Three IMP clinical faculty members have received 2019 Clinical Faculty teaching awards from the UBC Faculty of Medicine.
Dr. Alison Walzak received the Clinical Faculty Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching, which recognizes excellence in teaching by clinical faculty members. Dr. Walzak is the IMP’s clinical skills site director, a clinical assistant professor of community internal medicine, and the clinical teaching unit director at Royal Jubilee Hospital.
“I am very honoured to receive this award! The credit certainly goes to my mentors, the trainees I get to work with, and my patients that allow us to learn from them,” she says. “I feel very fortunate to be part of such an amazing team of colleagues and students at the Island Medical Program that continue to challenge me in my professional growth.”
Dr. Sam Stewart received the Clinical Faculty Award for Career Excellence in Clinical Teaching. This awards recognizes senior clinical faculty members who have demonstrated sustained excellence in teaching over the course of their careers. Dr. Stewart is currently a master teacher and the ambulatory discipline site leader at the IMP. Previously, he held the roles of Year 3 Director and Year 4 Elective Director.
“I have been with IMP since the beginning,” he says. “Being a teacher and now a Master Teacher at the IMP has given me the opportunity to combine my life’s passions of teaching and practicing medicine—and to enrich my experience of both. What a gift I have received.”
Dr. Donna Doyle received the Clinical Faculty Award for Excellence in Community Practice Teaching. This award recognizes clinical faculty members throughout B.C. who have demonstrated excellence in teaching and made an educational impact in a local community. Dr. Doyle has taught family practice students in her office for more than 20 years. She also teaches Year 3 IMP students and residents on the ward during their obstetrical rotations, and she occasionally teaches Year 2 IMP students with a special interest in obstetrics. She held the position of clinical educator in obstetrics for IMP students and postgrad residents from 2010 – 2019.
“I feel very honoured to be receiving this award, as I hope it reflects that I have made, and am still making, a positive impact with the young new physicians that I have encountered in my many years of teaching,” she says. “I love teaching students because it is a relationship that benefits us both! It encourages me to keep up-to-date on my medical knowledge, and it allows me to share this knowledge and my years of clinical experience with the next generation of physicians. It is also a great opportunity to demonstrate to new graduates the benefits and diversity of full-service family medicine.”
You can learn more about the 2019 Clinical Faculty teaching awards and see who else received an award here.