August 2022 Exceptional Teachers
We are interested in collecting your stories about faculty members, residents, nurses, or anyone else, who have impacted or influenced you in a significant way. Please tell us about what those teachers did that resulted in an exceptional educational experience and how it changed you.
This Month's Submissions
Below are the exceptional teacher recognitions shared with the Learning Environment Advocacy Committee this month. Thank you to these faculty for providing a great experience for our students.
August 2022 Submissions
Emergency Medicine
- Dr. Andrew Moore - “Dr. Moore systematically worked with me over the course of multiple shifts to improve my skills in the ED and build upon learning points from my previous shifts. His mentorship was instrumental to me really maximizing my experience this clerkship and cementing my love of emergency medicine. I am grateful for his mentorship and teaching and look forward to continuing to work with/learn from him in the future.”
- Dr. Colllin Thatcher - “Collin Thatcher was an amazing resident who I worked with a few times throughout the clerkship. Despite working what seemed like many shifts to cover people who were sick, Collin was always positive, helpful, and available for teaching. He made sure to involve me as a learner despite times when it seemed like it may have made more work for him. I hope everyone gets to work with him!”
Family and Community Medicine
- Dr. Mark Watts - “As leader of the clerkship, Dr. Watts did an incredible job balancing the needs of multiple groups of students in a very fluid setting.
In the clinic, Dr. Watts took the time to appropriately provide constructive feedback and help me drive towards improving my clinical reasoning skills. Learned a lot at Vinton from him and the rest of the team there!” - Dr. Todd Palmerton - “Dr. Palmerton lets students really get involved and creates a very safe and welcoming teaching environment. I had a great time working with him and learned a lot - definitely was my favorite provider to work with! Thank you.”
Internal Medicine
- Dr. Vishal Patel - “Dr. Patel was very supportive during our rounds and made sure to give helpful teaching pointers throughout my time working with him.”
- Dr. Christian Rose - “Great resident!!!! Really appreciated how much he helped med students learn/be successful on rounds!”
Neurology
- Dr. Eliud Irizarry - “Dr. Irizarry was very engaging and took the time to explain concepts which I very much appreciated as a student. He is very knowledgeable and seems to have a good working relationship with residents.”
- Dr. Geetika Bajpai - “Great physician and helpful to students. Incorporates teaching into the workflow of patient care.”
OB-GYN
- Dr. Eduardo Lara-Torre - “Great sense of humor and fun to work with. Very caring and engaged students in patient care. Provided meaningful feedback on patient presentations and in the OR.”
- Dr. Katherine Mass - “Working with Dr. Mass was not only a joy to work with, but it was a great learning experience. She helped me as a student to fully immerse in the OB/GYN experience by constantly involving me in patient care and giving me responsibilities. She was always open to answering my questions and was pleasant to converse with overall. It is also very clear that she cares about her patients as she actively listens to patients and takes her time with them. Even during very busy shifts, she was still on top of things. I really appreciated my time with Dr. Mass!”
Pediatrics
- Dr. Emily Nguyen - “Dr. Nguyen took initiative to approach each student with personalized feedback in relation to goals set at the start of the week. She was very attentive, available, and honest. Gave very constructive and helpful feedback.”
- Dr. Olivia Asamoah - “Dr. Asamoah is a very caring and knowledgeable person who I can tell is going on to do great things as a pediatrician! She made sure to introduce us to everyone and make us comfortable in a new environment, show us the ropes. She was always willing to answer questions. She helped me with my skills, and also was willing to find tasks for me to do if I asked for some which was very appreciated. It was great working with her, and I hope to do so again one day!”
Psychiatry & Behavioral Medicine
- Dr. Shariff Tanious - “Dr. Tanious is very kind, both with his team and with the patients. He gave pointed constructive feedback, which I loved. He also created a very comfortable learning environment where I felt free to ask any question. And he took to time to answer them all-I finally understand concepts I have been struggling with since the beginning of med school because of his lectures.”
- Dr. Akil Pola - “Dr. Pola is an exceptional teacher, physician, and colleague. I looked forward to each day on CL he was to be there and highly value his input and education. He made the day fun while at the same time did not allow us to lose focus on providing high quality patient care. He is by far one of the most encouraging and enjoyable residents I have had the pleasure of working with my M3 year. I would be glad to have him take care of any one of my family members. He should be commended in the highest regard for his efforts in providing the highest patient care and best medical student experience.”
Radiology
- Dr. Eric McLoney - “Super friendly and happy to let me observe any procedures I wanted to. Good teacher. And patients obviously loved him.”
- Dr. Sarah Thomas - “It was a pleasure working with Dr. Thomas! She is very knowledgeable and is willing to teach without prompting. She smoothly integrated me into the team and did not leave me guessing about my role. I enjoyed observing her patient interactions and hope to emulate them in the future.”
Surgery
- Dr. Tananchai Lucktong - “Dr. Lucktong was extremely welcoming to me from the first day on his service. He went out of his way to involve me in surgeries (holding/maneuvering laparoscopic tools, making sure I knew the anatomy, making sure I could see a screen from where I was standing around the OR table, etc.) and was very engaging during the clinic days that I had with him. He let me do a lot, but he was also constantly asking me questions to test my knowledge (especially on anatomy and a differential diagnosis) and keep me on my toes (in a good way). He was very patient when I didn't know how to effectively maneuver around Epic and took time out of his day to help me use smartphrases properly.”
- Dr. Jeff Lawrence - “Jeff Lawrence is the best resident I've ever worked with. He deserves to be recognized for how passionate he is about teaching and getting students involved.”