Division News

Teaching Academy Honors Inductees, Awardees & Focuses on DEI at Annual Retreat

January 15, 2021 by Jennifer Nachbur

Medical education leaders and scholars gathered virtually on January 13 and 14, 2021 for the Larner College of Medicine Teaching Academy’s 2021 Induction and Award Ceremony and Snow Season Education Retreat. Co-presented with the University of Vermont Health Network Medical Group, the ceremony recognized medical educators and kicked off the annual education program, which this year featured several sessions on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Medical education leaders and scholars gathered virtually on January 13 and 14, 2021 for the Larner College of Medicine Teaching Academy’s 2021 Induction and Award Ceremony and Snow Season Education Retreat. Co-presented with the University of Vermont Health Network Medical Group, the ceremony recognized medical educators and kicked off the annual education program, which this year featured several sessions on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

Teaching Academy Director Kathryn Huggett, Ph.D., and Larner College of Medicine Dean Richard L. Page, M.D., opened the ceremony with welcome remarks, followed by a Teaching Academy year-in-review presentation by Huggett, and a State of Graduate Medical Education (GME) by GME Associate Dean Melissa Davidson, M.D.

Associate Professor of Pediatrics Molly Rideout, M.D., led the induction of new and advancing Teaching Academy members (see list at the end of this article). Established in 2014, the Teaching Academy now has a total of 180 members.

Huggett then presented the Teaching Academy’s 2021 Teaching and Excellence in Education Awards and John King, M.D., M.P.H., associate dean for continuing medical and interprofessional education and professor and vice chair of family medicine, and Claude Deschamps, M.D., senior associate dean for clinical affairs and president of the UVM Health Network Medical Group, presented the Medical Group Education Awards.

Stephen Everse, Ph.D., associate professor of biochemistry and course director, Foundations of Clinical Science, received the Frederick C. Morin III, MD Educational Leadership Award, which recognizes an individual who has demonstrated an exemplary and sustained record of service in educational leadership, committee service, and/or administration. Molly Rideout, M.D., professor of pediatrics, received the 2021 Innovation in Curriculum Development or Pedagogy Award, which recognizes an individual or team who developed an approach to teaching and learning that is innovative, intellectually rigorous, and engaging. Andrew Hale, M.D., assistant professor of medicine, received the Educational Scholarship Award, which recognizes an individual who has demonstrated a record of quality, quantity, and engagement in medical education scholarship. Leah Burke, M.D., professor of pediatrics, received the Outstanding Contribution Award, which recognizes an individual who has made a significant contribution to medical education either for a specific, short-term initiative, or sustained contribution.

UVM Health Network Medical Group education award recipients included: Stephen Berns, M.D., associate professor of family medicine and course director, Professionalism, Communication & Reflection, who received the Continuing Medical Education Educator of the Year award; and Julian Sprague, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of medicine, who received the Graduate Medical Education Educator of the Year award. The UVM Health Nework Medical Group Education Grant was bestowed upon a team led by principal investigator Richard Bounds, M.D., associate professor of surgery and emergency medicine program director and fellowship director, with co-investigator Tabitha Ford, MD, clinical instructor in surgery and a medical education fellow in emergency medicine, for their project, titled “Fostering gender equity to improve the clinical learning environment for medical learners at the University of Vermont.”

The ceremony closed with the presentation of the Teaching Academy’s Distinguished Service Award to Alan Rubin, M.D., professor of family medicine and psychiatry, who is retiring from UVM after serving for 46 years as a faculty member and has played an integral role in the education of medical students through Doctoring in Vermont and other courses.

At the Snow Season Retreat on January 14, participants heard a plenary presentation on the role of medical education in DEI by Association of American Medical Colleges Chief Medical Education Officer Alison Whelan, M.D., and joined in sessions on such topics as “Racism and Bias in Clinical Settings – Disrupt the Cycle: A Simulation Case-Based Workshop;” “Using Humanities to Facilitate Discussion and Perspective Taking Around Themes of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion;” and “Practical Application of the Science of Learning and Instruction to Medical Education.”

The following faculty members were recognized during the induction ceremony:

Distinguished Educator

Karen Lounsbury, Ph.D., Pharmacology

Halle Sobel, M.D., FACP, Medicine

Rebecca Wilcox, M.D., Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Master Teacher

Dmitriy Akselrod, M.D., Radiology

Deborah Cook, M.D., Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Thomas Delaney, Ph.D., Pediatrics

Clara Keegan, M.D., Family Medicine

Anne Stowman, M.D., Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Jaspinder Sra, M.D., Anesthesiology

Member

Wasef Abu-Jaish, M.D., Surgery

Daniel Ackil, D.O., Surgery

Whittney Barkhuff, M.D., Ph.D., Pediatrics

Michelle Cangiano, M.D., Family Medicine

Benjamin Clements, M.D., Family Medicine

Navid Esfandiari, Ph.D., Obstetrics, Gynecology, &

Reproductive Sciences

Tabitha Ford, M.D., Surgery

Matthew Geeslin, M.D., M.S., Radiology

Matthew Gilbert, D.O., M.P.H., Medicine

Heather Herrington, M.D., Surgery

Alicia Jacobs, M.D., Family Medicine

F. Louis Kirk III, M.D., Anesthesiology

George Kurien, M.D., Surgery

Skyler Lentz, M.D., Surgery

Mark Lach, M.D., Radiology

Shea Lambirth, M.D., Medicine

Katherine Mariani, M.D., M.P.H., Family Medicine

Rachel McEntee, M.D., Medicine

Carolyn Orgain, M.D., Surgery

Christian Pulcini, M.D., M.P.H., Surgery

Lindsay Reardon, M.D., Surgery

Tamara Rimash, M.D., Surgery

Matthew Siket, M.D., Surgery

John Steele Taylor, M.D., Neurological Sciences

Protégé

Autumn Sacklow, M.D., Surgery

Learn more about the Teaching Academy.