have ever met. She is an incredible student educator and an expert at her craft.” Another said, “She has a unique ability to impart information in a way that makes it impossible to forget.” A third student said, “Fantastic, phenomenal, amazing, awesome—there are just a few adjectives that come to mind when describing Dr. Pruitt.”

Dr. Pruitt received the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2007, as well as four Penn Pearls Awards presented by the medical students for outstanding teaching in 2000, 2007, 2011 and 2016. She was elected to the inaugural class of the Academy of Master Clinicians in 2013. This is the third time Dr. Pruitt has received the MSG Clinical Teaching Award.  

Basic Science Teaching Award

James White

James White is an adjunct associate professor of cell & developmental biology in the Perelman School of Medicine, where he teaches a number of introductory courses, including gross anatomy, neuroscience and histology. Dr. White is described as an “engaging instructor who helps students find answers for themselves.” One student said, “Professor White is animated and clearly demonstrates a passion for cell and tissue biology. Even though the material is pretty dry, he manages to make it entertaining and interesting.” Another said, “He is clear and thorough and very good at explaining complex concepts.” Students appreciate Dr. White’s willingness to stay late and review structures with them. As one student summed it up, “Beyond being a great teacher, I think this really shows his dedication.” This is the eighth year he has won the MSG Basic Science Teaching Award.