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Tell us about your awards and accomplishments, or those of your colleagues. Send your contributions to Sara Selis by e-mail selis@stanford.edu or fax (650) 723-7172, or call her at (650) 723-7798.

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Recipients of the School of Medicine's annual medical education, patient care and teaching awards were honored June 14 during convocation ceremonies. The winners are as follows:

The 2003 Alwin C. Rambar-James B.D. Mark Award for Excellence in Patient Care was presented to STANLEY L. SCHRIER, professor of medicine emeritus (hematology). The annual award honors compassion in dealing with patients and their families, excellence in providing medical treatment, and effectiveness and pleasantness in interactions with ancillary patient-care staffs. Schrier, who has taught at Stanford for more than four decades, last year received the Walter J. Gores Award, Stanford University's highest teaching honor. He is president-elect of the American Society of Hematology, the world's largest society for hematology.

The award is named for the late Alwin C. Rambar, a Chicago pediatrician who was associated with Stanford for many years, and for Rambar's son-in-law James B.D. Mark, a thoracic surgeon and Stanford professor emeritus.

The Lance Armstrong Foundation Compassion in Medicine Award, now in its second year, went to SAMUEL LEBARON, associate professor of medicine (family and community medicine). The award, named for the well-known international cyclist and cancer survivor, recognizes "a physician-mentor whose practice of the art and science of medicine exemplifies a humanistic approach to medical student teaching and patient care."

The Arthur L. Bloomfield Award in Recognition of Excellence in the Teaching of Clinical Medicine was presented to three faculty members: NEIL GESUNDHEIT, associate professor of medicine (endocrinology); JOHN C. GIACOMINI, professor of medicine (cardiovascular); and SHERRY M. WREN, associate professor of surgery (general surgery). The Bloomfield award is named for the late distinguished physician and teacher and chair of medicine from 1926 to 1954. Gesundheit, associate dean for medical education, contributed to the development and launch of the medical school's new curriculum. Giacomini and Wren are both based at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System.

The Franklin G. Ebaugh Jr. Award for Advising Medical Students recognized OSCAR SALVATIERRA, professor of surgery (transplantation) and of pediatrics (nephrology). The award's namesake served as longtime associate dean for veterans affairs and chief of staff at the VA hospital. Salvatierra was chosen for his commitment to students and his dedication to service. He directs pediatric kidney transplantation at Packard Children's Hospital.

The Kaiser Foundation Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching went to PETER D. CAHILL, a general and trauma surgeon at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center; MYRIAM J. CURET, associate professor of surgery (general surgery) at Stanford; NEIL GESUNDHEIT, associate professor of medicine (endocrinology); and JOSE R. MALDONADO, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences.

This year's Kaiser Family Foundation Award for Outstanding and Innovative Contributions to Medical Education recognized BRIAN B. HOFFMAN, professor of medicine (endocrinology, gerontology and metabolism) and of molecular pharmacology. Hoffman, who recently retired, was named recipient of the medical education award in recognition of his dedication to teaching medicine at the beside and to the application of science to clinical care.

The Kaiser Award for Excellence in Preclinical Teaching went to BEN BARRES, professor of neurobiology and of developmental biology; GILBERT CHU, professor of medicine (oncology) and of biochemistry; STEVEN GUEST, a nephrologist at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center; and JULIE THERIOT, assistant professor of biochemistry.

Awards in graduate education were established at the School of Medicine three years ago to honor extraordinary service on behalf of graduate students and exceptional teaching in the graduate classroom. Professor of neurobiology WILLIAM NEWSOME won the School of Medicine Award for Outstanding Service to Graduate Students, and JULIE THERIOT received the School of Medicine Award for Graduate Teaching.

The Department of Medicine's year-end medicine residency program award winners include the following:

Best Clinical Teaching by a Resident: RON WITTELES

Professionalism: LARRY CRANE, KRISTIN CUMMINGS and MARC MCCLELLAND

Charles Dorsey Armstrong Award for Excellence in Patient Care: DAN GREENWALD, MARC MCCLELLAND and RON WITTELES

Franklin G. Ebaugh Research awards for residents: SHIREEN GUIDE and RON WITTELES

Timothy Beckett Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching by a Fellow: GREG ENGEL, MARK LEE and DREW NEVINS

David A. Rytand Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching by University Faculty: STEPHEN RUOSS and RANDY VAGELOS Russel V. Lee Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching by a Community Physician: JOHN CUNNIFF - and a House Staff Appreciation Award to LARRY WITT.

P R O M O T I O N S :

ELLEN JO BARON was promoted to professor of pathology. She serves as director of the Stanford clinical microbiology/ virology lab. Her scholarly work focuses on clinical microbiology and its application to patient care. She is volume editor for microbiology for the Manual Of Clinical Microbiology (8th edition, 2003), the leading reference book in the field. She is a recipient of the American Society of Microbiology's prestigious BioMerieux Award. She serves on numerous hospital committees including the medical center disaster-preparedness committee and the bioterrorism and emergency-preparedness planning task force. She joined Stanford in 1997.

CHARLES DEBATTISTA was promoted to associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. Since 1995 he has directed the depression research and psychopharmacology clinics in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and has served as chief of the electroconvulsive therapy service. He has achieved national recognition as an authority on the biological treatment of depression. His current research focuses on the treatment of severe and resistant depression with the primary goal of increasing available treatment options. DeBattista was named Academic Teacher of the Year three times by his department and has been cited by the Committee on Courses and Curriculum for excellence in medical student teaching. He joined the faculty in 1996.

THOMAS ROBINSON was promoted to associate professor of pediatrics and of medicine, with tenure. His scholarly work focuses on pediatric preventive-health research, especially relating to childhood and adolescent obesity. His studies involve clinical trials to examine the effectiveness of behavioral and environmental interventions to prevent obesity, diabetes and smoking. His article "Reducing children's television viewing to prevent obesity: a randomized controlled trial," published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, was named the most significant pediatric study of the year by Contemporary Pediatrics in 2000. Robinson is an alumnus of the Stanford School of Medicine and has been on the faculty since 1996.

ANDREW ZOLOPA was promoted to associate professor of medicine (infectious diseases and geographic medicine). His work focuses on the clinical care of patients infected with HIV. In 1994 he established the Stanford Positive Care Clinic. His clinical practice includes units at Stanford and Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. He published a key study in the Annals of Internal Medicine that demonstrated the capacity of HIV-genotype testing in predicting virologic outcomes for patients receiving antiretroviral therapy. He is a member of the NIH AIDS Clinical Trial Group HIV Disease Research Agenda Committee. In 2001 Zolopa was appointed clinical chief of the division of infectious diseases in the Department of Medicine.

OLAF REINHARTZ, a clinical instructor in cardiothoracic surgery for the past year, was appointed clinical assistant professor. He will serve as a pediatric cardiac surgeon at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and at Children's Hospital in Oakland as well. He recently received funding from the American Heart Association for a project titled "Mechanical Circulatory Support in Failing Fontan Circulation." The work will be carried out at Stanford.

NICOLA SPIRTOS, adjunct clinical associate professor in OB/GYN oncology, and SAMUEL BALLON, adjunct clinical professor in OB/GYN oncology, received the Clinical Trials Participation Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The award, presented in late May at the society's annual meeting, was recently created to recognize community oncology practices that actively participate in cancer research by incorporating clinical trials participation into their practice. Spirtos and Ballon co-direct the Women's Cancer Center, a multi-site practice with offices in Palo Alto. Also named as recipients of the award were DWIGHT CHEN and RACHEL KUPETS, two of the practice's other physicians who are members of the SHC medical staff.