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AAMC Press Room
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Embargoed for Release 7:00 p.m., EST, Oct. 23, 1999

AAMC Honors Outstanding Medical Educators

Washington, D.C., October 23, 1999 -- The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) honors four individuals for their outstanding work as innovative and skilled medical educators with distinguished teaching awards presented at the Association's 1999 annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Established by the medical honor society Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA), the awards recognize faculty who devote their time and energy to providing medical students with an educational experience of the highest quality. The AOA award is in honor of Robert J. Glaser, M.D., long-time executive secretary of AOA.

Throughout her 25 years at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Susan Billings-Gagliardi, Ph.D., has received the student-presented Outstanding Medical Educator Award 14 times. Dr. Billings-Gagliardi is a strong advocate for teaching students about the interrelationships between the basic, clinical, and social sciences from their very first day in medical school.

In addition, Dr. Billings-Gagliardi has led the school's development of an interdisciplinary mini-curriculum known as SPRINT (Stroke Prevention, Recognition, Intervention, and Treatment), which is embedded within the first-year neuroscience course--Mind, Brian and Behavior I. UMass is in the final stages of creating a partnership with the American Stroke Association to distribute SPRINT materials nationally, and to develop an interactive multimedia web-site supporting them.

Dr. Billings-Gagliardi also specializes in the study of the development of central nervous system myelin. She and her colleagues have been awarded more than $2.5 million in grant support for this work, including a Javits Award for neuroscience research. She is also involved in a study of how medical students communicate basic science information to patients, hoping to learn from patients what they consider to be effective and "useful ways" to convey such information.

Dr. Billings-Gagliardi has received the American Medical Women's Association Gender Equity Award, the UMass faculty's Lamar Souter Award, which recognizes longstanding leadership and excellence in education, and additional student-initiated honors. She received her Ph.D. in Medical Science from Harvard University, and did postdoctoral work at the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke. She has spent her entire academic career at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

An eight-time winner of the coveted Eastern Virginia Medical School's (EVMS) Sir William Osler Award for Outstanding Teaching as an Attending Physician, L.D. Britt, M.D., has been the recipient of many awards recognizing his outstanding contributions to medical education. Dr. Britt has served as a Brickhouse professor and chairman of the Department of Surgery at EVMS for the past 13 years.

Under Dr. Britt's leadership, the Department of Surgery was the first at the medical school to use standardized patients, an innovation which lead to the Huma Award for Educational Innovation for Undergraduate Medical Education from the Virginia Surgical Society. He also created undergraduate "bullet sessions" in which students are assigned a topic to research and present in less than three minutes, each day during their surgical clerkship. Dr. Britt also established the "academic village" concept for his department, in which every function is directly related to its educational mission and faculty are held accountable for teaching excellence.

Nationally, Dr. Britt is president of the Society of Black Academic Surgeons and is leading a national effort to promote surgical interest among underrepresented minority medical students. Locally, he seeks novel ways to mentor first-and second-year students through an early surgical experiences program, which allows students to witness a specific surgical case and then discuss its underlying basic science principles.

Dr. Britt has also been honored by EVMS faculty with the Dean's Faculty Achievement Award for Teaching in the Clinical Sciences, and with the dean's highest honor, the Outstanding Faculty Award for excellence in teaching, research, and service. Dr. Britt was also selected from among over 15,000 faculty members across Virginia to receive the Outstanding Faculty Award from the Virginia State Council of Higher Education, presented by the governor.

Dr. Britt received his M.D. and M.P.H. from Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. He completed his residency at University Hospital, Cook County Hospital, and Westside Veterans Hospital of the University of Illinois School of Medicine. Prior to coming to EVMS, he was a member of the faculty at the University of Illinois and the University of Maryland.

During 30 years with the U.S. Army's graduate medical education program and with the University of Florida College of Medicine, Dr. Patrick Duff has accumulated a host of honors for excellence in teaching. He has been awarded the Outstanding Clinical Science Instructor Award and has twice received the highest teaching honor given by the entire student body at the University of Florida. He also received the highest teaching award given by the College of Medicine: the Hippocratic Award.

As a program developer, author, and editor, Dr. Duff has made many contributions to medical education in obstetrics and gynecology. He has developed an orientation program for new residents in obstetrics and gynecology, co-authored and edited the sixth edition of Educational Objectives: Core Curriculum in Obstetrics and Gynecology, and has developed a CD-ROM self-instructional program that teaches medical students about infectious diseases in obstetrics and gynecology.

From 1984-1989, Dr. Duff served as director of student education at Madigan Army Medical Center. In his role as a member of the clinical faculty in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Washington, he was selected four consecutive years as the Distinguished Clinical Science Teacher. This honor won him the designation of Teacher Superior in Perpetuity from the university.

Dr. Duff received his medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine, and completed his residency work in obstetrics and gynecology at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. His academic career started as the chief of Family Planning and Outpatient Services and director of the intern and student education program in Walter Reed's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Selected as Faculty and Medical Student Commencement Marshal for the past eight years, Dr. Michael Hansen's has been honored with numerous teaching awards from students, faculty, and administrators during his 25-year career in academic medicine. He directs "Human Structure," the largest basic science course in the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry curriculum and has been recognized for his integrity and inspired teaching with the Medical Alumni Association's highest honor, the Gold Medal Award.

While a faculty member at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, he taught gross anatomy while simultaneously holding a Research Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health. Similarly, while chair of the anatomy department at Rochester, he was 70 percent funded by extramural research grants, yet still devoted time to directing the human structure course, as well as two fourth-year electives. He also serves on numerous education committees at Rochester's Medical Center, and currently is a member of the steering committee charged with designing Rochester's new Double Helix curriculum. In addition, he was the first faculty member at Rochester to use case-based exercises and problem-based learning cases.

After receiving his Ph.D. in anatomy from Tulane University, Dr. Hansen did post-graduate work at Harvard Medical School, the University of Iowa College of Medicine, and the University of California School of Medicine. Before moving to Rochester in 1985, he spent 10 years on the faculty of the University of Texas Health Science Center. He has led workshops in tutor training and has published more than 90 peer-reviewed papers, reviews, and book chapters.

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The Association of American Medical Colleges represents the 125 accredited U.S. medical schools; the 16 accredited Canadian medical schools; some 400 major teaching hospitals, including 74 Veterans Administration medical centers; 91 academic and professional societies representing nearly 88,000 faculty members; and the nation's 67,000 medical students and 102,000 residents.

Additional information about the AAMC and U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals available at www.aamc.org/newsroom.