January 2025
Dr. Sarah Cigna, Faculty, Obstetrics & Gynecology - GW MFA
Dr. Cigna was an amazing physician and instructor to work with. She made me feel like an important member of her team and pushed me to think of the pathophysiology behind the conditions her patients were facing. She was passionate about her work, which translated into an extremely positive learning environment where I was excited to come back each session.
Drs. Bryttany McClendon-Weary and Matthew Rohn, Residents, Obstetrics and Gynecology - GWU Hospital
Dr. McClendon-Weary made my experience on the OB PM shift the most positive possible. Dr. McClendon is talented, kind and extremely compassionate. She is a model example of a provider and offers a sterling role model that I hope to mirror some day. She and her chief, Dr. Matthew Rohn, are true standouts in my experience and I thank them sincerely for their clinical teaching, care and dedication to their patients and students.
Dr. Jaclyn M. Phillips, Faculty, Obstetrics and Gynecology - GW MFA
Dr. Phillips was exceptional to say the least. Being a med student in Maternal fetal medicine clinic in the first half of the rotation can be challenging given the complexity of cases but she facilitated that transition so well and encouraged me to learn and grow every single session. Any medical student would be lucky to have her as a preceptor.
Dr. Charles Baron, Faculty, Internal Medicine - GW MFA
Dr. Baron constantly made sure he provided me with productive feedback on all aspects of my work- notes, presentations, physical exam. I appreciated this so much.
Previous Accolade Recipients
- December 2024
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Dr. Julia Frank, Faculty, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences - The George Washington University
Dr. Frank delivered a lecture to the MS2 students, sharing her family's experiences. As preclinical students, it’s easy to focus solely on symptoms and treatments without considering the humanistic aspects of these conditions. It takes bravery for an instructor to share their own experiences, and we appreciate Dr. Frank's candid approach in presenting the course content. She effectively integrated her personal insights while teaching us the DSM criteria and treatment for patients with eating disorders.
Dr. Silvi Pomeroy, Resident, Emergency Medicine - The George Washington University
Dr. Pomeroy was an enthusiastic teacher that was consistently willing to provide specific detail. While she worked to figure out her own duties and role she actively made sure the medical students had the necessary tools and opportunities to succeed. Additionally, she made it a point to allow me to assist her in procedures like lac repairs that I otherwise did not have the chance to do.
Dr. Amer Al-Damouk, Faculty, Internal Medicine - Anne Arundel Medical Center
Dr. Al-Damouk is a wonderful mentor and the attending who not only taught me the most on my rotation, but also provided the most detailed feedback and enhanced my professional development.
- November 2024
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November 2024
Dr. Gavin Truong, Attending Physician, Internal Medicine - The George Washington University
Dr. Gavin Truong in primary care was extremely encouraging and showed clear passion about both working with patients and student education.
Dr. Danielle Lefebvre, Resident, Internal Medicine & Primary Care - The George Washington University
Dr. Danielle Lefebvre was my senior during my time at GW. She took the time during her already busy day and workload to make sure all team members were doing okay and had solid plans to present to our attending. She also made sure that her juniors/students did not get faulted for plans that she suggested. For example, she recommended I do X but my attending would say Y is better. Danielle would own up and let the attending know that this plan was her idea and that it was not my or the juniors' fault. She definitely is a great role model that I aspire to be when I become a resident and attending!
Dr. Sarah Conway, Attending Physician, Internal Medicine - The George Washington University
Dr. Sarah Conway was an excellent educator and was extremely impactful in helping me to take significant strides in my short amount of time with her. She encourages students to be proactive, and she allows students to execute plans that they formulate while also helping students to see why certain changes may be more beneficial to the patient. She also provides great feedback and is a wonderful educator overall.
Dr. Vinithra Varadarajan, Resident, Internal Medicine - Anne Arundel Medical Center
Vinithra was an incredible senior resident who taught me so much in the week I worked with her and made me feel comfortable starting my first rotation.
Drs. Aisha Barber, Attending Physician and Courtney Horton, Resident Physician - Children's National Hospital
Dr. Aisha Barber and Dr. Courtney Horton were excellent role models. They showed me how to effectively communicate with families and practice shared decision-making with every patient. As a student, I very much enjoyed and appreciated the opportunity to work with them on the team. They provided many opportunities for students to take responsibility for patients and to lead the conversation.
- October 2024
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Dr. Alessandro Albano, Resident, Anesthesiology - The George Washington University
Dr. Albano has been an excellent teacher and is extremely kind and considerate. His care in both teaching and being a phenomenal and empathetic anesthesiologist shows on the OB unit and makes him stand out. My hope is he takes a position where he can continue to inspire the next generation of doctors to be kind, patient, and compassionate.
- September 2024
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Dr. Ramsin Yadgar, Resident, Psychiatry - GWU Hospital
Dr. Ramsin Yadgar was the resident I worked with during my psych rotation at children’s. He was such a helpful mentor, always looked out for the medical students, and treated everyone with the upmost respect. My time at Children’s was very positive because of his presence and I am very grateful for his PEARLS about rotations and guidance for study material.
Dr. Fatima Naqvi, Attending, Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine - GWU Hospital
Your openness to mentoring also made me feel like it was a safe, nonjudgmental environment to ask questions and learn. I liked how you asked me to write down things that made me uncomfortable about geriatric care to help guide my educational experience from the beginning.
Dr. Farhad Jamali, Attending, Primary Care - Glendale, MD
Dr. Jamali's empathetic approach and his method of practicing medicine have profoundly shaped my medical career. The teaching environment he fosters is one where I feel safe to learn and ask questions without fear of judgment.
- August 2024
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Dr. Shazia Samanani, Assistant Professor of Medicine - GWU Hospital
Dr. Samanani has been an exceptional physician and attending who makes every effort to cultivate a supportive learning environment for trainees. From advocating for learning experiences of medical students, to encouraging interns to take a more active role in leading family discussions - every day working with Dr. Samanani has been such a joy. During one particularly challenging day, we were caring for a patient who had a stressful relationship with each of the care teams that was putting particular stress on the resident team. Dr. Samanani recognized this challenging situation, and went above and beyond to resolve tensions and advocated for the trainees on the team. In our time together, I have found Dr. Samanani to be exceptionally brilliant, thoughtful, engaging, patient-centered, caring, and a relentless advocate for trainees. Dr. Samanani is a treasure among the faculty here at GW.
Laura Abate, M.S., Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine - GWU Hospital
I would like to recognize Laura Abate for her work on the research guides available through the Himmelfarb website. I recently used the Polleverywhere guide when preparing a lecture for first year students. The guide was thoughtfully organized with relevant contacts, useful features within the tool, and setup instructions. It made getting started with Pollev very easy. I imagine it's probably difficult for her to know how much this and other guides are used by members of the SMHS community, which makes the attention to detail all the more remarkable.
Dr. Ramsin Yadgar, Resident, Psychiatry - GWU Hospital
Dr. Ramsin Yadgar was the best 1st year resident I have had the privilege of working with. The empathetic approach he had towards patients experiencing mental health crises and the friendly and easy going demeanor he brought a long made him an astounding clinician to work with.
- May 2024
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Dr. Farhad Jamali, Internal Medicine / Primary Care
Dr. Jamali's exceptional bedside manner is truly remarkable. His patients hold him in high regard, a testament to his ability to establish a strong sense of trust and comfort. Under his guidance, I learned the importance of creating a safe and welcoming environment for patients, fostering the trust essential in the patient-physician relationship. Dr. Jamali's approach not only ensures patient satisfaction but also facilitates effective and compassionate care, a vital aspect of medical practice that I deeply value and have learned from his exemplary model.
Dr. Martin Clark, Resident, Psychiatry - GWU Hospital
Martin Clark challenges you, provides constructive feedback and at the end of the day builds you up, gives you full support and trusts you before you trust yourself.
Dr. Victor Taylor, Assistant Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology, GWU - Ross Hall
I just wanted to say that Dr. Taylor has been doing a fantastic job running the GI/Liver course. It is clear he is going above and beyond. He also makes the learning environment fun and light-hearted. He takes it seriously enough to make sure we are learning what we need to but not too serious to make it stressful. I hope he can get some accolades for this!
- April 2024
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Drs. Sumera Nadeem, Vignesh Sadras, and Navid Rashid - Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute
Dr. Sumera Nadeem was an excellent attending to work with and she was a great role model. In addition, the resident I worked with, Dr. Vignesh Sadras, was an excellent role model who frequently provided education throughout the day as well as checking in on my emotional and mental health throughout the rotation. Dr. Rashid is extremely knowledgeable and I found it to be an incredible learning experience to hear him speak with patients and their families.
Drs. Matthew Haney and Jesse Theisen-Toupal, Faculty, Internal Medicine - DC Veteran’s Hospital
The site course directors (Dr. Haney and Dr. Theisen) were extremely invested in my learning and took the time to do separate didactics to ensure I could learn challenging concepts. Them along with the other attendings I worked with on the rotation were excellent teachers and encouraged me to be autonomous and build my skillset of managing my own patients.
- March 2024
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Dr. Rachel Silcox, Resident, Surgery - GWU Hospital
Rachel was an amazing surgical resident and role model. She was constantly teaching and making sure we students were part of every patient encounter and made us feel like part of the team. She challenged us and showed us how much she cared about our learning.
Dr. Adrianne Renee Artis, Faculty, Pediatrics - Children's National Hospital
Dr Artis does a wonderful job at engaging with students, explaining her thought processes, and being a very open source of advice/feedback during this emotionally difficult elective. There were many times that she made a point to acknowledge my inputs, offer alternative word choice/approach without discounting my original approach, and making sure to check in after I expressed difficulty with the patient population. A wonderful mentor, physician, child advocate and pediatrician.
Dr. Kathryn Dumas, Fellow, OB/GYN - GWU MFA
Working with Dr. Dumas was truly an incredible experience for me during this clerkship. Dr. Dumas modeled amazing bed side manner and consistently prioritized the well being of her patients’. She was also very relatable and did not reinforce the hierarchal barriers that exist within medicine.
Dr. Paul Lin, Faculty, General Surgery - GWU Hospital
Dr. Lin cared about me as both a student and a person. I admire that every time he speaks, the words that come from him are important, precise, and thoughtful. It made me focus on slowing down and expressing my thoughts more clearly.
Dr. Ed Jaffe, Resident, Anesthesiology - GWU Hospital
Ed Jaffe was an excellent role model during this rotation. He did lots of formal teaching during down time and allowed students to get involved and do as much as possible.
Drs. Susan Ceryak and Nicholas Shworak, Faculty, Department of Pharmacology and Physiology - GW SMHS
The doctors showed an interest in engaging the MS1 curriculum representatives. They reached out to us proactively, helped us brainstorm ideas to improve the curriculum, and were receptive to constructive feedback. They engaged with us thoughtfully and took our ideas seriously. They were generous with their time.
Dr. Andrea Radossi, Resident, Internal Medicine and Primary Care Medicine - GWU Hospital
Dr. Radossi was a great senior resident! She was very welcoming and enthusiastic about teaching us, and took time out of her extremely busy schedule to provide teaching points. She helped create a positive environment and was a great team leader, always trying to boost morale. I really hope to be like her when I'm a senior resident.
Drs. Anita McSwain and Christine Teal, Faculty, Surgery - GWU Hospital
Drs. Teal and McSwain both fostered a comfortable OR environment while also asking important questions to promote our learning.
Dr. Michael Holman, Resident, Internal Medicine and Primary Care - GWU Hospital
The residents, especially Michael Holman, truly got me through this experience. I felt comfortable asking questions, working with them, and felt safe on their team. Michael Holman went above and beyond to teach, guide, and advise, and I truly feel I will be a better doctor because of working with him.
Dr. Charles deBoisblanc, Resident, Internal Medicine and Primary Care
Medicine - GWU Hospital
Dr. deBoisblanc is a resident who was a positive mentor throughout my time on the internal medicine rotation. He practices patient-centered care and is kind and thoughtful in his interactions both with patients and students. I appreciated learning from his expertise!
Drs. Kate Melvin and Jeanette Amery, Transplant Surgery - GWU Hospital
Kate Melvin and Jeanette Amery were amazing. They were always available to answer questions, helped us onboard to a niche specialty service, and had welcoming personalities which were uplifting. I would always first go to them first for questions because of their personality and willingness to help.
Dr. Hashem Hraky, Resident, Emergency Medicine - GWU Hospital
Hashem was a phenomenal resident to work with. He kept me in the loop on patients I had seen if an attending or nurse approached him separately about aspects of the care. This really made me feel like I was part of the team and that I had a role in the care of my patients.
Dr. Pablo Serrano Rodriguez, Faculty, Surgery - GWU Hospital
Dr. Serrano created a very friendly, positive experience both during transplant rounds and in the OR. Felt very comfortable asking questions and offering my thoughts.
Dr. Laura Tilley, Faculty, Emergency Medicine - GWU Hospital
Dr. Tilley was always available to answer questions and allowed me to practice my oral presentations with her. She also provided information on different clinical calculators to be used while deciding further workup or disposition.
Dr. Christina Feng, Faculty, Surgery and Pediatrics - Children's National Hospital
Dr. Feng is an awesome preceptor who feels really invested in our learning experience and making sure we get the most we can out of our time there. The surgeons here engaged with students during surgery and were very willing to teach and talk with us during surgery. I am not planning to go into surgery and was a little nervous about this rotation and my experience at CNH was my best clinical learning experience this year.
Dr. Taylor Peter-Bibb, Resident, Emergency Medicine - GWU Hospital
Taylor Peter-Bibb was fantastic. I appreciated that they got me involved but gave me independence in addition to taking the time to give me detailed and specific feedback.
Dr. Jalil Ahari, Faculty, Medicine - GWU Hospital
Dr. Ahari is one of the best attendings I had. He taught and gave us so much time. I hope to be like him one day.
Dr. Shahed Abusharar, Resident, Internal Medicine - GWU Hospital
Shahed Abusharar, a PGY-1 resident, really inspired me with her encouragement, guidance, and motivation. She is a very hard worker and her empathy and attention to detail is exactly what patients deserve in a physician.
Dr. Ribka Ayana, Faculty, Medicine - DC VA Hospital
Dr. Ayana was a positive mentor throughout my IM rotation at the VA. She is enthusiastic about teaching and approaches patients and students with kindness. She is a great teacher and I aspire to incorporate her patient-centered approach to care into my future career as a physician.
Drs. Jordan Estroff, Babak Sarani, Susan Kartiko, and Mia Griffin, Faculty, Surgery - GWU Hospital
I found the attendings on CTACC (I worked with Dr. Estroff, Dr. Sarani, & Dr. Kartiko primarily) to be some of the most consistently fair, respectful attendings and educators I've worked with. They all made me feel very respected and positively-challenged in my roles and capabilities as a medical student. I also learned an incredible amount from Mia Griffin (PA-C), who ran through a session of "Mia's Trauma Bay Orientation" with us students which was incredibly helpful in understanding what is going on during a trauma activation.
- February 2024
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Dr. Ed Jaffe, Resident, Anesthesiology - GWU Hospital
Ed Jaffe was an excellent role model during this rotation. He did lots of formal teaching during down time and allowed students to get involved and do as much as possible.
Drs. Mathew Haney and Jesse Theisen-Toupal, Faculty, Internal Medicine - DC Veteran’s Hospital
The site course directors (Dr. Haney and Dr. Theisen) were extremely invested in my learning and took the time to do separate didactics to ensure I could learn challenging concepts. They (along with the other attendings I worked with) were excellent teachers and encouraged me to be autonomous and build my skillset of managing my own patients.
Drs. Susan Ceryak and Nicholas Shworak, Faculty, Department of Pharmacology and Physiology - GW SMHS
The doctors showed an interest in engaging the MS1 curriculum representatives. They reached out to us proactively, helped us brainstorm ideas to improve the curriculum, and were receptive to constructive feedback. They engaged with us thoughtfully and took our ideas seriously. They were generous with their time.
- January 2024
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Drs. Heidi Carpenter and Alice Trye, Residents, OB/GYN - GWU Hospital
Dr. Heidi Carpenter embodies excellent patient care and a positive learning environment. Dr. Alice Trye was as an amazing teaching resident, she is an excellent, patient teacher.
Drs. Dallas Soyland, Timothy Singer, Madeleine Smith, Peter Harris, and Chase Foster, Residents, Neurosurgery - GWU Hospital
The residents provided a great learning environment for the students. and modeled excellent patient care. Dr. Soyland demonstrated the importance of being a strong team player. Dr. Singer exhibited excellent bedside manner and demonstrated the importance of the patient-provider relationship. Dr. Smith included the students in patient care and contributed to a welcoming learning environment. Dr. Harris was a great teacher and went out of his way to ensure the students had a valuable experience. Dr. Foster demonstrated effective leadership and was clearly interested in the students' learning. All of the residents made this an enjoyable and educational experience.
Dr. Will Sweetser, Resident, Emergency Medicine - GWU Hospital ICU
Will Sweetser always involved me in patient care and taught me how to do some procedures. He advocates for student learning opportunities.
Dr. Arielle Effron, Attending, OB/GYN - GWU Hospital
Dr. Effron is a great teacher and always made an effort to ensure that I was highly involved in patient care. She went out of her way to create learning opportunities and always was willing to answer questions. In addition, she provided thoughtful feedback and created a comfortable learning environment.
Dr. Andrew Becker, Attending, Neurology - GWU MFA
My experience working with Dr Becker was wonderful. I was comfortable asking questions and voicing areas where my understanding was lacking. He also made it a point to value my time.
Dr. Colin Walters, Attending, OB/GYN - Inova Alexandria
Dr. Walters has an unrivaled commitment to teaching students and for allowing students to explore the field independently but with patience and appropriate supervision.
Dr. Prarthana Hareesh, Resident, Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine - GWU Hospital
Prarthana Hareesh was my senior resident and she was so kind, helpful, engaging, and valued us as a part of the team. She was always cognizant of our time and went out of her way to make sure we felt comfortable with things such as the neuro exam, and also took time to teach us whenever possible in the afternoons.