Peter Anderson, DVM, Ph.D., is the 2021 recipient of the Dean’s Excellence Award in Teaching for senior faculty. Anderson is a professor in the Department of Pathology, Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology and the Director of Pathology Undergraduate Education at the UAB School of Medicine.
Anderson received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Washington State University in Pullman, WA. After veterinary school, he was selected to participate in a Human and Comparative Pathology Residency Training Program at the UAB School of Medicine, where he completed a fellowship in human pathology. He went on to earn his Ph.D. in Experimental Cardiovascular Pathology at UAB and joined the Department of Pathology as a UAB faculty member in 1986. His research interests include cardiac hypertrophy, atherosclerosis, and intravascular stents. He has more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and 6 patents.
He began teaching medical students in the UAB School of Medicine in 1984 as a postdoctoral fellow and has taught pathology to every class of UAB medical students since. Throughout his career, Anderson has been actively involved with teaching in various UAB health science programs, including medical, dental, optometry, graduate, and undergraduate students. Anderson received the Best Course Director Award at the very first UAB Argus Awards ceremony in 1996 and was the first UAB School of Medicine faculty member to receive the prestigious AOA-AAMC Glaser Award, which is given to the best medical educator in the United States and Canada. He received the American Society for Investigative Pathology Stanley Robbins Distinguished Educator Award and the Michele Raible Distinguished Teaching Award in Undergraduate Medical Education. In addition, he was the first UAB School of Medicine faculty member to ever receive the UAB Ingalls Award for lifetime achievement in teaching at UAB.
Anderson has participated in global educational advancements through the UAB Sparkman Center for Global Health and has made numerous trips to Africa to assist in improving foreign medical school curricula. He was selected by the Fulbright Foundation to serve a five-year term as Fulbright Specialist in Medical Education. This program allows foreign medical schools to request a Fulbright Specialist to visit and provide consultative services. Dr. Anderson has also served as a consultant several times in Taiwan to lead faculty development workshops.
On the National Board of Medical Examiners, Anderson has been involved in USMLE test development for more than 18 years and has served as chair of the Pathology/Genetics committee for the US Medical Licensing Examination. He has also been named a UAB Teaching Scholar and received a UAB School of Medicine Excellence in Education Award.
“Peter has impacted so many with his excellence in teaching as a Professor in the Department of Pathology,” says George Netto, M.D., Robert and Ruth Anderson Endowed Chair in the Department of Pathology. “He is both an outstanding educator and pathologist and the recognition for his passion in teaching is well-deserved.”