WCM-Q teaching awards honor faculty who “go above and beyond”

The winners of the 2019 Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) Excellence in Teaching Awards were announced at a ceremony held at Qatar Foundation’s Chef’s Garden restaurant at Al Shaqab.

The awards recognize the outstanding contributions made by faculty and teaching specialists to the education, professional and personal development, and overall success of students at WCM-Q. The ceremony is held annually and takes place shortly before the conclusion of the academic year – WCM-Q’s graduating class are due to receive their degrees on May 8.

This year, 18 awards were presented in 12 categories. In the Pre-medical Teaching Specialists category, Ms. Padmakumari Sarada and Dr. Dalia Zakaria won the awards while Ms. Christine Gaskell and Ms. Sarah Roach received honorable mentions. The pre-medical curriculum faculty to win awards were Dr. Clare McVeigh, Dr. Majda Sebah, Dr. James Roach, Dr. Mohammad Yousef, Dr. Rodney Sharkey, Dr. Sean Holroyd and Dr. Moncef Ladjimi. Videos were played throughout the event of students paying tribute to faculty for their skills as teachers, dedication and mentorship.

Dr. Marco Ameduri, Associate Professor of Physics and Associate Dean for Pre-medical Education said: “We are blessed with an exceptionally talented and committed group of teaching faculty who are always prepared to go above and beyond to ensure each student achieves his or her full potential. It is very gratifying to be able to highlight the excellent work of the winners of these awards and to acknowledge the exceptional quality of all of our teaching faculty.”

In the Excellence in Teaching in the Foundational Sciences Curriculum category, awards were presented to Dr. Avelin Malyango and Dr. Salman Al-Jerdi, a WCM-Q alumnus. In the Excellence in Teaching in the Clinical Curriculum category, Dr. Al-Jerdi picked up a second award, while his fellow WCM-Q alumnus, Dr. Mohamed Elshazly was also honored. Other medical education faculty to win awards were Dr. Liam Fernyhough, Dr. Grigory Ostrovskiy, and Dr. Laith Abu-Raddad. This year’s awards for visiting faculty were won by Dr. Amir Soumekh and Dr. Mark Pecker, both of Weill Cornell Medicine in New York.

Dr. Thurayya Arayssi, Professor of Clinical Medicine and Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education and Continuing Professional Development said: “Our WCM-Q faculty are a diverse group drawn from all over the world, but they all have a number of important characteristics in common: they are extraordinarily gifted teachers, they are totally dedicated to their students, and they are motivated by achieving true excellence in education. I offer my warmest congratulations to the winners of these awards and my sincere thanks to each and every member of our faculty for the wonderful work they do.”

AWARDEE LIST

2019 WCM-Q Excellence in Teaching Awards