Alpha Omega Alpha Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teaching Award

John Nolte, Ph.D.
University of Arizona College 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.

Not many medical educators find their teaching material the subject of a rap parody on myspace.com, but then again, not many have "stalked the wild asparagyrus" either. John ("Jack") Nolte, Ph.D., can claim fame to both, and as professor of cell biology and anatomy at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, he continues to develop innovative ways of teaching medicine's next generation.

Stalking the Wild Asparagyrus is the name a former student gave Dr. Nolte's instructional software program on medical neurology. The title is a pun stemming from Euell Gibbons' book, Stalking the Wild Asparagus, and the word "gyrus"—the singular form of "gyri"—which refers to folds on the brain's surface. An early adopter of new technology, Dr. Nolte first published this compendium of 1,675 neuroanatomical images on laser disk in the 1980s, and today his teaching tool can be accessed, via password, online.

Prior to joining the University of Arizona in 1990, Dr. Nolte was a faculty member for 16 years at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. During that time, in addition to developing the "asparagyrus" software, he also published the best known of his several books, The Human Brain: An Introduction to Its Functional Anatomy. Now about to be published in its sixth edition, the book has become one of the most widely used neuroscience texts in the world.

A prominent leader in educational innovation and faculty mentoring, Dr. Nolte is recognized for his scholarly approach and the high priority he places on using best practices. While at the University of Colorado, he was the first to introduce problem-based learning and to implement college-wide faculty development programs, and he was instrumental in developing numerous support services. Similarly, at the University of Arizona, he led development of the school's Learning Resource Center and the Division of Academic Resources, its teaching evaluation programs, and several of its faculty development programs. Additionally, he implemented a successful Deans' Teaching Scholars Program at Arizona in the early 1990s before academies of educators had become widespread.

At the national level, Dr. Nolte has served on several National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) task forces, including its United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1 Test Material Development Committee, and today is an NBME Stemmler Fund grant reviewer. At the AAMC, he has participated as a reviewer in the Research in Medical Education Program and the Group on Educational Affairs annual meeting program, and also chaired the association's Medical Education Software Resources Initiative from 1997 to 1998.

Born in New York, Dr. Nolte received his B.S. in biology from Providence College and his Ph.D. in photoreceptor physiology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Nolte is the first recipient of the President's Teaching Scholar Award from the School of Medicine at University of Colorado. The "most highly decorated basic science faculty member in Arizona's history," says Arizona Dean Keith Joiner, M.D., Nolte also received a Lifetime Teaching Award from the University of Arizona College of Medicine, and he has been named Basic Science Educator of the Year by its graduating class in seven of the last eight years. Additionally, his academic peers at Arizona voted him recipient of numerous Furrow Awards, which honors excellence in teaching.

Find out more about the Alpha Omega Alpha Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teaching Award, nominate a deserving individual, and view a list of previous award recipients.