The Department of Neuroscience is pleased to report that Amy Bauernfeind, PhD, received promotion this year to associate professor of anatomy on the clinical track. Bauernfeind was appointed to the Faculty in 2015, first as an instructor and then as assistant professor, working under the aegis of the legendary anthropology duo Jane Phillips-Conroy, PhD, and Glenn Conroy, PhD, both professors emeriti of biological anthropology and neuroscience.
Bauernfeind very quickly become an integral part of the medical education group in our department. She has consistently received commendation by her students and was honored with the Distinguished Service Teaching Award in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019 and with the Stanley Lang Lecturer of the Year Award in 2017. Bauernfeind assumed the role of co-director of the first-year medical school course, “The Human Body,” in 2017 and medical students chose her as a Glenn Conroy Course Director of the Year in 2019. Bauernfeind has provided essential instruction for the medical school neuroscience course as well.
This body of work prompted recognition and election as a member of the inaugural class of the WUSM Academy of Educators in 2019. More recently, Bauernfeind has made substantial contributions to the development of a new medical school curriculum.
Bauernfeind brings energy and enthusiasm to our department. She not only supports the educational mission of the department, but also its research mission. As a student, Bauernfeind trained in biological anthropology and received her PhD from George Washington University for her doctoral work, entitled “Comparative protein expression in human and chimpanzee brains.” At the School of Medicine, the Bauernfeind laboratory conducts research on comparative primate anatomy and physiology and she has fostered a strong collaborative association with the anthropology department. Bauernfeind’s research has helped uncover how well gene expression and protein abundance correlate for certain protein classes in human brain samples.
Her promotion cements Bauernfeind’s position as a leader in our department and in the medical school, and we look forward to her future accomplishments in education and scholarship.