Faculty Scholars

• Jack B. Alperin, M.D.

  A specialist in disorders of blood clotting and transfusion medicine, Alperin has been recognized as an exceptional teacher and clinician.

  His many teaching awards include the Golden Apple Award presented by the Junior Medical School Class of 1988, the First Place Teaching Award presented by the Alumni Association of the Department of Internal Medicine in 1994 and the Alumni Appreciation Award for Excellence in Teaching from the UTMB School of Medicine Alumni Association in 1998. Earlier this year he received recognition for Commitment to Continuing Education from the School for Specialists in Blood Banking and the Blood Bank Staff.

  Alperin is a member of the faculty in the Division of Hematology and Oncology within the Department of Internal Medicine and is the associate director of the UTMB Blood Banks within the Department of Pathology. He was appointed a professor in Internal Medicine and in Human Biological Chemistry & Genetics in 1983 and in Pathology in 1993.

• Judith F. Aronson, M.D.

  Aronson has been on the UTMB faculty since 1994 and teaches pathology in small-group laboratory sessions. The director of the university’s autopsy service, she also participates in elective courses for third- and fourth-year medical students as well as an autopsy exercise course for fourth-year students. She is a member of the Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, and an associate professor of experimental pathology in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at UTMB. Aronson has received several teaching awards at UTMB, including the Experimental Pathology Graduate Student Organization Award for Teaching and Mentoring, and the UTMB School of Medicine Class of 1947 Excellence in Education Award.

  Aronson earned her M.D. in 1985 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and spent the next three years in residency training at the University of Washington’s affiliated hospitals in Seattle. She spent part of 1988 studying in her hometown of Washington, D.C., at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Department of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases. She also served that year as a physician and pathologist at Curran Lutheran Hospital in the West African country of Liberia. Aronson came to UTMB in 1989 as a McLaughlin Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Pathology and became an assistant professor in the department in 1991. She returned to her alma mater a year later to work in the departments of Microbiology and Immunology, and Pathology. Aronson came back to UTMB as an assistant professor in 1994.

• Patricia Beach, M.D.

  Dr. Patricia Beach is Director of the Division of General Academic Pediatrics, Chair of the School of Medicine Curriculum Committee and Chair of the Course Committee for the Year 4 Ambulatory Community Selective. She graduated from medical school at the LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans. She has received several teaching awards including the Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Resident Education, the Department of Pediatrics Outstanding Junior Faculty Award for Education, and the Pediatric Educator Award for Excellence in Medical Student Education.
  
  Dr. Beach has been a member of the UTMB Community on an intermittent basis since starting her residency in Pediatrics in 1979. She spent seven of the intervening years practicing pediatrics in rural North Carolina and in the Upper Midwest. Her commitment to excellence in pediatric education is reflected in the various roles she has served with the National Board of Medical Examiners, and in collaborating with other pediatric educators in the creation of a web-based resource, Guidelines for Pediatric Education, which are widely utilized by residency programs.

• Daniel Breitkopf, M.D.

  Dr. Breitkopf received his M.D. degree from the State University of New York-Downstate College of Medicine and completed residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Vermont. In 1997, he joined the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, serving as associate professor in the Division of Gynecology.
  
  Dr. Breitkopf is the holder of the Faculty Distinguished Professorship in Obstetrics and Gynecology at UTMB and serves as the residency program director. His clinical and research interests include gynecologic sonography, minimally invasive surgery and medical education. He has directed postgraduate courses for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and currently serves as ACOG’s representative to the Joint Review Committee on Education in Diagnostic Medical Sonography. Dr. Breitkopf is an inaugural inductee into the UTMB Academy of Master Teachers.

• Kristene Gugliuzza, M.D.

  Dr. Gugliuzza attended medical school at the University of Illinois and achieved her residency training in General Surgery at Tulane University. She then completed fellowship training in Renal Transplantation at Tulane and Pancreatic Transplantation at the University of Minnesota. She now specializes in Pancreatic and Renal Transplant Surgery here at UTMB.
  
  Her current research projects include effects of new immunosuppressive agents and computer use in the academic surgical setting.

• Frederick S. Huang, M.D.

  Dr. Frederick S. Huang, assistant professor and director of the Division of Hematology/Oncology in the Department of Pediatrics , joined the UTMB faculty in 2001. He is a principal investigator with the Children’s Oncology Group, which provides the latest treatments for childhood cancer. He is also a member of UTMB’s Child Health Research Center and is conducting research on mucositis, a gastrointestinal injury resulting from the toxicity of chemotherapy cancer treatments. Huang teaches numerous courses in the university’s schools of Medicine, Allied Health Sciences and Graduate Biomedical Sciences and has been recognized as an outstanding instructor, having received the Class of 1947 Excellence in Education Award and the Department of Pediatrics’ Golden Rattle Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching.

  Huang earned his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine in 1994 and completed his residency in pediatrics at Baylor’s affiliated hospitals three years later. He conducted his fellowship training in pediatric hematology/oncology at Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.

• C. Joan Richardson, M.D.

  Richardson has served UTMB as an instructor, clinician, administrator and researcher for more than 26 years.
  
  She maintains an active schedule at the university, serving as medical director for Inpatient Services of UTMB hospitals, vice chair of the Pediatrics Department , director of the Neonatology Division and medical director of the Infant Special Care Unit and Newborn Nursery. Richardson is also the UTMB institutional emergency preparedness officer and holds the John Sealy Centennial Chair in Neonatology and is a professor of Pediatrics and Obstetrics & Gynecology .
  
  She has been honored for her teaching enthusiasm, receiving the Golden Rattle Award for Excellence in Teaching, Pediatrics Department, in 1979 and 2000. Richardson received the Nicholas and Katherine Leone Award for Administrative Excellence in 1996 and was listed among the "Best Doctors in America, 1996-1997." She also was the keynote speaker for the 1999 UTMB "White Coat Ceremony," when incoming students receive white coats to symbolize the start of their medical education.

• Barbara L. Thompson, M.D.

  Thompson earned her M.D. from UTMB in 1971 and completed the university's family medicine residency program in 1974. That same year, she became a diplomat of the American Board of Family Practice, receiving additional qualifications in geriatric medicine in 1987.
  
  Thompson, who grew up in Amarillo, became interim medical director of UTMB hospital clinics and assistant dean for faculty practice last year. She is the Sealy Hutchings and Lucille Wright Hutchings Professor and Chair of the Department of Family Medicine. Thompson also serves on the board of directors of UTMB HealthCare Systems Inc., a nonprofit organization that acts as an HMO for special needs populations. She has been acknowledged by her colleagues for making her patients feel like participants in their care and for championing patient access to health care.
  
  Thompson said she was honored to be nominated by her peers. "My patients and my students have been my core value over my career, and they are the essence of what makes it all worthwhile to me," Thompson said. "Working with the founding Osler Scholars is a fantastic opportunity to grow and expand as a physician and teacher. I am appreciative of this opportunity and will try my best to continue the wonderful example set by the current scholars."