11 laureates presented with student-nominated awards
For the second year, 11 outstanding Faculty of Medicine educators were presented with Transition to Clinical Practice (TCP) Awards for Excellence in Teaching during an event held in Holmes Hall on January 19.
Dr. David Eidelman, Vice-Principal (Health Affairs) and Dean, Faculty of Medicine opened the proceedings and presented each laureate with their award, joined by Dr. Beth-Ann Cummings, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education, Mary Koziol, President of the medical student Class of 2018 and Dr. Laurie Plotnick, TCP Component Director, who read a sampling of the student comments for each laureate before asking them to accept their award.
Transition to Clinical Practice is a unique six-month component during the four-year medical curriculum when students are given the opportunity to apply the knowledge learned in their first 18 months, to practice their skills, and to learn key aspects of various disciplines, without being responsible for patient care.
The faculty who participate in the TCP component are remarkable for their dedication to medical education, since the teaching is neither seen as university-based (as in the Fundamentals of Medicine & Dentistry component) nor as direct clinical supervision (as in the Clerkship component). Students have expressed enormous appreciation for these faculty members who generously share their time and wisdom with passion, encouragement and professionalism.
“As Component Director of Transition to Clinical Practice, I am honoured to celebrate 11 faculty members this year who have been chosen by the students to receive Awards for Excellence in Teaching,” said Dr. Plotnick during the celebration. “Of note, there were a total of 137 faculty members nominated, which highlights the dedication and excellence of our teachers. A monetary contribution to our Teaching Fund has been made by the Faculty of Medicine in honour of the recipients. This fund will be used to purchase educational material and tools to support teachers during this component.”
The dedication and commitment required of the faculty members participating in TCP is not lost on their students. Speaking on behalf of herself and her fellow students, Koziol expressed their appreciation. “The challenges of being a doctor in a resource-strapped system are many,” she said in her comments, not only to the laureates but to all of those who give of their time to teach. “There are always too many things to do and not enough time to do them; there are patients to see, research proposals to write, paperwork to complete, the list goes on—it is easy for teaching to fall by the wayside. So, on behalf of all of my classmates, thank you for prioritizing our learning; thank you for investing in the future of healthcare; and thank you for inspiring us to be competent, curious and compassionate physicians, who will, in our turn, inspire the next generation as you have for us.”
This year’s honorees were:
- Dr. Eugene Delabays, Anesthesia
- Dr. Amanda Angelus, Family Medicine
- Dr. Joanna Caron, Family Medicine
- Dr. Jeffrey Wiseman, Internal Medicine
- Dr. Gershon Frisch, Internal Medicine
- Dr. Lucy Vieira, Neurology
- Dr. Bryan Arthurs, Ophthalmology
- Dr. Alan Coffey, Ophthalmology
- Dr. Ana Maria Sant’Anna, Pediatrics
- Dr. Mathieu Boily, Radiology
- Dr. Thierry Benaroch, Surgery
Congratulations to all!
January 27, 2017