(L-R) Fraser Brenneis, vice-dean of education; Jonathan White, Rutherford Award and 3M Teaching Fellowship winner; Ron Damant, Rutherford Award winner; Barbara Ballerman, chair of the Department of Medicine
Ronald Damant and Jonathan White are recipients of the 2014 Rutherford Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching on May 22, the premiere teaching award at the University of Alberta. The dual win is a first for the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry since the award's conception in 1982. Damant ('88 BSc, '90 MD) and White are among six winners across the university.
"I think [our winning] sends a message that our faculty is interested in education and that education is important," White says, noting that the high standard of teaching throughout the faculty wouldn't be possible without the support of the dean and department chairs.
Prolific professors
Damant, an associate professor in the Division of Pulmonary Medicine, says he was happy to be nominated but didn't expect to win. Since he joined the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry in 2000, he has won 17 teaching awards from his department, the faculty and the Canadian Association for Medical Education.
While Damant says his teaching style isn't something that he purposefully cultivated, he tries to make the content come alive by telling stories, engaging the students and using humour to spice up the drier topics.
"I try to put myself in the learners' shoes. If I was learning this for the first time, what would be the challenges?" Damant says. "Even if they're still in the lecture hall, I try to virtually take students outside and put them in the emergency room by presenting them with real-life scenarios."
As a pulmonary specialist at the University of Alberta Hospital, much of Damant's teaching is done in the wards. While he occasionally teaches senior medical students, much of his clinical teaching is done with postgraduate students in their first and second year, or senior residents who are specializing in pulmonary medicine. He is also the pulmonary lecturer during the first year CPR block.
"I love practicing medicine, and I love teaching," he says. "It takes me back to when I was just starting out and makes me remember the excitement of finally being in medical school and learning the stuff that I really love to learn-to be taken back to that early stage of my career is very refreshing."
White, an associate professor of surgery, was also thrilled to hear of his win.
"You never know you're quite on the right track. I have a master's degree in education and I've had a lot of experience teaching, but you're still kind of making it up as you go along," he says. "It's nice when someone who doesn't know you, who's not even in your faculty, looks at what you have done and says it meets the criteria for an award like the Rutherford."
As the Tom Williams Endowed Chair in Surgical Education, White is engaged with teaching at all levels of medical education. He lectures first- and second-year medical students, oversees the third- and fourth-year surgical clerkships and trains residents in the wards and operating rooms. He participates in some of the faculty's outreach programs, like Rockin' Docs and Discovery Days, and runs a course that teaches surgery residents how to teach. He also teaches a course on assessment in the master's in health sciences education in the Department of Education Psychology.
When he's not lecturing or on the wards, White can often be found in the Surgery 101 studios working with Dr. Scalpel and Thumbs, two Muppets with an admirable passion for surgical education. With the help of his team, White produces podcasts and videos for Surgery 101, which has been downloaded more than 1.3 million times in more than 180 countries. He has gained international attention for his approach to education, including when he won a 3M National Teaching Fellowship earlier this year.
When asked why he teaches, White responds, "Someone taught me to do the stuff that I'm able to do, so I have to teach the next generation the same thing."
Carl Amrhein, provost and vice-president (academic), presented the awards at the ceremony.
"I am convinced that the quality of the undergraduate experience matters more now than it ever has before. That experience will define successful institutions in the next few decades," Amrhein says in his opening comments. "This is all very good news for this institution. We have a lot to be proud of in the area of teaching. As teachers, we encourage our students to be insightful, creative, flexible and innovative; all of which we so often model in our classrooms as professors.
"Earning awards is no small achievement."
The Rutherford Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching is the most prestigious teaching award within the University of Alberta. Any academic faculty member who has been with the university for at least five years is eligible for nomination. The award is named after Alexander Cameron Rutherford, Alberta's first primer. Past recipients within the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry include:
- William C Taylor (1989, pediatrics)
- David L. Tyrrell (1990, medical microbiology and infectious disease)
- Ronald Whitehouse (1992, medical microbiology and infectious disease)
- Anil Walji (1996, medicine)
- Martin Palmer (1998, oncology),
- David Cook (2000, pharmacology)
- David Rayner (2002, laboratory medicine & pathology)
- Laurie Mereu (2004 endocrinology and metabolism)
- Scott North (2006, oncology)
- Sarah Forgie (2009, pediatrics)
- Clarence Wong (2010, medicine)
- Melanie Lewis (2012, pediatrics)