Clinical Teacher Award

Current Winner  

CAROL A. KAUFFMAN, MD, FIDSA, FSHEA, a professor of internal medicine who directs a highly regarded and innovative educational program for medical students at the University of Michigan Medical School, is one of two recipients of IDSA’s 2012 Clinical Teacher Award. This award honors a career dedicated to teaching clinical infectious diseases to fellows, residents, and medical students and recognizes excellence as a clinician and motivation to teach the next generation of physicians.

Dr. Kauffman has taught at the University of Michigan Medical School since 1977 and also serves as chief of the infectious disease section at the Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System, as well as co-director of the infectious diseases/microbiology sequence at Michigan. Throughout her tenure she has mentored countless academicians and taught many future leaders of infectious diseases.

Under Dr. Kauffman’s leadership, Michigan’s infectious diseases curriculum for medical students underwent a substantial change in 1992. In the past, microbiology and infectious diseases were taught as separate courses. The current course includes didactic lectures, as well as case-based and laboratory-based teaching in small groups led by a team comprised of an infectious diseases clinician and microbiologist. Since its inception, the combined infectious diseases/microbiology sequence has been one of the most popular courses in the preclinical years.

Dr. Kauffman’s reputation as a teacher has led to many appointments, including chair of the Clinical Phase Committee and the Academic Affairs Council at Michigan. She also has served on countless committees, both locally and nationally, including the Academic Program Advisory Committee at Michigan and the IDSA Infectious Diseases Curriculum Workgroup. She served on the IDSA Board of Directors from 2008 to 2011. Dr. Kauffman has more than 300 peer-reviewed publications and more than 100 book chapters to her name.

Described by colleagues as “an indefatigable resource for residents, fellows, and fellow faculty members,” Dr. Kauffman has received virtually every award for teaching that her students and institution bestow, and some she has received more than once. Among her countless awards are the Elizabeth C. Crosby Award for Excellence in Basic Science Teaching in 1980, 1992, 1994, and 2000 and the Richard D. Judge Award for Medical Student Teaching in 1999. In 2010, Dr. Kauffman was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for Medical Education by the Medical School at Michigan. She has been recognized by “Best Doctors in America” Consistently since 2003. The Michigan Chapter of the American College of Physicians honored her with a Great Internists of Michigan Award in 2010, and the Michigan Infectious Disease Society presented her with its Clinician Teacher Award in 2012.

Dr. Kauffman earned a medical degree from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1969. She served as an intern and resident of internal medicine at Michigan. She completed a fellowship in infectious diseases at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center in 1973 and was on the faculty there for four years.

Her research interests include diagnosis and treatment of fungal infections; epidemiology of antibiotic-resistant organisms in long-term care facilities; and infections in immunocompromised patients. “She has a regional and national reputation as the “fun-gal” who is the major resource for all information on the diagnosis and treatment of endemic fungal infections,” said a colleague.

For almost 40 years, Dr. Kauffman has demonstrated excellence as a clinician and is extraordinarily motivated to teach and prepare the next generation of infectious disease physicians. IDSA is proud to add to Dr. Kauffman’s lengthy list of well-deserved awards by presenting her with the 2012 Clinical Teacher Award.

SARAH S. LONG, MD, FIDSA, who is nationally regarded as an outstanding pediatric infectious disease clinician, is one of two recipients of IDSA’s 2012 Clinical Teacher Award. This award honors a career dedicated to teaching clinical infectious diseases and recognizes excellence as a clinician and motivation to teach the next generation of physicians. The impact that Dr. Long has had on the education of trainees and clinicians in the disciplines of pediatrics and pediatric infectious diseases has been extraordinary.

Dr. Long has been the chief of the section of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia since 1975. She was previously a professor of pediatrics at Temple and then moved to Drexel University College of Medicine in 1997. Over the years, she has trained and educated countless medical students, residents, and fellows, many of whom have thanked her years later for her lessons and methods, and assured her that they in turn teach others to teach.

Her many important leadership positions have advanced the education of many. Dr. Long wrote the application for subspecialty recognition of pediatric infectious diseases and chaired the sub-board of the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) that wrote the first subspecialty certification examination, given in 1994. She later served as chair of the Board of Directors of the ABP. Dr. Long also was president of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, chair of the IDSA Annual Meeting Program Committee, and served in a leadership role on the Program Committee of the combined IDSA/Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) meeting in 2008. Dr. Long has served on multiple advisory committees for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), working closely with other experts to guide national vaccine policy.

Her contributions to research in the management of infectious diseases and its prevention are significant. She has authored 124 original publications in leading journals, and prepared 92 monographs, chapters, and other invited publications. Dr. Long has been invited to deliver major lectures at nearly every medical school and children’s hospital throughout the United States, has presented more than 70 abstracts describing her work at national and international meetings, and has given almost 1,000 presentations worldwide.

She is the founding chief editor of the textbook Principles and Practice of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, currently in its fourth edition, and is an associate editor of the Red Book Report of the Committee on Infectious Diseases, as well as the Journal of Pediatrics. She is a frequent reviewer for many important journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Annals of Internal Medicine, and the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Journal.

She was awarded the All University Great Teacher Award at Temple in 1993, as well as numerous other teaching awards before and since then. In 2009, Dr. Long received the highest honor bestowed by the Section on Infectious Diseases of the AAP, the Lifetime Contribution to Infectious Diseases Award. She has been named a Top Doctor by Philadelphia Magazine 18 times since 1987.

Dr. Long earned her medical degree from Jefferson Medical College/Thomas Jefferson University in 1970. She performed residency in pediatrics and fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases at St. Christopher’s. Dr. Long had an NIH postdoctoral research fellowship in infectious diseases at Temple University School of Medicine from 1974 to 1975.

Being responsible for the inpatient consultation service at St. Christopher’s for more than 18 weeks annually since 1975, Dr. Long says that her most privileged place is at the bedside of a child, with a parent, students, residents, and fellows.

For her exemplary clinical care and excellence in teaching, IDSA is pleased to honor Dr. Long with the Clinical Teacher Award.

 Past Clinical Teacher Award Winners