Awards honor extraordinary teachers

Krikor T. Dikranian, M.D., Ph.D.; Jay F. Piccirillo, M.D.; and David W. Windus, M.D., recently received the Samuel R. Goldstein Leadership Awards in Medical Student Education for 2006.

The Goldstein Awards honor outstanding educators at the School of Medicine and were established in 2000 in memory of Goldstein, a longtime friend of the medical school. After a formal nomination process, faculty peers select the recipients.

Krikor Dikranian
Krikor Dikranian

Dikranian is an instructor of physical therapy and of anatomy who joined the faculty in 1996. His research interests include fetal alcohol syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease and neurodegenerative diseases of the central and peripheral nervous systems. Students consider him extremely well-prepared, knowledgeable and enthusiastic in delivering his insight.

Piccirillo is a professor of otolaryngology (head and neck surgery), of occupational therapy and of medicine who joined the faculty in 1992. He established the T32 Predoctoral Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Program, which provides training under initiatives promulgated by the new National Institutes of Health Roadmap for clinical and translational research. Piccirillo is a role model for students, recognized for his devotion to the education of future practitioners and investigators.

Jay Piccirillo
Jay Piccirillo

Windus is associate professor of medicine and assistant medical director of the Chromalloy American Kidney Center at the medical school. Windus, who joined the faculty in 1983, recently implemented team-based learning into the “Renal Pathophysiology” course and in clinical pathophysiology conferences, resulting in greater understanding and appreciation of nephrology by students. He also developed a curriculum for the first medical school in the African country of Eritrea and trained health-care professionals in that country, leading to improvement in the care of diabetes in that nation.

“The Goldstein awards are among the highest honors for teaching that the School of Medicine gives,” said Larry J. Shapiro, M.D., executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine. “While our medical school benefits from having these fine educators as a part of our faculty, our students benefit the most from the exceptional teaching and dedication of these outstanding physician-scientists.”

David Windus
David Windus

Erika C. Crouch, M.D., Ph.D., Goldstein committee chair and professor of pathology and immunology, said Dikranian, Piccirillo and Windus are excellent selections for this recognition.

“Members of the selection committee had no difficulty reaching a consensus,” Crouch said. “Their educational contributions met all the award’s criteria and more.”