Numerous Weill Department of Medicine faculty members and Weill Cornell Medicine residents were honored during last week’s commencement and convocation ceremonies.
Congratulations to our Senior List Excellence inTeaching awardees: Dr. Juliet Aizer, Dr. Andrea Card, Dr. Emily Coskun, Dr. Bryan Leppert, Dr. Anthony Ogedegbe, Dr. David Scales, Dr. Deborah Silber and Dr. Alexis Vien.
Dr. Brian Eiss won the Elliott Hochstein and Richard A Hermann MD Teaching Awards. He says he always wanted to be a doctor from the time he was young. “It made sense as a way to help people in the grandest way,” he says.
After receiving his M.D. from Georgetown University, Dr. Eiss pursued a residency in internal medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. With a longtime interest in primary care – the idea of caring for patients longitudinally – his eventual fellowship in geriatrics happened, he says, “by lucky accident.” “It was a last-minute opportunity and long story short, I decided to take it,” he says.
He says his experiences as an internist at Weill Cornell Medicine Associates (WCIMA) and a geriatrician at the Center for Aging has given him insight into a core question he routinely asks himself from time to time: What matters most? For patients, the answer varies depending on current medications, lifestyle habits, comorbidities, and, perhaps most integrally, individual values, he explains. Navigating these complexities with patients is a part of the job he loves most.
The question of what matters most is an important one for everyone to ask themselves, he continues, something he urges his students to do personally as well as when working with patients. Additional guidance for students is to invest in self-care (“You can’t take of other people if you aren’t taking care of yourself”) and being open-minded, especially to new, perhaps unexpected experiences.
Further, Dr. Erica Philips, the Jack Fishman Associate Professor of Cancer Prevention, was awarded the Jeanne and Herbert Siegel Faculty Development Award. The prize recognizes an early-career faculty member for exemplary clinical and research contributions, as well as teaching and mentoring medical students. Dr. Ari Melnick, the Gebroe Family Professorship of Hematology-Oncology and professor of medicine, immunology and pharmacology, was awarded the Jeanne and Herbert Siegel Award for Outstanding Medical Research. The award recognizes exceptional professional achievement and scientific innovation, as well as a commitment to positively impact future generations of researchers.
Dean Harrington with Dr. Erica Phillips.
Dr. Joseph Fins (M.D. ’86) with Dr. Kathleen Foley, president of the Weill Cornell Medical College Alumni Association.
In addition, Dr. Joseph J. Fins (M.D. ’86), the E. William Davis, Jr., M.D. Professor of Medical Ethics, Professor of Medicine and chief of the division of Medical Ethics at Weill Cornell Medicine, was awarded the 2024 Weill Cornell Medical College Alumni Association Award of Distinction. The award, which was established in 1949, is presented each year to a Weill Cornell Medical College alumnus who has demonstrated exceptional achievement in education, research or patient care, and who has brought honor and acclaim to the institution.
“I feel incredibly honored to receive this award, given the many distinguished graduates of the Medical College, and from an institution where I have spent my entire career, as both a student and a teacher,” said Dr. Fins. “I am grateful to Weill Cornell Medicine for allowing me to pursue a career in medicine and for shaping me into the professional that I am today.”
Finally, PGY2 Dr. Elizabeth Reznik won the 1952 Resident Physician Prize and Dr. Wesley Rogers, a fellow in the division of Infectious Diseases and former resident in the Weill Department of Medicine, won the House Staff Teaching Award.
Congratulations to our esteemed recipients for their mentorship and steadfast dedication to our patients and colleagues.
Related Links:
Dr. Joseph J. Fins Receives Weill Cornell Medical College Alumni Award | Alumni
Medical Students Honored for their Achievements at Convocation | Newsroom | Weill Cornell Medicine
Faculty Members Honored with Distinguished Awards