Medical students honor Internal Medicine faculty, fellows they aspire to emulate
Exceptional, supportive, engaging, attentive, and patient-centered are some of the words UT Southwestern medical students used to describe the Department of Internal Medicine faculty and fellows who impacted their educational journey the most during the past academic year. Based on student nominations, seven faculty members and two fellows were recently honored with 2023-24 Outstanding Internal Medicine Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) Teaching Awards.
“The nominated faculty were praised by their students for their dedication to humanistic care and role modeling excellent clinical skills,” said Reeni Abraham, M.D., Associate Vice Chair for Undergraduate Medical Education and Professor of Internal Medicine. “These faculty represent multiple sites and settings, including satellite clinics and our various inpatient hospital services, truly showing the depth of talent at our institution.”
Nominations came from Internal Medicine annual course review evaluations from two required clerkship courses and three selectives, which represented a significant portion of the MS3/MS4 curriculum. The award winners were celebrated at a luncheon at the A.W. Harris Faculty Club in July. Read a sampling of the positive remarks and feedback students shared about these inspiring educators below.
2023-24 Outstanding IM UME Faculty Teaching Awards
Suzanne Cole, M.D.
Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and a member of the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center
Nominator comment: “She was so engaging. She really took the time to incorporate me into the clinic and make me feel like part of the team. She was always willing to explain things and answer questions. Her explanations were thorough and helped me understand a lot of topics I had struggled with or had been confused about. She would take time to sit and talk with me over a patient’s case, differential diagnoses, what to ask on a history and why, and what to look for on a physical exam. In addition, she would explain lab findings and scans and how they related to the patient’s condition.”
Lanna Felde, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine
Nominator comment: “Dr. Lanna Felde was such a wonderful clinician and teacher to work with on the hospitalist service! She set very reasonable and clear expectations and truly made us feel like valuable members of the team. She allowed us a great deal of independence, almost like subinterns, but in a very low pressure environment. We had the opportunity to pend orders, page consults, and call other teams. She truly valued our assessments and plans when making decisions. She did very useful teaching on rounds, including asking us questions and sharing her own clinical wisdom as well as offering practical tips like optimizing our Epic workflow. She treated each of her patients with such a wonderful bedside manner, personalized care, and always considered socioeconomic factors in setting patients up for success after discharge.”
Tiffany Lee, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine
Nominator comment: “Dr. Tiffany Lee was my favorite attending. She is very attentive to our learning, taking every opportunity to ask us why and how and to think critically about guidelines and clinical trials to answer our questions. I learned so much during the two weeks she led our team. I also felt she was working behind the scenes and checking on everything we were doing, as well as reading our notes and giving us feedback on how to be more efficient and accurate. Our whole team loved her and learned a lot.”
Srijna Nandivada, M.D. (also a 2022-23 honoree)
Clinical Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine
Nominator comment: “She is so passionate about teaching and her patients. Right off the bat I could see how her patients treated her like family and really trust her because she positions herself as an advocate and educator for them. She gives students lots of independence to see patients in her clinic and encourages us to read up/give suggestions in terms of management and actually incorporates our ideas in patient care. Overall, she is a very effective teacher and one I aspire to emulate!”
Charles “Chad” Owens, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine
Nominator comment: “Dr. Charles Owens was by far the best teacher I have ever had. He explained difficult and complicated topics such as hypo Artemia differentials and workups with ease and in a way that was easily understandable. He was kind and prioritized medical students’ learning. He valued our input and treated us like a valuable part of the team. He encouraged us to strive for the best – truly exceptional mentorship.”
Melanie Sulistio, M.D.
Professor of Internal Medicine
Nominator comments: “Dr. Melanie Sulistio was an incredible teacher because of her sincerity. She showed a sincere desire to come to where we were, understand what we did and did not know, and then go from there. Great teaching. … I learned more in one day with her than in a week with most attendings, and her teaching extends well beyond the actual medicine and really puts the patient’s entire care at the center of everything.”
Libay Woldeyes, M.D.
Clinical Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine
Nominator comments: “Dr. Woldeyes brought humanism to medicine. He was the most patient-centered physician I have ever met. He always considered the patient’s experience and their barriers to care in every single patient – very rare to see. … He went above and beyond to teach medical students every single day that he was on service. He gave us one-on-one sessions to improve physician exam maneuvers, conducted countless teaching sessions throughout the rotation, and always treated students, residents, and patients with the utmost respect.”
2023-24 Outstanding IM UME Fellow Teaching Award
Omowunmi Adedeji, M.D.
Cardiology fellow
Nominator comment: “Dr. Omowunmi Adedeji was one of our fellows I worked with for three weeks. She was an excellent teacher, and our residents and medical students unanimously felt that she was supportive but also allowed us independence in our decision making. She created a safe teaching environment that was also fun and built camaraderie among our team members.”
Alexandra Sykes, M.D.
Cardiology fellow
Nominator comment: “Dr. Alexandra Sykes could have fooled me into thinking that she was a third-year fellow with her competence and ability to engage learners in effective teaching. She was eager to provide frequent teaching that helped every learner on the team shine. She was very approachable and open to questions from any member of the team.”