VCU School of Medicine announces annual teaching awards

By Joe Kuttenkuler

Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Medicine has presented its highest honors for teaching and mentoring excellence to five faculty members.

Robert Balster, Ph.D., Luther A. Butler Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology, and Richard Costanzo, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Physiology, received the top honor – the Faculty Teaching Excellence Award.

Balster is known nationally and internationally as an expert on drugs used to treat diseases of the central nervous system and drugs of abuse. He has written more than 250 journal articles, two books, forty chapters and 300 paper presentations and abstracts, and served on countless national committees, including the Food and Drug Administration’s Drug Abuse Advisory Committee. However, his colleagues and students said the award is recognition for what he does best…teaching.

“Anyone who has seen Bob Balster in action in the classroom knows he is a master teacher,” said William Wessinger, Ph.D., associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Arkansas, who was a Balster advisee during his Ph.D. training at VCU. “In the classroom, I learned all about the facts of pharmacology, but in the laboratory he taught me how to be a pharmacologist…to think independently, critically and creatively.”

Costanzo, who teaches the neuroscience course for first-year medical students, also directs the Smell and Taste Clinic at VCU where he instructs residents and fellows and evaluates patients with disorders of smell and taste resulting from head injuries, degenerative conditions, and exposure to toxins. This also is the fifth year in a row Costanzo has received a Best Teacher Award in the neuroscience course.

“What sets Dr. Costanzo apart is his combination of dedication and enthusiasm, of expertise and innovation, and of organization and sheer energy that he brings to his educational pursuits,” said fellow professor and Chair of Physiology, Margaret Biber, D.Phil., Oxon, who nominated Costanzo for the award.

The Irby-James Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching went to Robert Schneider, M.D., associate professor in the Departments of Psychiatry, Family Practice and Internal Medicine.

According to colleagues, Schneider’s development of a breakthrough diagnostic tool to help primary care physicians evaluate patients for psychiatric disorders is an example of how he approaches teaching – by “taking a complex topic and paring down the essentials into a structure that can easily be remembered.”

Students describe Schneider as “one of those memorable teachers who make you glad you made it to the lecture.” Schneider also has twice received an Outstanding Teacher Award from psychiatry residents.

Other teaching excellence award recipients include Deborah Haller, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry, who received the Distinguished Mentor Award, and Charles Frazier, M.D., clinical professor in the Department of Family Practice, who received the Educational Innovation Award.

Haller, who provides guidance to student researchers and clinicians, is described as a mentor who provides gentle, yet on-target and helpful feedback. In addition to serving on numerous committees, Haller also is a consultant to the National Football League’s Personal Conduct Program -- better known in the NFL as the “Bad Boys” treatment program.

Developing a web-based system for evaluating medical residents won Frazier his award. Comp-E-Val, which is being used here at VCU and 40 other Family Practice residency programs across the country, is one of several innovations developed by Frazier. Examalyzer, which analyzes training results for family practice residencies, and Health-E-Link, a physician-patient web portal that links patients and their electronic medical records, both have won accolades from Frazier’s colleagues.

“Recognizing these outstanding individuals for the teaching excellence is an important part of the total instructional experience,” said H.H. Newsome Jr., M.D., dean of the School of Medicine. “Because all of the honorees are selected by their peers, students and alumni, it makes the awards even more significant.”

Also during the ceremony, Outstanding Departmental and Teaching Awards were handed out to 97 faculty members. The winners were chosen from among the 1034 faculty members in the School of Medicine and at the Hunter Holmes McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center. This is the fifth year the medical school has presented the awards.