Information for Our Community

Whether you are part of our community or are interested in joining us, we welcome you to Washington University School of Medicine.

close  


Visit the News Hub

Future physicians honor medical faculty, residents

Ceremony highlights Distinguished Service Teaching Awards

by Kristina SauerweinNovember 7, 2016

Jerry Naunheim Jr.

To express their appreciation for dedication, patience and skill in medical education, students at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis recently honored faculty, residents and staff with the Distinguished Service Teaching Awards for the 2015-16 academic year.

Every year since 1991, students completing their first, second and third year of studies select the course masters, lecturers, clerkship directors, attendings and residents who have made significant contributions to the training of future physicians.

Among those honored was Indi Trehan, MD, an assistant professor of pediatrics who specializes in emergency medicine and infectious diseases and is noted for his work in children’s global health. Trehan is the students’ nominee for the national Humanism in Medicine Award, which is presented annually by the Association of the American Medical Colleges (AAMC). The award recognizes medical school faculty physicians who exemplify the qualities of a caring and compassionate mentor in the teaching and advising of medical students.

Indi Trehan, MD, Washington University medical students’ nominee for the national Humanism in Medicine Award, speaks at the Distinguished Service Teaching Awards ceremony Thursday, Oct. 27.
Indi Trehan, MD, Washington University medical students’ nominee for the national Humanism in Medicine Award, speaks at the Distinguished Service Teaching Awards ceremony Thursday, Oct. 27.

Director of the School of Medicine’s Pediatric Global Health Residency Pathway, Trehan’s focuses on childhood malnutrition and infection. He has published related research in prestigious journals and treated patients in impoverished places such as Haiti, Sierra Leone and Malawi.

Other medical faculty and residents honored at the ceremony Oct. 27 at the Eric P. Newman Education Center include:

Third Year Awards – Class of 2017

Clerkship Director of the Year: Thomas M. De Fer, MD, professor of medicine

Clinical Lecturer of the Year: Thomas M. De Fer, MD, professor of medicine

Clinical Department of the Year: Internal Medicine

Clerkship Administrator of the Year: Patricia Werner, obstetrics and gynecology

Clinical Teachers of the Year:

  • Michael M. Awad, MD, PhD, associate professor of surgery and associate dean for medical student education
  • Camaryn E. Chrisman-Robbins, MD, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology
  • David L. Eisenberg, MD, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology
  • Steven J. Lawrence, MD, associate professor of medicine
  • Mark D. Levine, MD, associate professor of medicine
  • Stewart Massad Jr., MD, professor of obstetrics and gynecology
  • Laura A. Parks, MD, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology
  • Morton E. Smith, MD, professor emeritus of ophthalmology and visual sciences and associate dean emeritus
  • Tammy Shim Sonn, MD, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology
  • Megan E. Wren, MD, associate professor of medicine

Residents of the Year:

  • Chelsea Bayer, MD
  • Victoria Bedell, MD
  • Lauren M. Bergeron, MD
  • Amit Bery, MD
  • Sarah Cusworth, MD
  • Jonathan Hirshberg, MD
  • Osvaldo Laurido-Soto, MD
  • Cynthia L. Montana, MD, PhD
  • Wade Reiner, MD
  • Max Rosen, MD

Second Year Awards – Class of 2018

Course Master of the Year: Erika C. Crouch, MD, PhD, a professor of pathology and immunology

Professor of the Year: Allyson R. Zazulia, MD, professor of neurology and of radiology and associate dean for Continuing Medical Education

Lecturer of the Year: Steven C. Cheng, MD, associate professor of medicine

Distinguished Service Teaching Awards:

  • William E. Clutter, MD, associate professor of medicine and associate director of Medicine House Staff Program
  • Alan I. Glass, MD, assistant vice chancellor for student affairs and director of Student Health Services
  • Dehra A. Harris, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry (child)
  • Scot G. Hickman, MD, professor of medicine
  • Nigar Kirmani, MD, professor of medicine
  • Steven J. Lawrence, MD, assistant professor of medicine
  • Caroline K. Lee, MD, associate professor of pediatrics
  • Adrian Shifren, MD, assistant professor of medicine
  • Megan E. Wren, MD, associate professor of medicine
  • Timothy Yau, MD, assistant professor of medicine

Practice of Medicine Preceptor of the Year: Thomas M. De Fer, MD, professor of medicine

First Year Awards – Class of 2019

Course Master of the Year: Sabrina Nunez, PhD, assistant professor of medicine

Professor of the Year: Evan D. Kharasch, MD, PhD, the Russell D. and Mary B. Shelden Professor of Anesthesiology and professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics

Stanley Lang Lecturer of the Year: Jane Phillips-Conroy, PhD, professor of anthropology and of anatomy

Distinguished Service Teaching Awards:

  • Kari L. Allen, PhD, assistant professor of anatomy and of anthropology
  • Amy L. Bauernfeind, PhD, assistant professor of anatomy and of anthropology
  • Paul C. Bridgman, Phd, professor of neuroscience and professor of biomedical engineering
  • Glenn C. Conroy, PhD, professor of neuroscience and of anthropology
  • Krikor T. Dikranian, MD, PhD, professor of anatomy and associate professor of physical therapy
  • Brian T. Edelson, MD, PhD, assistant professor of pathology and immunology
  • Simon Haroutounian, PhD, assistant professor of anesthesiology
  • Jay F. Piccirillo, MD, professor of otolaryngology, vice chair for research and director of the Clinical Outcomes Research Office
  • Linda J. Pike, PhD, alumni endowed professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics
  • Gregory M. Polites, MD, associate professor of medicine

Practice of Medicine Small Group Leader of the Year Award: Alan I. Glass, MD, assistant vice chancellor for student affairs and director of Student Health Services

Selective of the Year Award: Gavin P. Dunn, MD, PhD, assistant professor of neurological surgery and of pathology and immunology

Teaching Assistant of the Year: Chad J. Donahue, MD, PhD, student and graduate research assistant at the School of Medicine.

For more photos from the ceremony, follow this link.

Attendees at the annual School of Medicine Distinguished Service Teaching Awards ceremony applaud those honored for the 2015-16 academic year. The ceremony was Thursday, Oct. 27, on the Medical Campus.Jerry Naunheim Jr.
Attendees at the annual School of Medicine Distinguished Service Teaching Awards ceremony applaud those honored for the 2015-16 academic year. The ceremony was Thursday, Oct. 27, on the Medical Campus.

Washington University School of Medicine‘s 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient-care institutions in the nation, currently ranked sixth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.

Kristina covers pediatrics, surgery, medical education and student life. In 2020, she received a gold Robert G. Fenley Writing Award for general staff writing from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), and in 2019, she received the silver award. Kristina is an author and former reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Los Angeles Times, where she was part of a team of journalists that won the Pulitzer Prize in 2004 for breaking news. Additionally, she covered the 2014 Ferguson unrest for TIME magazine and, for eight years, wrote a popular parenting column for BabyCenter.com.