August 19, 2013

Faculty, departments honored with Argus Awards

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Students from the UAB School of Medicine have named 22 faculty and three clinical departments winners of the 2013 Argus Awards.

The Argus Awards, created in 1996 to recognize faculty members, give medical students the chance to honor their mentors, professors, courses and course directors for outstanding service to medical education. Faculty are nominated by course evaluations and students vote to select award winners in each category.

“Being selected as an Argus Award recipient lets me know that first-year students appreciate what I and the many other faculty who teach in our course do and encourages us to continue to participate and improve,” said Ken Waites, M.D., professor of Pathology and 2013 Argus Award winner for best lecturer in Fundamentals 2 and best introductory module. “This has actually become a friendly competition with other faculty and course directors to see who wins the awards each year. When Fundamentals II receives an Argus Award, we make sure all of the faculty who taught in the course and everyone in our department knows that the course has received this recognition.”

“Teaching is highly valued in the Department of Pathology where I hold my primary faculty appointment, and we usually have several Argus Award recipients every year” said Waites, who won in the same categories in 2012. “Being notified that I have received an Argus Award is a highlight of the year and I always look forward to the announcements of the winners in every category.”

Winners of the 2013 Argus Awards are:

Fundamentals 2 directors Peter Anderson, D.V.M, Ph.D., professor of Pathology, and Ken Waites, M.D., professor of Pathology for Best Introductory Module; Michael Saag, M.D., professor of Medicine, for Best Lecturer in Patient, Doctor and Society; Martin Young, Ph.D., associate professor of Medicine, for Best Lecturer in Fundamentals 1; Ken Waites, M.D., professor of Pathology for Best Lecturer in Fundamentals 2; cardiovascular module directors Harish Doppalapudi, M.D., associate professor of Medicine, and Silvio Litovsky, M.D., associate professor of Pathology, for Best MS1 Organ Module; Harish Doppalapudi, M.D., associate professor of Medicine, for Best Lecturer in Cardiology; Kevin Leon, M.D., associate professor of Medicine, for Best Lecturer in Pulmonary Medicine; Brendan McGuire, M.D., professor of Medicine, for Best Lecturer in the Gastrointestinal Module; Ashita Tolwani, M.D., professor of Medicine, for Best Lecturer in the Renal Module; Winn Chatham, M.D., professor of Medicine, for Best Lecturer in the Musculoskeletal Module; Anthony Nicholas, M.D., associate professor of Neurology, for Best Lecturer in the Neurosciences Module; Vishnu Reddy, M.D., professor of Pathology, for Best Lecturer in the Hematology-Oncology Module; Lea Novak, M.D., associate professor of Pathology, for Best Lecturer in the Reproductive Module; Shawn Galin, Ph.D., associate professor of Medicine, for Best Lecturer in the Endocrine Module; endocrine directors Shawn Galin, Ph.D., associate professor of Medicine, and Hussein Abdullatif, M.D., professor of Pediatrics, for Best MS-2 Organ Module; Kevin Leon, M.D., associate professor of Medicine, for Caduceus Club Award for Excellence in Preclinical Education; Hussein Abdullatif, M.D., professor of Pediatrics, for Caduceus Club Award for Best Birmingham Clinical Instructor; Heather Taylor, M.D., assistant professor of Pediatrics, for Tuscaloosa Best Clinical Instructor; Farrah Ibrahim, M.D., associate professor of Medicine, for Huntsville Best Clinical Instructor.

For the second consecutive year, Galin and Abdullatif were also named winners of the Dale J. Benos Award for directing the best overall organ system course module. This award was named for the late Dale J. Benos, Ph.D., professor and chair of the former Department of Physiology and Biophysics, who served at UAB for over 25 years and was internationally renowned for his contributions to the field of biomedical research and honored for excellence in medical education.

"One chooses the profession of teaching future physicians really for the love of it,” Abdullatif said. “However, receiving an award or a nomination serves as a great affirmation that we have chosen the right profession and for the right reasons." 

The Department of Medicine was honored as the Best Department in Birmingham. The Department Surgery was named Best Tuscaloosa Department, and the Department of Medicine was named Best Huntsville Department.

A ceremony to honor Argus Award recipients and nominees will be held at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6, 2013 at room 402 of the Children’s Harbor Building, 1600 6th Ave. South.