John P. McGovern Award - Dr. Alberto Puig

Alberto Puig, M.D., Ph.D., has been named the winner of the John P. McGovern Award as the outstanding clinical teacher - for the second time in three years.

This year, Puig is not at UT - he received news of his award from his new job at Harvard Medical School.

"I came to Massachusetts General and Harvard as part of their Inpatient Clinical Educator Service, teaching residents and medical school students in the wards, and I've been here the last nine months," he said.

Puig had been at the UT Medical School for the prior four and a half years, teaching Problem-Based Learning (PBL), Physical Diagnosis, The Art of Observation and the Art of Listening classes among others, as well as the internal medicine curriculum in the third year; and he was the director of the Fundamentals of Clinical Medicine course. "I also ran the inpatient medicine wards at Memorial Hermann as a faculty member and did medicine consults in the hospital," he added.

The John P. McGovern Award is given annually to the outstanding clinical faculty member as chosen by the senior class, and faculty may not be selected consecutively.

Since at MGH/Harvard, Puig already has been honored by the students there with their Excellence in Teaching Award for the academic year of 2007.

"What students and residents want most, aside from interest, enthusiasm, and vitality, is methods applicable to their everyday life as learners. If they can see it and you can show them, they can do it - they need more guidance at the bedside. And there is no better place to connect the basic science and its clinical application than in front of a patient," Puig explains.

But Puig says teaching is not about the awards.

"I love the students. It's the hugest honor - just the recognition that the students appreciate what you do. It's great to receive the awards - to me there is no better 'hug or kiss' than that, and I'm truly honored and privileged. It's an incredible shock to win it when you are gone," he said.

Puig will return to campus May 24 to receive the award in person at the Faculty Teaching Awards Reception.

"I've been getting a lot of e-mails from the graduating class, and I got a package from the medicine residents requesting that I come back - it was the sweetest thing I've ever gotten. It brought me to tears, literally. I miss them a lot," he said. "Aside from the good weather, I miss the UT atmosphere and collegiality. Harvard is a great place, but UT is more friendly."

The award is made possible by an endowment from the McGovern Foundation. McGovern, founder of the McGovern Allergy Clinic, maintained a deep interest in excellence in teaching at the health science center, where he holds faculty appointments.

Previous recipients include Octavio C. Pinell, M.D., 2006, 2004, 2001, 1999, 1997, 1995; Puig, M.D., Ph.D., 2005; Frank C. Arnett Jr., M.D., 2003, 2000; Eugene Toy, M.D., 2002; Edward Yeomans, M.D., 1998; John F. Donnelly, M.D., 1996, 1993, 1990; James T. Willerson, M.D., 1994; John M. Passmore, M.D., 1992; and Herbert L. DuPont, M.D., 1991.

-D. Brown