The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso Paul L. Foster School of Medicine recently honored their faculty with an annual faculty recognition banquet with the theme “Charting a Course to Excellence.”
The awards program and dinner recognized new faculty, new community faculty, faculty who were promoted or received tenure, and faculty of the year. Four faculty received dean’s achievement awards presented by Richard Lange, M.D., president of TTUHSC El Paso, and dean of the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine.
Alan Tyroch,M.D., chairman of the Department of Surgery, and Veronica Mallett, M.D., chair of the Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology, were Masters of Ceremony. The evening featured musical entertainment by Combo Portofino, with faculty members Pedro Blandon, M.D., Dept. of Internal Medicine, on bass and Miguel Pirela-Cruz, M.D., Dept. of Orthopedic Surgery, on vibes.
Following are award winners:
Faculty of the Year
Albert Cuetter, M.D.
Department of Neurology
Community Faculty of the Year
Bert Johansson, M.D., Department of Pediatrics
Dean’s Excellence in Teaching Award
Amr Abdelgawad, M.D., Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Rehabilitation
Dean’s Young Investigator Award
Anjali Joshi, Ph.D.
Department of Biomedical Sciences
Dean’s Excellence in Research Award
Navkiran Shokar, M.D., M.P.H., Department of Biomedical Sciences and Family & Community Medicine
Dean’s Distinguished Service Award
Manuel Schydlower, M.D., Department of Pediatrics
Promotions
Faculty promoted to professor:
Zeina Nahleh, M.D., Dept. of Internal Medicine; Curtis Pfarr, Ph.D., Dept. of Medical Education; and Navkiran Shokar, M.D., M.P.H., Dept. of Biomedical Sciences and Family & Community Medicine
Faculty promoted to associate professor:
Brian Davis, M.D., Dept of Surgery; Sitratullah Maiyegun, M.D., Dept. of Pediatrics; Charmaine Martin, M.D., Dept. of Family and Community Medicine; J. Salvador Saldivar, M.D.,M.P.H., Dept. of OB/GYN; Maria Teresa Villanos, M.D., Dept. of Pediatrics; and Susan Watts, Ph.D., Dept. of Emergency Medicine.
Faculty granted tenure:
Richard Brower, M.D., Dept. of Medical Education; Sanja Kupesic, M.D., Ph.D., Dept. of OB/GYN; and German Hernandez, M.D., Dept. of Internal Medicine.