The Lewis Katz School of Medicine Honors 13 Professors at the 5th Annual Faculty Excellence Awards
Thirteen members of the Lewis Katz School of Medicine’s high-achieving faculty were recognized for distinguishing themselves at the annual Faculty Educational Excellence Awards reception on May 11, 2023.
The awards were launched in 2018 to honor faculty for exceptional work across various phases and categories of teaching, mentorship, and service throughout the Katz School community.
The Faculty Educational Excellence Awards Committee solicits nominations from Katz School medical and graduate students, residents, fellows, program directors, clinical and graduate faculty, and the North Philadelphia community at large. Faculty are also welcome to nominate themselves. The award winners are selected by the committee.
Of this year’s recipients, Amy Goldberg, MD, FACS, the Marjorie Joy Katz Dean of the Lewis Katz School of Medicine said,
“These individuals are not only extremely talented, but they work very hard for the benefit of our students, trainees, patients, and the community we serve. They contribute to education, clinical care, and research, often exceeding their required duties.”
Eight awards were presented during the reception, which Dr. Goldberg presided over.
Jean Lee, MD, FACP, Professor of Medicine in the Section of Nephrology, received the Medical Program Teaching Award (Phase 1), which recognizes a faculty member for their contributions to the education of medical students.
Dr. Lee serves as Clinical Expert and Coordinator for Systems 4 – Nephrology. She’s also a member of the Doctoring College faculty.
According to Dr. Goldberg, Dr. Lee was the most vocal advocate for reviewing all course material for racial bias.
“Today, our curriculum emphasizes health and healthcare equity, impacting everyone who walks through our doors,” Dr. Goldberg said. “Dr. Lee, your words and actions inspire us all to be better physicians, educators, and community members.”
Noah Levinson, MD, Assistant Professor of Clinical Neurology, was presented with the Medical Program Teaching Award (Phase 2/3).
Dr. Levinson is the Site Director and Associate Clerkship Director for the Jeanes Hospital Neurology Clerkship Rotation. He also serves as Academic Coach for the Montier Doctoring College, and he mentors a select cohort of medical school students and those interested in pursuing a neurology residency.
“Dr. Levinson was the reason I organized my rotation schedule the way I did. I ranked any option with Jeanes neuro in the top 10 options because I thoroughly enjoy his teaching style and bedside manner,” one student said.
Daniel Mueller, MD, and Anjali Vaidya, MD, FACC, FASE, FACP, received the GME Program Teaching Award, which recognizes excellence in the Katz School’s residency and fellowship programs.
Dr. Mueller is an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and the Program Director of the Internal Medicine Residency, a position he entered at the height of the pandemic, with the program still recalibrating from the closure of Hahnemann Hospital.
In the three years since, Dr. Mueller has rebuilt the leadership ranks, engaged the community, championed resident wellness, increased the number of chief residents, improved safety, and expanded the curriculum.
“It’s not just the volume of work that sets Dr. Mueller apart; it’s the thoughtfulness of it,” Dr. Goldberg said. “He gives his personal attention to the more than 140 residents in the program. He knows each resident’s name, career goals, personal struggles, and professional strengths and weaknesses. And he meets with every single one regularly.”
Dr. Vaidya is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology, Assistant Program Director of the Internal Medicine Residency, Associate Director of the Cardiology Fellowship, and Director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Fellowship.
In one teaching evaluation, a resident said,
“Dr. Vaidya is a role model physician for trainees like me, striving for excellence in teaching evidence-based medicine, communication with patients, mentoring, and efficient time management. In my three years of training, I haven’t seen even one day where she is less than excellent in all these areas.”
Dr. Vaidya has also been instrumental in recruiting historically underrepresented cardiology fellows from nationally renowned residency programs. Before her tenure, 25 percent of the fellows were women. Today, it’s 60 percent.
Christine Mount, MS, PA-C, Associate Professor of Clinical Surgery and the Physician Assistant Program Director, was presented with the Graduate/Non-MD Professional Program Teaching Award.
Since starting at the Katz School in 2016, Mount has served as a director or co-course director at least once for most of the 30 courses within the PA program’s curriculum, in addition to her administrative responsibilities.
She is also a respected mentor and role model for the junior PA faculty, many of whom are clinicians with no experience in the classroom.
Hillel Maresky, MD, and Henry Parkman, MD, received the Research Mentoring Award, which recognizes excellence in mentoring non-faculty and non-staff research trainees across different career levels, from undergraduate students to postdoctoral fellows.
Dr. Maresky is an Assistant Professor of Radiology. Since his arrival at the Katz in 2019, his mentees have collaborated on novel projects ranging from COVID-19 lung imaging and ballistics in chest radiology to virtual reality in interventional radiology and the use of 3D imaging to spot needle fragments.
The resulting publications have been featured in major medical journals and presented at conferences in the United States and abroad.
Dr. Parkman is the Stanley H. Lorber Chair of the Department of Gastroenterology, Vice Chair of Research for the Department of Medicine, and a Professor of Medicine. Over his long and distinguished career at the Katz School, he’s worked tenaciously to find – or develop – innovative treatment options that improve his patients’ lives and advance the field.
One of the roughly 10 people Dr. Parkman mentors each year said that, together with Dr. Parkman, he presented 22 abstracts at national conferences and published 15 original research articles in highly reputable journals.
Another said,
“His encouragement and guidance helped me produce five abstracts and three manuscripts in that one year, which changed the trajectory of my career from becoming a private practitioner to an academic motility specialist.”
Kraftin Schreyer, MD, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Director of the Emergency Medicine Administrative Fellowship, was presented with the Educational Scholarship Award.
Dr. Schreyer has overseen the Department of Emergency Medicine’s Content Expert Program since 2020, through which residents learn the skills to complete a quality improvement project, perform research, and develop educational initiatives.
In this role, she helps residents select a topic, oversees the simultaneous progression of 42 resident-faculty team projects, and guides them to successful completion. Many have been published in highly reputable journals, presented at conferences, implemented into the curriculum, and adopted as clinical guidelines, impacting patient care nationwide.
Candrice Heath, MD, Assistant Professor of Dermatology, received the Educational Service Award, which recognizes a faculty member for the essential educational activities they performed beyond their required duties.
“In 2018, Dr. Heath established her practice at Temple because of the opportunity it offered her to amplify optimal, equitable, and compassionate care for patients of color with cultural humility,” Dr. Goldberg said. “As an educator, she strives to impart these same priorities in the medical interns, medical students, and residents she trains.”
Once a week, Dr. Heath teaches first- and second-year medical students the art of history and physical examination, with a portion of the lesson devoted to identifying the parts of patients’ stories that reflect health equity challenges and best practices. And in between seeing clinic patients, Dr. Heath demonstrated for residents how to examine the hair and scalp with cultural humility.
Time and again, Dr. Heath has proven to be generous with her time in the name of advancing the education of her students. As one example, she spends two Saturdays a month presenting research writing workshops on Zoom for medical students.
Finally, Jessica Beard, MD, MPH, FACS, Associate Professor of Surgery in the Division of Trauma and Surgical Critical Care, received the Community Outreach Award, which recognizes outreach on behalf of the Katz School within North Philadelphia and, more specifically, a faculty member’s dedication to improving the lives of others through leadership, social responsibility, and mentorship.
In 2021, with support from the Stoneleigh Foundation, Dr. Beard became the Director of Research for the Philadelphia Center for Gun Violence Reporting. In this role, she’s been conducting research to minimize the harms of media reporting on firearm-injured people and the impacted communities in North Philadelphia.
Also recognized during the reception were Bettina Buttaro, PhD, Tricia Burdo, PhD, and Raj Kishore, PhD, who were honored at the annual Temple University Faculty Awards Ceremony in April.
Dr. Buttaro, Associate Professor of Biomedical Education and Data Science; Associate Professor of Microbiology, Immunology, and Inflammation; and Associate Professor of the Sol Sherry Thrombosis Research Center, was presented with the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, which is given to a faculty member who epitomizes the highest levels of sustained teaching excellence in a classroom, lab, or clinical setting.
“Dr. Buttaro has been widely lauded for her success in transforming what was historically a grueling two-month course in microbiology and immunology into one of the most popular courses our school offers,” Dr. Goldberg said.
Dr. Burdo, Vice Chair of the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Inflammation; Professor of Microbiology, Immunology, and Inflammation; Professor of Neural Sciences; and Professor of the Center for Neurovirology and Gene Editing, received the Paul W. Eberman Faculty Research Award, which recognizes a single research study or a body of research on a given topic that’s considered to be a major contribution.
She has combined her expertise in the SIV/rhesus monkey system with the CRISPR gene editing technology being developed by Kamel Khalili, PhD, the Laura H. Carnell Professor of Neuroscience; Chair of the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Inflammation; Director and Professor of the Center for Neurovirology and Gene Editing; and Director of the NeuroAIDS Center.
These studies have led to the publication of several highly cited works on the eradication of HIV in the host genome.
Dr. Kishore, Vice Chair of the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, Director of the Stem Cell Therapy Program at the Center for Translational Medicine, Associate Director and Professor of the Center for Translational Medicine, Professor of the Lemole Center for Integrated Lymphatics and Vascular Research, Professor of Cardiovascular Sciences, and Professor of Medicine, was presented with the Laura H. Carnell Professorship.
Nearly every year since 1985, Temple’s Board of Trustees has recognized a faculty member with the honor, which is named after the university’s first dean. The award is given to an individual who has distinguished themselves in research, scholarship, the creative arts, and teaching.
Dr. Kishore’s groundbreaking cardiovascular stem cell research has recently focused on the use of exomes for cardiac repair, work that is supported by a five-year, $12-million Program Project Grant; the epigenetic modulation of cardiac cells and stem cells; and a new class of non-coding RNAs, called circular RNAs, as important mediators of post-infarct cardiac injury and repair.
He’s received more than a $1 million per year for the last decade from the National Institutes of Health to support his cutting-edge study of cardiac stem cell regeneration and the effects of inflammation on the cardiovascular system.
And over the last two decades, he’s trained nearly 40 students and post-docs.