Fremont family medicine physician, Thomas McKnight, M.D., is the recipient of the Marion D. and Theodore Koefoot, Jr., M.D. Outstanding Preceptor in Rural Family Medicine Award for 2016. The award was presented by the University of Nebraska Medical Center Department of Family Medicine at its annual banquet on April 28.
A 1977 graduate of UNMC, Dr. McKnight practices at Prairie Fields Family Medicine in Fremont.
The award was created in 2005 in memory of Dr. Koefoot, a family medicine physician from Broken Bow, Neb., who was a charter preceptor for UNMC's rural family medicine preceptorship. It is given to a rural Nebraska family physician who provides outstanding teaching and mentoring of medical students during their family medicine rural preceptorship and serves as an outstanding community physician.
The award was established through a gift made to the University of Nebraska Foundation by Dr. Koefoot's wife, Marion, and his family, Gretchen and Nick Vondrak, Sarah and Gary Gernhart, Stephanie and Nicholas Vondrak, and Suzanne and Brad Hansen.
"The Department of Family Medicine is proud to recognize Dr. McKnight with the Koefoot Award. He embodies the well-rounded qualities and the commitment to training the next generation of physicians for Nebraska that all of our volunteer preceptors uphold," said Michael Sitorius, M.D., UNMC professor and chair of the department.
The highlight of the evening were testimonies from several students who spent their rotations with Dr. McKnight.
"Working with Dr. McKnight was one of the best experiences I had as a junior medical student," third-year UNMC medical student James Reinecke said. "He leads by example, demonstrating the hard work, compassion and dedication necessary to be a family physician. He treats medical students with respect and actively involves his junior medical students in designing an assessment and plan, making him a highly effective clinical educator."
Dr. McKnight was praised for establishing strong connections with his students and viewing them as colleagues.
"Dr. McKnight is an amazing family medicine physician and an excellent mentor. He treated me like a peer instead of a medical student from day one," third-year UNMC medical student Cody Bonk said.
The relationship between student and mentor often continues on long after students have left Dr. McKnight's practice.
"Patients still ask me about students, years after they have graduated," Dr. McKnight said. "Many more than 100 students I have mentored over my career have become my lifelong friends.
"For all these many gratifying experiences, I thank the students who have spent precious months of their four years of medical school with me. I thank the Department of Family Medicine for their confidence in me. Our work is not done, and I am eager to continue to mentor the next generation of family physicians."
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