The 2025 Alpha Omega Alpha Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teacher Award recipients are Melissa Fischer, MD, MEd, David Harris, PhD, Sherine E. Salib, MD, and Lisa Willett, MD, MACM, FACP.
Melissa Fischer, MD, MEd
University of Massachusetts T.H. Chan School of Medicine
As associate vice provost for interprofessional and instructional innovation at the University of Massachusetts T.H. Chan School of Medicine (UMass Chan SOM) in Worcester, Massachusetts, Melissa Fischer, MD, MEd, is leading the school’s Interprofessional Center for Experiential Learning and Simulation. In this role, Dr. Fischer guides a multidisciplinary team in designing models for integrating generative artificial intelligence-related teaching and faculty development, while helping to build an institutional structure that supports collaboration and the growth of interprofessional education. It’s a tall order that this consummate educator is achieving with aplomb, thanks to her 20-plus years of experience in medical education.
Over that time, Dr. Fischer has supervised medical students in inpatient and ambulatory settings, designed and facilitated large- and small-group learning, crafted simulations, built innovative experiential programs, and led two comprehensive curricular renovations. Each of her accomplishments has made an important contribution to the UMass Chan SOM, including her mentoring of individual students and faculty.
Not one to shy away from medicine’s most difficult topics, Dr. Fischer developed UMass Chan SOM’s first core curriculum, ensuring all students directly engage with critical topics, such as managing medical errors and end-of-life decision-making. She also designed a daylong curriculum on experiential mindfulness and palliative care in which discussions of professionally challenging cases are encouraged and learners’ written reflections are integrated.
Crossing professional boundaries, Dr. Fischer cocreated interprofessional curricula for medical and nursing students in a clinically focused series leveraging small-group learning and gamification; during the series, learners rely on each other’s skills to identify patient safety issues and potential medical errors. Her work has been supported by grants from notable organizations, including the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, the Institute on Medicine as a Profession, and the Health Resources and Services Administration.
Dr. Fischer’s innovations extend to mock electronic medical records, virtual reality training, and a standardized, patient-based program for safe opioid prescribing that encourages learners to collaborate with providers and teams from across the health care spectrum. With a focus on team-based problem-solving in consequential situations, Dr. Fischer has created programs and sessions that engage and inspire learners to achieve more together.
She has authored 35 peer-reviewed journal articles in prestigious publications, including JAMA, Academic Medicine, and Medical Education. A founding member and advisor to UMass Chan SOM’s interprofessional Health Education Academy for Leadership and Learning, she has received multiple awards, including the 2022 Chancellor’s Medal for Distinguished Teaching from the UMass Chan SOM and the Manning Prize for Excellence in Teaching from the University of Massachusetts. And as an internationally invited speaker, Dr. Fischer has delivered numerous plenaries, large- and small-group talks, and workshops disseminating the breadth of her education portfolio.
Dr. Fischer completed both her BA in English literature and her postbaccalaureate premedical program at Columbia University. She earned her MD from New York University in 1996 and an MEd from Stanford University in 2001, where she was chief resident in internal medicine from 1999 to 2000.
David Harris, PhD
University of Central Florida College of Medicine
Since joining the University of Central Florida College of Medicine (UCF College of Medicine) in 2011, David Harris, PhD, professor of medical education, has been a formative figure in the lives of more than 1,300 medical students. Serving as lead educator for cardiac and respiratory physiology, Dr. Harris has significantly enhanced students’ educational experiences and academic success by employing active learning strategies that foster engagement, critical thinking, and deep learning. From concept mapping to encouraging the use of integrated illness scripts, Dr. Harris has found innovative ways of supporting the development of his students’ cognitive integration of basic sciences into medicine.
Dr. Harris has designed and integrated high-fidelity simulations into the first- and second-year curricula, helping teach students who are learning foundational medical sciences the importance of keeping the patient at the center of every interaction. Through this approach, students are better able to learn what can sometimes feel like an overwhelming number of physiology concepts, while keeping patients at the heart of their work. Known for his enthusiastic and enjoyable lectures, one student said about Dr. Harris, “His passion, adaptability, and commitment to fostering the growth and development of future physicians are unparalleled.”
In addition to supporting medical education learners, Dr. Harris also plays a key role in supporting his peers while serving on the Board of Directors for the International Association of Medical Science Educators. In his current role as editor-in-chief for Medical Science Educator, Dr. Harris has developed the inaugural Editorial Board Fellowship, whereby he mentors and trains three junior faculty fellows. He has also served as associate editor for several publications, including Advances in Physiology Education and BMC Medical Education, and as a mentor to many board members at the Aquifer Sciences Initiative, a nonprofit organization that provides interactive virtual cases and resources to over 320 programs globally. Dr. Harris has authored 23 educational manuscripts and has been a significant contributor to Aquifer’s mission of delivering high-quality health professions education. Since 2018, he has served on Aquifer’s Curriculum Editorial Board as the basic science discipline lead for physiology and has been instrumental in creating innovative educational tools to enhance the Aquifer curriculum.
Dr. Harris has received numerous accolades, including the 2024 Golden Apple Award for M1/M2 at UCF College of Medicine. In 2019, his contributions to the Focused Individualized Research Experience (FIRE) Module earned him the Outstanding FIRE Research Mentor Award. UCF College of Medicine has also honored him with its Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award and the Award for Innovative Teaching.
Dr. Harris earned a BS in biology from Rowan University in New Jersey and a PhD in 2004 from Temple University School of Medicine (now the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University) in Philadelphia. He also completed a four-year postdoctoral fellowship in the department of medicine at the Thomas Jefferson University Center for Translational Medicine in Philadelphia.
Sherine E. Salib, MD
The University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School
Throughout her career, Sherine E. Salib, MD, professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School (Dell Med), has excelled in both the practice and instruction of medicine. Dr. Salib began serving as an inpatient supervising attending for University of Texas Medical Branch students completing their internal medicine clerkships in Austin in 2005, and in 2010, she became clerkship director. When Dell Med enrolled its first undergraduate class in 2016, Dr. Salib became the school’s clerkship director, and in 2019, the department of internal medicine named her undergraduate medical education director then co-associate chair of education in 2022. She subsequently took on the role of associate chair of faculty academic affairs and faculty development.
In addition to her ever-increasing undergraduate medical education leadership responsibilities, Dr. Salib has also served as an inpatient and outpatient teaching attending physician at Dell Med. In this role, she’s consistently held in high esteem by her students who note that her impressive knowledge of her field, her use of creative and innovative teaching strategies, and her expert ability to share her wisdom with others truly sets her apart.
In addition to being a superlative teacher, Dr. Salib has also demonstrated sustained accomplishment in the realms of curriculum development and mentorship, mentoring more than 50 students applying to internal medicine residency programs and more than 20 internal medicine residents, as well as several early-career faculty members. From supporting students submitting conference presentation abstracts to providing robust mentorship to those in residency and beyond, Dr. Salib has supported a wide range of individuals who have gone on to leadership roles in academic medicine. Nationally, Dr. Salib has assumed leadership roles in several bodies, including the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine and the Alliance for Clinical Education’s Publications Committee. She has also been a member of the AAMC Group on Educational Affairs since 2018.
Dr. Salib balances all these disparate and demanding roles through a unique view on work-life balance that she calls “life-work integration.” In an episode of the “Medicine Mentors” podcast, Dr. Salib said, “Your work should be a beautiful thing that should be a part of your life,” and achieving a joyful blend of purpose and contribution can make a physician’s practice and overall life richer.
No stranger to honors, Dr. Salib has received Dell Med’s Clinical Learning Environment Award every year since the award was launched six years ago, making her the most awarded faculty member at the school. She has also received the school’s Internal Medicine Outstanding Educator of the Year Award in 2019, the Choosing Wisely STARS Physician Excellence Award in 2020, and the Excellence in Teaching Award in 2021. Dr. Salib was inducted into the Dell Med Chapter of the Gold Humanism Honor Society by medical students in 2022, the same year she was named the faculty recipient of the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award. Also, in 2022, she was inducted into the University of Texas Kenneth I. Shine, MD, Academy of Health Science Education.
Dr. Salib earned an MD from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom and became a member of the Royal College of Physicians in London in 1996. She completed an internal medicine residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in 2003.
Lisa Willett, MD, MACM, FACP
University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine
For 25 years, Lisa Willett, MD, MACM, FACP — an internist, professor, and executive vice chair of the department of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine (UAB Heersink SOM) — has made an indelible impact on medical students, residents, and faculty. From curriculum development and supporting other medical educators to providing recommendations and hands-on mentorship, Dr. Willett has created a legacy of excellence at UAB Heersink SOM.
As vice chair for education in the department of medicine, Dr. Willett has helped shape the culture of education, teaching, and learning at UAB and other schools across the country through thoughtful, innovative contributions. One such project is MedEd Moments, an online faculty development program designed by Dr. Willett for clinical educators that features a video series. The series comprises five high-yield videos addressing important issues in medical education, including how to set expectations, give feedback, and improve the learning climate. In the program’s first year, it garnered more than 12,000 views and has been featured on the American College of Physicians website. MedEd Moments is now a required program for many medical schools and residency programs nationally.
In her recent work with the Tinsley Harrison Internal Medicine Residency Program (as associate program director from 2002 to 2012 and director from 2012 to 2022), Dr. Willett mentored and supported more than 800 young physicians through their residency journeys. During that time, she developed multiple clinical rotations, including an inpatient oncology service and outpatient urgent care clinic so that students and residents could have more diverse clinical experiences.
Over the years, Dr. Willett has received numerous awards and recognition for her work, including earning the UAB Top 10 Teacher Award for Excellence in Teaching 20 times; the 2025 Distinguished Alumnus Award from the UAB Medical Alumni Association; and the 2024 Ellen Gregg Ingalls/UAB National Alumni Society Award for Lifetime Achievement in Teaching, the highest award for teaching presented by the university. Additionally, in 2015, 2022, and 2023, medical students selected Dr. Willett out of 1,800 Heersink SOM clinical faculty to receive the Caduceus Club Award for the best clinical educator on the Birmingham campus. And in 2020, she was awarded the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award. As one student noted, “Dr. Willett exemplifies everything I hope to achieve as a physician, and I am truly grateful to have had the chance to work with her and learn from her.”
Dr. Willett earned a BS in biomedical engineering from Tulane University in Louisiana and an MD from UAB Heersink SOM in 1996. She completed postdoctoral training at UAB in internal medicine and was named chief medical resident from 1999 to 2000. And in 2015, she earned a master’s in academic medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.