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Distinguished Teaching Awards
David Domke
Erika Goldstein
James Green
John Peterson
Priti Ramamurthy
Barry Witham
Carol Zander

Excellence in Teaching Awards
Chia-Hui Huang
Steve Wolfman

Distinguished Staff Awards
Brian Davis & James Boeckstiegel
Gary Ausman
Felicia Hecker
Sandra Kroupa
Keith Ward

Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award
Thomas Daniel

S. Sterling Munro Public Service Teaching Award
Sergio Palleroni

Outstanding Public Service Award
Anita Ramasastry

Brotman Diversity Award
Business Educational Opportunity Program
Student Outreach Ambassador Program

Brotman Award for Instructional Excellence
Dance Program
Research Apprenticeship Program

Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award
Geoff & Judy Vernon

Alumna Summa Laude Dignatus
Donald Baker

UW Recognition Award
ARCS Foundation, Seattle Chapter

President's Medalist
Roy Chan

Erika Goldstein, Medicine

Distinguished Teaching Award

The Distinguished Teaching Awards are given to University faculty who show a mastery of their subject matter, intellectual rigor and a passion for teaching

What makes a good doctor? Erika Goldstein thinks she knows. Five years ago Goldstein, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Internal Medicine, became chair of the six-quarter series of courses Introduction to Clinical Medicine (ICM I and ICM II) after chairing the ICM I spring-quarter course since 1989. ICM I and II introduce first- and second-year medical students to basic clinical skills and professional issues in medicine.

“You can’t get up in front of a class and say, ‘Make sure you are always very sensitive to patients,’ ” explains Goldstein. “It’s not unlike teaching math in elementary school. You can’t walk into a first-grade class and say, ‘Now I’m going to explain geometry.’ You might actually end up doing something that turns out to be geometry, but you’re not going to try to teach them geometry. You have to teach people at the right developmental moment.”

Goldstein describes medical education as a developmental trajectory that goes through four years of medical school, residency and into practice. In ICM I, students learn how to do a medical interview and a basic physical exam. Second-year students build on the first-year basics with knowledge of organ systems and thinking through each case in terms of possible causes of symptoms. All the while, the students are learning professionalism — how to be a good doctor.

“Medical students are often right out of college, and even the ones who have been in the world of work are still new at being doctors,” Goldstein says. “They have to understand the language and the disciplines of medicine; there’s no shortcut around that, but it does get their minds thinking in one particular way — a way that is very different from the way you have to think about some of these other skills like compassion, humility and patient autonomy, and altruism.”

Goldstein doesn’t just talk the talk of a well-rounded academic physician. She received an M.D. from the University of Rochester in New York and joined the UW in 1981 as a resident. In her time at the UW, Goldstein has earned master’s degrees in public health and in anthropology. Now an attending physician at Harborview Medical Center, she still sees some of her original patients from the early 1980s on the two half-days she works in clinic every week. Goldstein also teaches third-year students on the ward, tutors problem-based learning sessions, and facilitates ethics discussion sessions.

“Teaching ICM makes sense for me because I love patient care and I love the students,” she says. “They’re like my babies. I’m launching them into the profession. And being a doctor means lifelong learning, not just knowing about the latest in molecular genetics.”

Since becoming chair of ICM I and II, Goldstein has revamped and re-energized the courses. She also played a key role in the School of Medicine’s recent comprehensive curriculum review. Goldstein helped conceptualize creating “colleges” within the four-year medical program. These new “colleges” will implement integrated skills development curriculum and provide a faculty mentor for each student.

Goldstein’s efforts have been recognized through numerous teaching awards including the Margaret S. Anderson Teaching Award, George N. Aagaard Outstanding Teacher Award (two years), and the Distinguished Teacher Award (three years, including 2002) — an award given by graduating fourth-year medical students.

What makes a good teacher? Goldstein’s students and colleagues know. In Goldstein’s ICM, students learn very specific skills to make them more confident and effective physicians.

“My students are just what you want doctors to be — responsible, thoughtful and hardworking,” says Goldstein. “I tell them that they had better be good at this because they will be treating me when I’m 85 years old.”

– Pamela Wyngate
HS News & Community Relations