Awards mark excellence in medical education

Each year, College of Medicine students select faculty members to be honored with the Golden Apple Award and the Hirschmann Prize for Excellence in Education, given to individuals who are perceived by the class to make the biggest contribution to their education.

Parmender Mehta, Ph.D.	Samer Sayyed, M.D.

This year’s recipents of the Golden Apple Awards, given to M1 and M2 educators, are:

M1 – Parmender Mehta, Ph.D., biochemistry and molecular biology
Among the qualities students praised in Dr. Mehta was his calming presence. One student wrote, “Through his built-in times during class for reflection and meditation, his lectures were a refreshing step out of the stress of medical school. Through this, he was able to turn the potentially mundane subject of clotting factors into an enjoyable learning experience.”

M2 – Samer Sayyed, M.D., internal medicine-cardiology
Students noted that over the last two years, Dr. Sayyed has been instrumental in reorganizing the cardiology curriculum for the M2 year. Students noted that his successful use of the flipped classroom model offers medical students an active-learning classroom experience with real-time feedback. Additionally, after recognizing gaps in student understanding during the core, he was successful in creating entire supplemental flipped classroom lectures on short notice to insure that medical students finished the section with a strong foundation in cardiology.

Geoff Thiele, Ph.D.	Adam Reinhardt, M.D.

This year’s recipients of the Hirschmann Prize for Excellence in Education, given to clinical and preclinical faculty, are:

Geoff Thiele, Ph.D., internal medicine-rheumatology, basic science
Nominators mentioned that although immunology is one of the most difficult areas of medicine to teach, Dr. Thiele makes it easy to understand. One nominator wrote, “His teaching style is outstanding. He really gets to know the students and he teaches on his own level. Even later on in M3-M4 year, he would say hi to us in the hallway, and I was able to approach him to discuss concepts that I was struggling with during my rheumatology rotation as an M3 because he loves to teach.”

Adam Reinhardt, M.D., pediatrics-rheumatology, clinical science
A UNMC graduate, Dr. Reinhardt was credited by students with revolutionizing the pediatrics department, making pediatric rheumatology a highly sought-after rotation. Students said, “His rotation is a perfect mix of patient interaction and constant learning, and his knowledge extends far beyond pediatric rheumatology. He embodied what it means to be passionate about education, and rotators considered themselves lucky to have gotten to work him.”