Elliot E. Abbey, M.D., Martin I. Boyer, M.D., Mary E. Klingensmith, M.D., and Jane Loitman, M.D., were recently named the inaugural recipients of the Carol B. and Jerome T. Loeb Teaching Fellowships.
The fellowship program was established last year by a gift from the Loebs to advance clinical education and to honor local physicians committed to clinical excellence.
The fellows were selected for their longstanding record of excellence in patient care and clinical teaching and for proposing a plan to address new or unmet clinical teaching needs for residents and medical students.
“Members of the selection committee reviewed a large number of impressive applications from talented faculty whose proposals made the award process quite challenging,” said Larry J. Shapiro, M.D., executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine.
“The Loeb fellowship program will contribute to the educational experiences of the nation’s best medical students and residents and is an important contribution to advancing our education and patient-care goals at the School of Medicine.”
The fellows will be appointed Sept. 1, and the appointments will run for two-year terms.
The Loeb fellowship program — which was substantially augmented by a gift from the BJH Foundation — will enable the four physicians to carve out time from their regular duties and dedicate a significant amount of time to teaching clinical medicine to students and residents.
Renowned for his long history of teaching excellence and numerous awards for inspirational teaching, Elliot E. Abbey, clinical professor of medicine, was selected as a Loeb fellow for his proposal to launch a Learning Compassionate Care Program at the Siteman Cancer Center.
A pilot study for the program — designed to strengthen the doctor-patient relationship with cancer patients — was initiated in 2004 and will serve as a model for the Learning Compassionate Care Program.
Abbey specializes in medical oncology and hematology and also served as course master for “Clinical Medicine I” and “Clinicial Medicine II” from 1993-2000.
Martin I. Boyer, director of the Orthopaedic Surgery Education Program for Medical Students, was chosen as a Loeb fellow for his proposal to energize the undergraduate musculoskeletal program by designing a “Musculoskeletal Curriculum,” a more detailed program that will enhance the current orthopaedics course.
Boyer, also chief of the Orthopaedic Hand and Wrist Service and an associate professor of orthopaedic surgery, is a member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Medical Student, Resident and Fellow Education Committee and was recently appointed to the academy.
Mary E. Klingensmith, director of the Surgical Skills Laboratory, will develop a “Simulation Curriculum” as a Loeb fellow.
Klingensmith chaired the Simulation in Medical Education Task Force from 2004-05 and was awarded the Arthur Tracy Cabot Surgical Teaching Fellowship in 1999 for her dedication to resident education.
Klingensmith also is an assistant professor of surgery, specializing in minimally invasive gastrointestinal surgery.
As a fellow, Jane Loitman, medical director of the Palliative Care Service at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, will develop and implement a new curriculum in palliative medicine, a new medical specialty that involves the “active total care of patients whose diseases are not responsive to curative treatments.”
Loitman, an instructor of clinical medicine, will design a program that focuses on education in palliative medicine while specifically meeting the needs of medical students, residents and fellows.
“Elliot, Martin, Mary and Jane have extraordinary clinical skills and are dedicated to teaching excellence,” Shapiro said.
“These physicians demonstrate the compassionate, high-quality care the Loebs envisioned when they generously established the Loeb fellowship program.”