A pair of WashU Medicine Department of Neuroscience faculty members were recently honored by the school’s Academy of Educators.
Amy Bauernfeind, PhD, was honored with the Academy of Educators’ Exemplary Educator Award, and Krikor Dikranian, MD, PhD, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the academy. Both are professors of anatomy in neuroscience in the department.
The Lifetime Achievement Award was introduced in 2021 to honor faculty members who have demonstrated a lifelong commitment to education and exhibited excellence in educational service, leadership or scholarship.
“It is a great honor to be nominated and to receive this award,” said Dikranian, who joined WashU Medicine in 1996. “First, it is recognition of one’s contributions in teaching medical students over the 24 years of my tenure at WashU but also to students in other affiliated programs in the university. That also means that my colleagues value my pedagogical contributions in various disciplines such as gross anatomy, histology and neuroscience. It is also proof that teaching is a team effort and requires the cooperation of many educators who follow your work, share your enthusiasm and value your contributions.”
The Exemplary Educator Award was established in 2022 to recognize a faculty member who is actively building a legacy as an educator through contributions in educational service, leadership or scholarship.
Bauernfeind, who joined WashU in 2014, is the first member of the department to be named an Exemplary Educator.
“This award is special since it is awarded by peers,” she said. “I am humbled to receive this award since I am continually inspired by my peers in education. WashU Medicine has a wonderful community of educators who are creative and innovative in their educational approaches. I learn so much from being part of this community.”
Dikranian is the third Department of Neuroscience faculty member to be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award, joining Paul Bridgman, PhD, and Lawrence Snyder, MD, PhD, who were both honored in 2022.
“The Department of Neuroscience is perhaps one of the most intensely immersed WashU Medicine departments in student education, as related to undergraduate medical pedagogy but also for the related graduate neuroscience programs,” Dikranian said. “The teaching mission of the department goes well beyond anatomical education. It covers diverse and rich aspects of undergraduate and graduate pedagogy, and I am proud of the commitment of all my teaching colleagues to the mission of this great university.”The Academy of Educators is an institutional collaboration of educators fostering a culture of educational excellence and an institutionally valued community of leaders in health science education. It is the faculty development division of the Office of Education, and offers programs, workshops, grants and awards to support the skill development and educational growth of WashU Medicine educators.