Graduating from medical school is a great adventure that can take a village to complete. Over the past four years, Dr. Christian Leal and Dr. Joseph Stegeman triumphantly managed their own course loads while also helping fellow students succeed, earning recognition with tutoring awards from Student Academic Support Services.

Dr. Christian Leal

Dr. Christian Leal

What this award means: It is a tremendous privilege to be able to help teach the MS1s and MS2s. I know how daunting this information was for me to learn (I still get palpitations thinking about neuroanatomy), so I can’t think of a better way to give back than by teaching.

Mentor comment: Christian’s dedication to the art of tutoring knows no bounds. He thinks carefully, not just about what to present in his sessions, but how to present information in ways that take incredibly complex processes and break them down for first-year students. – Carol Wortham, Student Academic Support Services (SASS) Manager

Background and family: My grandfather in El Salvador never learned how to read or write, and my father was unable to attend high school since he had to care for his siblings and mother in Mexico. My mom immigrated to the U.S. from El Salvador during the Salvadoran Civil War. My parents have sacrificed so much for me to pursue an education, having encouraged me at every step of the way, and to be able to give back is so profoundly fulfilling.

What led to your career path: I realized how gratifying it was to see patients in the Parkland Ophthalmology Clinic receive vision-preserving care. Seeing a patient cry tears of joy after cataract surgery was an unforgettable experience. I want to join my love of service and my love of teaching by caring for a diverse population, teaching residents, and sharing my love of ophthalmology with medical students.

College: I graduated from Stanford University with a degree in molecular and cellular biology. I led an organization called HABLA, in which Stanford students helped teach English as a second language (ESL) skills to the Stanford custodial staff. I also taught SAT prep at a low-income high school in East Palo Alto and served as an interpreter coordinator at Arbor Free Clinic.

UTSW activities: With Alpha Omega Alpha, I helped to give teaching strategies for students preparing for Step 1. At The Monday Clinic, I served as Operations Manager and helped to implement and teach the use of a new EMR (electronic medical record) system and led student teams in the care for uninsured Dallas patients. I also created a new anatomy course for the Joint Admission Medical Program (JAMP).

Surprising fact: I met my wife when I was 12 years old, and we have been dating since we were 15! I was also captain in the Texas 5A state championship football game in 2010.”

Future plans: I will do an ophthalmology residency at the Dean McGee Eye Institute at the University of Oklahoma. My goal is to eventually become an ophthalmology program director and do ophthalmic surgery in underserved communities globally.

Dr. Joseph Stegeman

Dr. Joseph Stegeman

What this award means: Teaching is actually what I’d like to do as a career within emergency medicine. We’ve all experienced the difference it makes when you have a teacher who is enthusiastic and invested in their students, but I think that skill is often undervalued in the medical field where physicians have so many other performance metrics to worry about.

Mentor comment: Joe has been a key part of the SASS tutoring team for the past three years, and stands out for his faithful service to fellow medical students at all levels – first- and second-year coursework reviews, clinical skills coaching, and as the organizer of peer support for national boards. Joe’s answer to every request for help is always yes, and we know any project he undertakes will be done with the perfect blend of professionalism and genuine concern for student success. – Carol Wortham, SASS Manager

Background and family: I grew up in Springfield, Illinois. Both of my parents were in medicine (family practice and ophthalmology), but I’m the only one out of five, so far, who ended up following them into medicine.

What led to your career path: During college, I had two jobs. As a freshman and sophomore, I coached a diving team of about 45 kids ranging in age from 5 to 18. That experience was essentially an exercise in teaching to different skill levels and learning how to frame material for specific audiences. As a junior and senior, I worked as an emergency department scribe, where I really fell in love with the pace and the variety of problems that emergency medicine encompasses. Putting all of that together, academic emergency medicine is an opportunity for me to work as a clinician educator that really takes the educator part of the job seriously.

College: I graduated with a B.S. in biology from Texas Christian University. I was also a diver for the TCU swimming and diving team, and I earned All-Big 12 and Academic All-Big 12 honors.

UTSW activities: I was involved in tutoring, the Emergency Medicine Interest Group, and Colleges peer mentoring.

Surprising fact: I go to trivia night every Wednesday at Community Brewing, and my team is currently on an eight-week winning streak. Collectively, we’re the Ken Jennings of brewery trivia.

Future plans:I’m planning on going into emergency medicine, and hopefully staying in academics after residency at Massachusetts General Hospital/BWH-Harvard so that I can incorporate teaching into my practice.

About the award: The award recognizes graduating medical students who have made outstanding contributions to serve fellow medical students in need of academic assistance.