Congratulations, Rich!

I am proud to announce that our Dr. Richard Schwartzstein has received the prestigious Alpha Omega Alpha Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teaching Award from the AAMC.

Rich has received an unprecedented 13 teaching awards voted by his students at Harvard Medical School (HMS). He is vice president for education at BIDMC and serves as clinical director of our Division of Pulmonary Medicine. Also, he is executive director of the Carl J. Shapiro Institute for Education and Research at HMS and BIDMC.

Rich's quote puts this in a great context, symbolizing a major attribute of academic medicine -- the integration of clinical care, research, and teaching: "For me, active work as a clinical investigator has been critical to enhancing my capabilities as a teacher, and has allowed me to provide a model for students to consider as they contemplate their own career choices."

The AAMC explains: As a medical educator, Richard Schwartzstein skillfully integrates his extensive knowledge of basic and clinical sciences to teach students about respiratory pathology. As a clinician and researcher, he carefully weighs what patients say about their breathing difficulties to better understand dyspnea. And by successfully using each experience to enrich the other, he shows students how to balance a multifaceted and rewarding career in academic medicine.