• About UANews
• Sign up for News
• Resources for Media
• Calendar
• Contact Us

Thirteen faculty members have been named as the academy's inaugural members.

By AHSC Office of Public Affairs
July 16, 2008

The University of Arizona College of Medicine has established the Academy of Educators to recognize its most outstanding educators and to provide a forum for teaching faculty to work together to enhance educational programs.

Thirteen College of Medicine faculty members have been named inaugural members of the academy. They will work in collaboration with the College of Medicine’s Educational Policy Committee to refine the academy’s mission. This effort will be guided by the recommendations of a planning committee chaired by Dr. Joseph Alpert, professor of medicine.

This academy shows great promise for attracting public and private support. Even as the formation is announced, the founders recognize a generous gift from

A gift from Green Valley resident and retired pediatrician Dr. Lucy Hernried established an endowment designated to support the academy. In addition, UA College of Medicine Dean Keith Joiner has designated $1 million in medical education funding that will function like an endowment to ensure the success of the academy.

Academy founding members are teachers, scientists and clinicians at the UA College of Medicine who have demonstrated excellence in – and a profound commitment to – medical education. They are integral members of their departments and are key to the educational mission of the college. They are noted for their contributions to academia on a broad scale, representing the college nationally and internationally through lectures, seminars, conferences and a wide range of publications that includes journal articles, books and book chapters. Recognized as compassionate mentors and leaders, their numerous contributions to medical education collectively have garnered nearly 200 awards and honors.

Nominated for this distinction by their departments and chosen by the Academy of Educators Selection Committee, the founding academy members are:

Helen Amerongen, PhD, research assistant professor of cell biology and anatomy, joined the UA faculty in 1992, with a primary focus on research. She subsequently shifted her focus to medical education, including teaching, scholarship and administration. Since 1997, she has received the Dean’s List for Excellence in Teaching Basic Sciences award nine times, the Basic Science Medical Educator of the Year award twice and the Vernon and Virginia Furrow Award for Excellence in Basic Science Teaching twice. She also received a Furrow Award for Innovation in Medical Teaching and two Furrow Grants for Innovation in Medical Education. She was a Dean’s Teaching Scholar in 1998-99, and she served on the College of Medicine Curriculum Committee from 2000-06, chairing the committee from 2002-04. She served as the histology and cell biology course director, from 1998 to 2005, and continues to teach histology and cell biology throughout the ArizonaMed curriculum. Amerongen is director of the Foundations block of ArizonaMed, the UA College of Medicine’s curriculum.

Doug Campos-Outcalt, MD, MPA, associate head and clinical professor of family and community medicine, professor of public health and assistant dean for outreach and multicultural affairs at the college's Phoenix campus, known officially as the UA College of Medicine-Phoenix in partnership with ASU. A 1979 graduate of the UA College of Medicine, he joined the UA faculty in 1988. While at the Tucson campus, he was director of the family medicine clerkship and taught medical and public health students, family medicine residents and preventive medicine residents. In Phoenix, he has served as the regional clerkship director for eight years, as a family medicine residency director and as co-teacher of the core master's in public health administration course. At the Phoenix campus, he is director of the longitudinal clinical experience and the MD/MPH program, head of the public health/prevention scholarly concentration, chair of the Ad Hoc Curriculum Committee and head of the public health/prevention thread of the curriculum. He also served on the working group that developed the curricular road map for the Phoenix campus, and he chairs the Student Assessment Committee.

Kipp Charlton, MD, clinical associate professor of pediatrics and assistant dean for student affairs at the Phoenix campus. A longtime clinician and educator in Phoenix, Charlton has been instrumental to the development of the Phoenix campus, where he is responsible for the pediatrics clerkship, based at local hospitals. He serves as counselor to students on matters ranging from personal issues to course advising and provides formal instruction for third- and fourth-year students in choosing a specialty, signing up for clerkships and formalizing a fourth-year elective schedule. Charlton has been honored with the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award presented by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation.

Sean P. Elliott, MD, associate professor of clinical pediatrics, joined the College of Medicine in 2000. Shortly after, he was named to the Dean’s Teaching Scholars program. Since then, he has won a College of Medicine Teaching award every year of his tenure, including multiple Dean’s List for Excellence in Teaching in the Clinical Sciences awards, the Longitudinal Clinical Curriculum Preceptor of the Year award, in 2003, and the Clinical Science Educator of the Year award for 2006 and 2007. As chairman of the Department of Pediatrics Education Committee since 2004, Elliott has had a significant influence on the delivery of pediatric education to the College of Medicine, the Pediatrics Residency Program and the pediatric community in southern Arizona. He is recognized for the quality of his teaching of a fourth-year clinical elective in pediatric infectious diseases. Elliott has served on several key educational committees, including the Admissions Committee and the Curriculum Committee. He is very active in student advising and mentoring.

Paul Gordon, MD, MPH, associate professor of family and community medicine, began his tenure with the College of Medicine in 1986 as a volunteer attending physician in the family practice residency office. During this time, he received his first of three departmental Teacher of the Year awards. He completed a faculty development fellowship in 1988 and joined the faculty full time in 1989. Appointed director of Preparation for Clinical Medicine in 1993, he refined and revised the program, and many of its components are integral to the Societies Program of ArizonaMed. As director of the Center for Standardized Patient Training, Evaluation and Testing, he also is responsible for the design, content and administration of the Objective Structured Clinical Examination. His work on the use of standardized patients in medical education and testing has won national recognition. Gordon is a mentor and society director in the Societies Program of ArizonaMed. His teaching awards include the Vernon and Virginia Furrow Award for Excellence in Graduate Medical Education Teaching at the College of Medicine; the Furrow Award for Excellence in Basic Sciences Teaching; the Dean’s List for Excellence in Teaching; the CUP Faculty Recognition award; and the U.S. Distance Learning Association Annual Silver award.

William Johnson, MD, assistant professor of clinical medicine and director of the Medical Education Office in the department of medicine, joined the UA College of Medicine faculty in 1988. He is residency program director and clerkship director for the department of medicine and is active in student and resident education. His numerous teaching awards include the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award, presented by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation in 2005, and he was named faculty member of Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society by the 2007 AOA class for commitment to scholarly excellence and medical education. He is the editor of two textbooks used by medical students and residents, "Decision Making in Medicine" and "Introduction to Clinical Medicine." Johnson currently serves on the Clinical Curriculum Planning Committee for the College of Medicine.

John Mattox, MD, is professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology; chairman and residency program director, Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center; OB/GYN clerkship director for the UA College of Medicine; and associate head of the department of OB/GYN for the Phoenix campus. As collegewide director of the OB/GYN clerkship (at both the Tucson and Phoenix campuses), Mattox has been a key contributor to clinical education of UA medical students. He also has been active in developing the clinical curriculum in Phoenix and serves as adviser to the majority of Phoenix students who choose OB/GYN for their careers. He has encouraged Phoenix physicians to become UA faculty, to develop new electives and to participate in faculty development and medical student education.

Kevin Moynahan, MD, associate professor of clinical medicine, assistant dean for clinical education and director, Societies Program, ArizonaMed, completed medical school and residency at the UA College of Medicine. Since his residency in internal medicine, he has devoted his academic career to teaching. Moynahan was chosen chief resident in internal medicine for the 1996-97 academic year, and he joined the faculty in 1997. He was associate chief and then chief of the Section of General Internal Medicine, until becoming director of the Societies Program in 2006. Selected as a Dean’s Teaching Scholar in 1999, he won the Clinical Sciences Educator of the Year award in 2000, 2001 and 2002. Subsequently, he was awarded the Clinical Sciences Educator of the Year Lifetime Award. Through the Societies Program, he has participated in creating the new first- and second-year curriculum for clinical and professional education at the College of Medicine. He chairs the Clinical Curriculum Planning Committee, which currently is revising the third- and fourth-year clinical curriculum to better suit the needs of the College of Medicine graduates as they become practicing physicians.

John "Jack" Nolte, PhD, professor of cell biology and anatomy, joined the UA College of Medicine in 1990. His international reputation for excellence in education is due in part to his textbooks on the human brain. He also is on numerous National Board of Medical Examiners committees and is a reviewer for National Board of Medical Examiners Stemmler Fund grants. Nolte has served as chairman for the Association of American Medical Colleges Medical Education Software Resources Initiative and was program chair for the AAMC Western Group on Educational Affairs. Since joining the UA, he has instituted faculty mentoring and development programs, including the Dean’s Teaching Scholars program. He has served as the director of the Division of Academic Resources and as the chairman of the Curriculum Committee. Among his many awards, Nolte was selected by the first-year medical student class to receive the Basic Science Educator of the Year award in 1996, 1997 and 1999 and, subsequently, the Basic Science Educator of the Year Lifetime Award. He was chosen by the graduating medical student class for the Basic Science Educator of the Year award seven times, has received the Vernon and Virginia Furrow Award for Excellence in Basic Science Teaching twice, and was awarded the highly prestigious Alpha Omega Alpha Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teacher Award by the AAMC.

Naomi Rance, MD, PhD, professor of pathology, cell biology and anatomy, and neurology and associate head of the department of pathology, is a neuropathologist and neurobiologist with a passion for teaching. She has been honored with numerous awards, the Vernon and Virginia Furrow Award for Excellence in Graduate Medical Education Teaching; the Furrow Award for Excellence in Innovation in Teaching; three Basic Science Educator of the Year awards; a Basic Sciences Educator of the Year Lifetime award; and being named twice to the Dean’s List for Excellence in Teaching in the Basic Sciences. Along with Nathaniel McMullen, she was instrumental in the introduction of “virtual laboratories” to the ArizonaMed curriculum.

Ziad Shehab, MD, professor of clinical pediatrics and pathology, joined the UA as a clinical assistant professor of pediatrics in 1983. He was named professor of clinical pediatrics and pathology in 1995 and section head of pediatric infectious diseases that same year. He is director of the pediatric clerkship and is recognized for the quality of his teaching of a fourth-year clinical elective in pediatric infectious diseases. Shehab has made numerous contributions to medical education through service on key College of Medicine committees and currently serves on the Clinical Curriculum Planning Committee. He received the Clinical Sciences Educator of the Year award three times and subsequently was presented a Clinical Sciences Educator of the Year Lifetime Award.

Paul R. Standley, PhD, professor of basic medical sciences at the Phoenix campus, has been dedicated to medical and biological education for more than 20 years. He has served as a founding faculty member at two new medical education programs in the past 12 years: Midwestern University’s Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine and the UA College's of Medicine's Phoenix campus. At the Phoenix campus, his primary role was to codesign and implement the Phoenix track of the ArizonaMed curriculum. While he assisted in developing all blocks on the Phoenix campus, he was charged with designing and directing the Cardiovascular, Pulmonary and Renal System block. Bringing together faculty from the Phoenix campus, ASU, A.T. Still University, Midwestern University and clinicians from area hospitals, he designed a number of unique teaching modalities for this block. He is a member of the Phoenix campus's Phoenix Case Management Team, which designed learning objectives and chose disease entities for all of the CBI sessions conducted at that campus. He also serves on the College of Medicine Curriculum Committee.

Marc E. Tischler, PhD, is a professor of biochemistry and molecular physics, physiology, and medicine and associate head of the department of biochemistry and molecular biophysics. Tischler, who joined the UA faculty in 1979, has served as interim head of the department of biochemistry (1995-1999), director of the UA Minority Access to Research Careers program (since 1999) and coordinator of the medical biochemistry course 17 times. In 2004, he was asked to chair the Integration Team during the design of the new curriculum and he later designed and became director of the Digestion, Metabolism and Hormones block. Among his many awards and honors, Tischler has been named a Dean’s Teaching Scholar; received the Vernon and Virginia Furrow Award for Excellence in Basic Science Teaching for Medical Students; the Furrow Award for Innovation in Teaching; the Basic Science Educator of the Year Award (three times); and was named a Lifetime Basic Medical Science Educator. He also has been recognized for Distinguished Teaching in the College of Science.