UQ School of Medicine honours its clinical teachers

15 January 2014

The UQ School of Medicine and the University of Queensland Medical Society (UQMS) has proudly announced the winners of the 2013 Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching and the Clinical School Teaching Awards. These awards are student nominated. Below lists the award recipients as well as comments from students.

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The Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching

Associate Professor Mark Smithers – Director, Upper GI, Soft Tissue Unit at Princess Alexandra Hospital
“Associate Professor Smithers is highly deserving of the Clinical School Teaching Award due to his continued teaching of students and willingness to accept any junior medical student as a member of the team. Personally, he has been the finest teacher over my four years. He always had time for questions, teaching and was incredibly inclusive. He has certainly altered the course of my career for the better.”

Clinical School Teaching awards

Dr Rohit Gupta – Junior Medical Registrar at Greenslopes Private Hospital
“Dr Gupta is a very committed and dedicated clinical tutor. His clinical knowledge and teaching skills are impeccable. He is always approachable and willing to take that extra step to help us. He made time for us to have extra sessions with him to practice our short and long cases even after night shifts. As a busy registrar who is not paid to teach us, he has gone out of his way to share his clinical knowledge and skills with future crop of doctors.”
Dr Nigel Roberts – Staff Specialist, Obstetrics & Gynaecology at Ipswich Hospital
“Dr Roberts helped make O&G not only an educational experience, but also a fun one. His enthusiasm for O&G was infectious and his dedication to teaching commendable. He provided us with informative extra tutorials to supplement the teaching from UQ and assisted us with extra viva practice. His humour was a great aspect for my enjoyment of O&G and helped my learning of complex subject matter.”
Dr David Taylor – Surgeon at Mater Hospital
“As one of the most approachable surgeons I have ever met, Dr Taylor was always both excited and dedicated to teaching us and make tutorials fun. His tutorials were clear, concise, and he sparked our interest for everything colorectal. He always appreciated our questions and gave us opportunities to show our knowledge, never letting students feel inferior, always encouraged and provided a platform to ask questions and have open honest discussions.”
Dr Marlon Radcliffe – Pediatrician at Redcliffe Hospital
“Dr Radcliffe is director of the Paediatrics unit at Redcliffe and therefore has many commitments other than teaching students, yet he volunteered to cover several of our POLIE (tutorial) sessions, often giving us up to two to three hours of his free time on Friday afternoons to do so. He also took out time to perform our individual assessments/exams. He gave individualized feedback, and I noticed he also went out of his way not just for students but junior staff, and was seen coaching and supervising the RMO’s on their first day of their rotation.”
Dr Suma Jain – Pulmonology/Critical Care at Ochsner Health System
“Dr Jain goes beyond merely sharing her vast knowledge but demanding everyone play a more active role in treating patients and developing a treatment plan. She takes time each and every day to have everyone on the team work through all aspects of the patient’s condition and management. This style of teaching led us to gain a complete understanding of what was going on with our patients and have a real vested interest in their care. I felt like I became a better student by having rotated with her.”
Dr Alex Lehn – Neurologist at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital
“Dr Lehn has had such an impact on me that I asked him to be my mentor and have initiated research with him. In addition to his exceptional clinical skills, he also has extraordinary personal skills. This was evident in his interactions with consultants, registrars, residents, nurses, allied health professionals, and students, who he treated with utmost respect. He created an environment that encourages all team members to work collegially, while simultaneously being superlatively efficient. This environment was ideal for students to learn and be involved in the team activities.”
Dr Grant Phillips – Surgeon at the Bundaberg Hospital
“His passion for teaching is obvious to all who encounter him. He takes the most complex of surgical topics and reduces them to small, easily understandable steps. His tutorials have clearly been given many a time as they seem to roll off his tongue with such ease and are pitched at exactly the level of a third year student. His logical and methodical approach to teaching is reflected in the achievements and appreciation of students who have rotated through general surgery at the Bundaberg RCS.”
Dr Douglas Cavaye – Vascular and Endovascular Surgeon at St Andrew’s War Memorial Hospital
“Dr Cavaye is an engaging tutor and you can tell that he enjoys teaching. His tutorials are some of the most useful I’ve attended and I’ve really learned a lot from them. I’ve really enjoy my time in surgery with Dr Cavaye—he takes the time to explain things.”
Dr Mark De Wet – Consultant Ophthalmologist at Caloundra Public Hospital
“Dr De Wet’s clinical acuity is as clear as his charming South African accent. His global examination excludes all penetrating eye injuries and his fun and friendly manner ensures a thoroughly stimulating learning experience.”
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