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GALVESTON, Texas—Dr. Steven A. Lieberman, associate dean for educational
affairs in the University of Texas Medical Branch’s School of Medicine, has
been appointed as the first to hold the Dr. and Mrs. A.H. Potthast
Professorship in Teaching Excellence.
The Potthast professorship was established last December by Dallas-based
financier John H. Massey and his wife, Libba, to honor the memory of Mr.
Massey’s grandparents. Dr. Adolph H. Potthast graduated from UTMB with his
brother, Dr. Otto Potthast, in 1915 and was remembered for his generosity
and kindness to children and as a man who refused to let the physical
limitations of his later years hinder his care for citizens in his hometown
of Weimar. The professorship also honors Mr. Massey’s grandmother for her
commitment to her family and her community. Lieberman was appointed to the
professorship because he exemplifies the high ideals and sense of compassion
demonstrated by the Potthasts throughout their lifetime of service.
The Potthast professorship also recognized Lieberman for his leadership
role in advancing educational innovations at UTMB and for his dedication to
students. It is one of the few endowments at the university exclusively
devoted to rewarding teaching excellence. Endowments are rarely established
at academic health centers to honor faculty members who excel as educators.
Lieberman, an associate professor of endocrinology, has received numerous
teaching awards and honors, including Best Second-Year Course Award for his
endocrinology and reproduction class, UTMB American Medical Women’s
Association Gender Equity Award and the Golden Apple Award given to the
university’s best preclinical instructor. In 1999 he was honored as a Piper
Professor, one of 10 higher education faculty throughout Texas to receive
this award from the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation. He has also been named
to UTMB’s Patient Satisfaction Honor Roll.
Lieberman said his own teachers helped influence him to become an
educator. “Through college, medical school, residency and fellowship, I was
repeatedly inspired by the efforts of outstanding teachers and also dismayed
at instructional and curricular approaches that I perceived as more geared
toward faculty convenience than educational effectiveness,” he said.
Such inspiration helped Lieberman lead the implementation of the
Integrated Medical Curriculum, an educational plan that grounds medical
science in clinical contexts and begins students’ training in clinical
medicine and the human dimension of care in the first week of medical
school. For example, students learn about theories and principles that
govern ethical decision making in addition to understanding the scientific
method to help them establish the cause of disease. The comprehensive
curriculum, which is structured around small group, problem-based learning,
also stresses compassionate treatment of patients and respect for their
dignity and privacy.
“I’m extremely honored to hold this professorship,” Lieberman said. “I
will do my best to ensure our students emulate the same high ideals and
standards that were demonstrated by the Potthasts.”
In his current position overseeing the medical school curriculum,
Lieberman has been a strong advocate for promoting the development of
compassionate, high-quality medical care by UTMB students. He has championed
the use of standardized patients to train communication and interpersonal
skills. Standardized patients are specially trained actors portraying
patients with various illnesses for students to diagnose.
Lieberman has also advocated technology-based simulators to teach and
assess the quality of care. In one current project, video footage of
patients facing end-of-life issues will be incorporated into an interactive
DVD format to allow medical, nursing, physician assistant and other allied
health students to master the skills necessary to provide compassionate care
to such patients and their families.
John Massey said Lieberman is a fitting recipient of the endowment. “My
wife, Libba, and I are proud to know that a man of Dr. Lieberman’s stature
and professional reputation is the first recipient of this award,” he said.
“It is our hope and goal to build the endowment in the coming years so that
great teachers such as Dr. Lieberman will be truly recognized for the
lasting impact they will have on future doctors.”
The Masseys’ contribution to the professorship benefits UTMB’s Program
for Innovation in Education, an $8.65 million initiative to enhance the
university’s learning environment. The initiative has two phases: the
renovation of UTMB’s learning facilities, which has exceeded its fundraising
goal, and the establishment of endowments for faculty who exhibit excellence
in teaching.
Lieberman received his M.D. degree from UT Southwestern Medical School in
Dallas in 1985. The San Antonio native trained in internal medicine at Santa
Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, Calif., and completed additional
training in endocrinology at Stanford University. Lieberman served as a
staff physician at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Palo
Alto, Calif., and as an assistant professor of endocrinology at George
Washington University Medical Center in Washington, D.C., before he joined
UTMB in 1994.
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