2006 Alpha Omega Alpha Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teacher Award
Molly Cooke, M.D.
University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine
The Alpha Omega Alpha Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teacher
Awards were established by the AOA medical honor society in 1988
to provide national recognition to faculty members who have distinguished
themselves in medical student education. The award is named for
long-time AOA executive secretary Robert J. Glaser, M.D.
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"My major goal as a clinical teacher is
to adequately convey the great privilege of taking care of
the patients who depend on us."
- Dr. Molly Cooke
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She may be on sabbatical, but her heart is still in San Francisco;
that is, the School of Medicine at the University of California,
San Francisco (UCSF). Her name is Molly Cooke, and her colleagues
say "she is quite simply one of the finest teachers and most
innovative designers of curriculum" at the university.
Dr. Molly Cooke is a professor of medicine and an endowed chair
in the division of internal medicine at UCSF School of Medicine,
where she has taught for more than 20 years. During the 2006-07
academic year, she is serving as senior scholar with the Carnegie
Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and co-directing its
Study on Medical Education. The research team Dr. Cooke helps oversee
will visit 14 medical schools and centers in an effort to analyze
the professional development of physicians-in-training at three
key points: early exposure to doctoring, third-year clerkships,
and residency.
Having rediscovered her "first love" of clinical teaching
12 years ago, Dr. Cooke has put her many talents to work on curriculum
reform, faculty development, and administration. She helped lead
a major restructuring of the medical school's curriculum and chaired
the Integrated Clinical Studies Steering Committee in charge of
enhancing the third and fourth years of medical school. To give
junior faculty in internal medicine greater access to senior faculty,
she developed a series of professional development workshops: Introduction
to Academic Advancement for new faculty members, Preparing for Appraisal
and Voluntary Career Assessment for mid-assistant professors, and
Preparing for Promotion for late assistant professors.
Additionally, she helped secure extramural funding for the UCSF
diabetes management program, which provides care to more than 500
adult patients in the San Francisco community. The program, which
brings together students from three UCSF professional schools (medicine,
nursing and pharmacy), is a model for interprofessional clinical
care and training at the university.
As a young doctor starting her career at San Francisco General
Hospital, Dr. Cooke became keenly interested in the care and treatment
of patients with HIV/AIDS, and later became founding chair of the
hospital's ethics committee. Today, in addition to treating AIDS
patients at the local clinic where she practices one half-day weekly,
she is widely recognized for her expertise in the ethical issues
associated with HIV illness and resource allocation decisions at
urban public hospitals.
In addition to her work as an educator, clinician, and researcher,
Dr. Cooke has developed an outstanding track record in community
service at both the local and national levels. She is the director
of the Haile Debas Academy of Medical Educators, a nationally recognized
honor society and community service organization she founded in
2000. As an honor society, the academy recognizes the medical school's
most outstanding teachers, and as a service organization, it promotes
excellence in teaching, fosters curricular innovation, advances
scholarship in medical education, and advocates for teachers and
teaching at UCSF.
At the national level, Dr. Cooke is a governor and chapter member
of the American College of Physicians, and in April of this year
became vice chair of the group's Health and Public Policy Committee.
She is also a founding co-director of the AIDS Task Force of the
Society for General Internal Medicine.
Dr. Cooke earned both her B.S. in biology and M.D. degrees from
Stanford University and completed her residency and fellowship in
internal medicine at UCSF. She is a two-time recipient of the Kaiser
Family Foundation Teaching Award and the UCSF Academic Senate Award
for Distinction in Teaching.
Nominate a deserving individual for the Alpha
Omega Alpha Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teacher Award, and
view a list of previous award recipients.
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