Awards honor teaching excellence

Jennifer Parker, M.D.	Sarah Keim, M.D.

The College of Medicine medical students awarded teaching honors for 2015-16 earlier this month.

Jennifer Parker, M.D., associate professor, internal medicine, was awarded the Hirschmann Golden Apple for clinical faculty by the senior class.

Students said she was known as the “fun Friday lecturer on the internal medicine clerkship, but her dedication to teaching goes much further.

“As med peds (medicine-pediatrics) program director, she has worked tirelessly to expand the program’s presence on campus yet is always taking the time to be there for students and residents alike.

“Most importantly, Dr. Parker stands out for being a kind and caring mentor. Her positive attitude and cheerfulness are contagious. Whether about medicine or just life in general, no question is too big and no problem is too small.”

David McMillan, Ph.D.

Sarah Keim, Ph.D., assistant professor of genetics, cell biology and anatomy, was awarded the Hirschmann Golden Apple for basic science faculty by the seniors and also selected as a Golden Apple recipient by first-year medical students.

MI class president Daniel Arkfeld called Dr. Keim “an exceptional teacher who goes out of her way to help students learn and make the transition to the rigors of medical school.

“She always made herself available to spend extra time in lab or to help students understand difficult concepts. Dr. Keim always treated students with respect and pushed us to delve deeper into the material or to consider it from a different viewpoint. Her lectures were engaging and relevant, covering difficult concepts in a way designed to make learning and retaining the information easier. Most importantly, Dr. Keim wanted students to go beyond mastery of content and learn to think critically and reason soundly in the context of medical school.”

Second-year students selected David McMillan, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology and experimental neuroscience, as a Golden Apple recipient.

Lance Villeneuve, Ph.D., a second-year medical student, noted that Dr. McMillan “has worked endlessly as core director to give the M2 class the tools to tackle boards.

“He has worked over the years to simplify lectures and provide a clear message for all drugs. And most importantly, he has streamlined his lecture notes to make them bullet points we can easily memorize. For all the innumerable hours of work he has spent on the pharmacology part of our core curriculum, the class of 2018 would like to say thank you to Dr. McMillan and tell him his hard work was much appreciated.”