Learners in the Carver College of Medicine are invited to provide examples of effective teaching at the end of each rotation. Read what our trainees recently had to say about Internal Medicine educators below. Read previous submissions.

Tyler Bullis, MD, Third Year Resident, Internal Medicine
Submitted by Emma Greimann

Tyler was a great teaching resident to have while on my Sub-I. At the beginning of the clerkship, he helped us all feel more oriented in regards to placing orders, calling consults, etc. Throughout the rotation on Wards 101 etc he encouraged critical thinking in a supportive, encouraging way.

Saima Sharif, MD, MS, Clinical Associate Professor of Internal Medicine
Submitted by Shadeh Ghaffari-Rafi

Dr. Sharif was an incredible teacher, who absolutely went above and beyond each and every day I worked with her. With each patient, she took the time to provide learning points as well as allowing room for questions from students. She would often spend the afternoon facilitating educational discussions with students, and created an environment amenable for productive learning, allowing me to give a presentation on neutropenic fever. Her respect towards her patients and staff should be widely emulated. It was a pleasure to work with her.

Taher Abu Hejleh, MBBS, Clinical Associate Professor of Internal Medicine
Submitted by Shadeh Ghaffari-Rafi

Dr. Abu Hejleh was one of the most empathetic and effective teachers I have had as a medical student. A model physician, he empowered patients to make decisions regarding their goals of care and was incredibly compassionate when working with family members. I will always remember when he went above and beyond in making sure family members were able to see a patient before he passed, as in light of COVID, it had been difficult to ensure all visitors would be allowed in. He is an incredible role model for all medical students.

Carly Kuehn, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine
Submitted by Jennifer Poncelet

• Emphasized physical exam teaching at bedside and encouraged student involvement
• Took time to give a few short lectures on internal medicine topics
• Effective teaching “while working” during rounds or while working up a new patient, walked through differentials, not to miss details, potential complications, etc.
• Encouraged students to generate their own plan for patients and added support where needed
• Encouraged teamwork, gave positive reinforcement and feedback of things done well by students/residents

Desmond Barber, MD, Chief Resident, Department of Internal Medicine
Submitted by Eric Boeshart

Desmond created an inclusive team environment on the inpatient team, which included both residents and medical students. He also went out of his way to explain topics to the medical students that related to the many different cases that we were involved in. He also made sure that if there were interesting procedures or conversations with patients and their families, that medical students were involved if they were available. He tested us on our knowledge in a way that did not make us feel inferior and fostered an environment for making us want to learn more.

Shareef Mansour, MBBS, Clinical Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine
Submitted by Benjamin Linden

I was very fortunate to work with Dr. Mansour during two of my outpatient cardiology clinic days. During both clinic days, he sat me down before every patient and walked me through the clinical reasoning and suspicion behind the presumed diagnoses, explained the physiological disturbances caused by the potential pathology, and also made sense of the plan for each patient in terms of diagnostics and treatment. He did this for conditions such as amyloidosis, pulmonary hypertension, left-sided heart failure, and atrial fibrillation. The teaching did not stop there. When we went into the clinic room with the patient, he was always using the white board to draw out what exactly was happening with the patient’s heart to help make sense of the symptoms and the management. I heard not one, not two, but three different patients state that he had explained their conditions better than anyone they had seen in the past. Despite this, he always made sure to address any questions the patients had. I think he demonstrated the exact purpose of academic medicine–to teach both future providers AND the patients while also providing quality, compassionate care. Any student that gets to join him on clinic will walk away with more confidence on heart failure management and with incredible patient communication skills.