Faculty Update: Cole Receives Goldstein Leadership Award
F. Sessions Cole, MD, has been awarded a 2010 Samuel R. Goldstein Leadership Award in Medical Education. Mark D. Levine, MD, and Megan E. Wren, MD, also received the award.
The annual awards, which recognize outstanding teaching and commitment to medical education, are among the highest honors that School of Medicine faculty can achieve. They were established in 2000 in memory of Mr. Goldstein, a longtime friend of the medical school.
A selection committee made up of faculty and a student representative from each class reviews all submitted nominations and selects three awardees based on innovative teaching, curriculum development, commitment to education and teaching evaluations. The committee forwards its recommendations to Larry J. Shapiro, MD, executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, for final approval.
“Sesh, Mark and Megan each exhibit excellence in and commitment to leadership in medical student education,” Shapiro says. “The School of Medicine and its students are extremely fortunate to have such talented and distinguished leaders of education at our institution.”
The awards will be formally presented at a dinner this spring.
Dr. Cole is the Park J. White, MD, Professor and vice chairman of Pediatrics. He is also assistant vice chancellor for children's health, director of the Division of Newborn Medicine and chief medical officer of St. Louis Children's Hospital.
Dr. Cole is well regarded for his commitment to excellence in education and outreach activities. Since his arrival in 1986, more than 2,500 medical students and more than 500 pediatric residents have directly benefited from his clinical scholarship and teaching. He was instrumental in the formation of community outreach programs for medical students, such as Students Teaching AIDS to Students (STATS), where medical students teach AIDS awareness to middle school students, and the Perinatal Program, where medical students provide teenage mothers and their babies with support and information. He also helped design an elective called Special Topics in Reproductive Health in response to students’ requests for a course focusing on adolescents, victims of child abuse and teenage pregnancy, and he allowed students to control the content and organization of the course.
Dr. Cole has received many awards and honors, including the Clinical Teaching Award from Washington University School of Medicine's Classes of 1999 and 2000; Cartier First Aide Award from the St. Louis Effort for AIDS; Torch of Youth Award from the National Council on Youth Leadership; and FDR Leadership Award from the March of Dimes.
