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TIAA-CREF Honors Arnett
as Distinguished
Medical Educator
Award to inspirational educator and scholar makes two years in a row
for
UT Medical School
faculty members
Frank C. Arnett Jr., M.D.
Frank C. Arnett Jr., M.D., professor of internal medicine and holder of the Elizabeth Bidgood Chair in Rheumatology at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, is the 2006 winner of the TIAACREF Distinguished Medical Educator Award. Arnett was officially recognized at a June 22 award ceremony and banquet in Houston.
The award annually honors teaching physicians, nurses and other health care professionals who have a long history of significant contributions to medical education and who have nationally and internationally influenced medical education. TIAA-CREF and The Health Museum (formerly the John P. McGovern Museum of Health & Medical Science) provide support for the award.
“I think teaching is the most important mission of the Medical School and each faculty member, but one must enjoy doing it to do it well,” Arnett said. “One must become excited to see a student or trainee evolve into a highly competent and outstanding physician, scientist, teacher or all of the above.”
‘Absolute Treasures’
Arnett is the second TIAA-CREF Distinguished Medical Educator honoree from the UT Medical School at Houston out of three awards given since the first in 2004. Last year’s recipient was Herbert L. Fred, M.D., professor of internal medicine at the Medical School.
“Drs. Fred and Arnett are both absolute treasures as educators, very special men,” said University of Texas Health Science Center President James T. Willerson, M.D. “The UT Health Science Center benefits every day from having them among us.
” An internationally recognized leader in rheumatology, Arnett has pioneered much of the research on the mechanisms of autoimmune diseases, such as scleroderma and lupus. As a medical educator, he has been influential in the clinical training of hundreds of medical students, many of whom return from residencies to work in Houston and other areas of Texas. He also is involved in continuing medical education programs, sharing his expertise throughout Texas.
Recalling his first meeting with Arnett in 1988, Willerson said, “I found him to be very scholarly, very well trained, and an outstanding physician and rheumatologist. I know that he is very committed to students learning, and he encourages them to do their best – our students look up to him. His legacy will be establishing a terrific rheumatology program here in education, research and service – and he personally and professionally embodies excellence in all of those areas.”
After starting his teaching career in 1974 at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Arnett joined the UT Medical School in 1984 as director of the Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunogenetics – a role he held until 2000 when he became chair of the Department of Internal Medicine. He served as chair until 2004.
“Dr. Arnett is universally regarded as an inspirational educator and scholar who leads by example,” said Michael Speer, M.D., chairman of the award steering committee. “He is a very active teacher, whether lecturing to a large group in a classroom, or as a clinician at the bedside with a small group of students. His ability to impart his knowledge and skills, along with his dedication to medicine, define him as a true distinguished medical educator.”
Multiple Teaching Awards
Arnett has received 22 teaching awards over his career, beginning in 1974 when he was named Best Teacher in Internal Medicine by the Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center in San Antonio. Awards at the UT Medical School include the John P. McGovern Outstanding Teacher Award (which he received twice), the Herbert L. and Margaret W. DuPont Master Clinical Teaching Award, and the President’s Scholar Award for Teaching.
From 1988 to 1998, he was on the board of directors of Alpha Omega Alpha national medical honor society, serving as national president in 1997. He is a member of the National Lupus Foundation Advisory Council and since 1997 has served as chair of the medical advisory board, Bluebonnet Chapter, of the Scleroderma Foundation in Houston and as a member of the scientific advisory committee of the national Scleroderma Foundation.
He earned both his undergraduate degree in zoology and his medical degree from the University of Cincinnati.
Arnett will receive a $10,000 cash honorarium, and TIAA-CREF will donate 18 scholarships in his name for underprivileged youths to attend The Health Museum’s Mini-Medical School Summer Camp.
Serving on the 2006 steering committee, established to govern the award and evaluate nomination entries, were: UT Health Science Center at Houston Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs L. Maximilian Buja, M.D., and Patricia L. Starck, D.S.N., dean of the UT School of Nursing at Houston. Other members included leading medical professionals from Baylor College of Medicine, the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, the UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Texas Children’s Hospital and the UT Medical Branch at Galveston School of Nursing.
The 2006 TIAA-CREF Distinguished Medical Educator Award finalists are Denton A. Cooley, M.D., founder and president of the Texas Heart Institute and clinical professor of cardiothoracic and vascular surgery at the UT Medical School, and Rebecca T. Kirkland, M.D., professor of pediatrics and associate dean for curriculum at Baylor College of Medicine.
TIAA-CREF is a national financial services group of companies and the leading provider of retirement services in the academic, research, medical and cultural fields.
By David R. Bates, Public Affairs