2011-2012 Teaching Awards -- Outstanding Medical Student Teaching

2011-2012 Teaching Awards

The Psychiatry Teaching awards are presented annually during Psychiatry Grand Rounds.  Their purpose is to honor excellence in teaching, supervision, mentoring or related instructional activities in a number of categories.  Nominees for each award are selected for their ingenuity, clinical skill, innovation, availability, supportiveness, dedication, humanism, respect for diversity, improvement in the teaching process, and introduction of new important subjects.

Outstanding Medical Student Teaching

Eligible candidates are full-time faculty in the department who lecture, supervise or tutor in any of the courses for first or second year medical students or in any of the psychiatry clerkship or medical student electives (include those offered at our V.A. or affiliated medical programs).
Benjamin Woo, M.D.
Dr. Benjamin Woo is the site director for the third year Psychiatry clerkship at the Olive View Medical Center and works with the medical students that rotate through the inpatient psychiatry unit. One student that had begun their rotation with no particular interest in the field acknowledged that he had an epiphany about psychiatry while under the guidance of Dr. Woo, stating “I suppose that is what the truly great teachers do. They take something that may initially seem so foreign and unattractive and change it into the most interesting and fascinating thing in the world. This is indeed what Dr. Woo did for me in psychiatry. He undoubtedly planted an infectious desire to learn more about psychiatry and a new found drive to be instrumental in the treatment of the mentally ill. Subsequently, I have now decided to pursue a career in psychiatry.” A former student believes that the traits that Dr. Woo modeled early on have been indispensable in their development as a clinician and educator, adding that “Dr. Woo has been an invaluable part of my career, and I look forward to him inspiring future generations to come”. For his dedication to teaching students, Dr. Benjamin Woo is truly deserving of the 2012 Outstanding Medical Student Teaching Award.