Chad Vokoun, M.D., assistant professor of internal medicine, is among the four UNMC faculty members who will receive Outstanding Teaching Awards at the April 26 Annual Faculty Meeting.
Below, Dr. Vokoun reflects on what it means to be a teacher.
- Name: Chad Vokoun, M.D.
- Title: assistant professor, internal medicine, division of general medicine
- Joined UNMC: 2004
- Hometown: Grand Island
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Chad Vokoun, M.D. |
Seeing the “light come on” for students when they realize where their passions are in medicine. Also, continuously learning from the students and residents on a regular basis. It really is a team effort.
Describe a moment in your career when you realized you had picked the right occupation.
I always planned on staying in academic medicine but my first few months as an attending physician solidified for me that I love the challenge of our complicated patients and teaching students and residents.
What are the biggest challenges you face as a teacher?
Time constraints with resident work hours and maintaining time to teach all levels.
How do you know when you’ve been successful as a teacher?
I try to be very transparent with my learners. They should always know where they stand and I try to tweak my methods to match their needs. I think it is very important to allow the learner to have a say in how you run a teaching service.
List three things few people know about you.
- I told my mother when I was 5 or 6 years old that I was going to be a doctor and she figured even at that age that I was stubborn enough to eventually succeed.
- I played football at the University of Nebraska at Kearney weighing just shy of 300 pounds as an offensive lineman.
- My brother Scott (general manager of Omaha Truck Center) and my wife Ali (M.D., Ph.D., molecular pathologist here at UNMC) are the two people I admire most both personally and professionally.
Congrats Chad. I do remember the almost 300 lbs, I was at graduation Saturday, (I'm the one with the goose call for my Sister), and they said your name, I thought, NO can't be the same one from H.S. Way to go.
I do want to add that I was seen at the VA by some of your students in 2007 when I had my spleenectomy, they were very profesional and there was not an internalist that I could ask a question and they knew the answer for me right off the top of their heads. My spleen was 9 inches long and over 10 lbs when it was removed, and I had ALOT of question being lucky enough to be alive to ask them. Thanks for all you do for the future care givers.