Last year, UVA School of Medicine founded The Academy for Excellence in Education which aims to build an inclusive learning community of educators across the biomedical sciences and UVA Health to foster and honor educational excellence at the UVA School of Medicine.
The Academy recently reviewed and inducted 42 inaugural members. They are:
- Vaia Abatzis | Anesthesiology
- Amal Abu Libdeh | Neurology
- Mohammad Abuannadi | Medicine / Cardiology
- Virginia Andersen | Psychiatry
- Ashok Asthagiri | Neurosurgery
- Erika Axeen | Neurology
- Michael Ayers | Medicine / Cardiology
- Rajesh Balkrishnan | Public Health Sciences
- Derek Bauer | Neurology
- Allison Bechtel | Anesthesiology
- Mark Beenhakker | Pharmacology
- Jonathan Black | Plastic Surgery
- Heather Borek | Emergency Medicine
- Chris Campbell | Plastic Surgery
- Elizabeth Courville | Pathology
- Anelyssa D’ Abreu | Neurology
- Lauren Dunn | Anesthesiology
- Joshua Easter | Emergency Medicine
- Jean Eby | Public Health Sciences
- Matthew Elliott | Neurology
- Jeannine Engel | Medicine / General Internal Medicine
- Tabor Flickinger | Medicine / General Internal Medicine
- Katherine Forkin | Anesthesiology
- Jordan Garris | Neurology
- Zachary Henry | Medicine / Gastroenterology
- Meena Kannan | Neurology
- Nora Kern | Urology
- Donald Kimpel | Medicine / Rheumatology
- David Lapides | Neurology
- Simon Lehtinen | Medicine / General Internal Medicine
- Jennifer Louis-Jacques | Pediatrics
- John McNeil | Anesthesiology
- Rahul Mehta | Medicine / General Internal Medicine
- Alexander Millard | Medicine / General Internal Medicine
- Aaron Pannone | Public Health
- Andrew Schomer | Neurology
- Ryan Smith | Urology
- Sana Syed | Pediatrics
- Matthew Trowbridge | Emergency Medicine
- Justin Weppner | Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
- Kathryn Xixis | Neurology
- Victor Zaydfudim | Surgery
This is an excellent representation of educators and all departments within our school. Since the focus of The Academy is to bring educators together, we are thrilled to see so many departments have members in this first class.
The above list, along with the founding members — previous faculty inducted into now-sunsetted Academy of Distinguished Educators — make up the whole of the membership. All members will be inducted in The Academy for a term of three years, at which time they may opt to renew their membership. Details can be found on the membership page.
During the upcoming Excellence in Education Week (March 1-5), The Academy will be spotlighting these new members each day on social media and on its website. Be sure to check those out and to congratulate your colleagues.
We would like to offer thanks to Troy Buer, PhD, Director of Faculty Development, and Neeral Shah, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine – Gastroenterology, for their efforts in making The Academy a reality. If you see them in the halls (or on a Zoom call) please congratulate them on a job well done.
R.J. Canterbury, MD, MS, DLFAPA
Wilford W. Spradlin Professor
Senior Associate Dean for Education
Susan M. Pollart, MD, MS
Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Faculty Development