Eckman Presented with Teaching Award of Excellence

How often is an educator described as fantastic, passionate, genuine, unrivaled, outstanding or amazing by students?

Mark Eckman, MD, Posey Professor of Clinical Medicine, learned the comments were frequent and about him from graduate and medical students in the College of Medicine. He is the recipient of the first Clinical & Translational Research Training Program Teaching Excellence Award for his teaching in the course on Decision Analysis and Cost-Effectiveness Analysis.

The class, first offered in 2007 by Eckman, is considered the gold standard for training physicians in research methods, says Erin Haynes, DrPH, associate professor of environmental health and director of the Clinical and Translational Research Training Program. The course provides an introduction to methods and applications of decision analysis and cost-effectiveness in medical decision making.

"The time and effort you put into your teaching is evident not just from student course evaluations, but also anecdotally from the many physicians who strongly recommend your course for other trainees,” Haynes explained in an award letter to Eckman.

She said several students praised Eckman’s teaching style. Eckman is director of the Division of General Internal Medicine and director of the Center for Clinical Effectiveness.

In course evaluations, one student wrote, "Dr. Eckman has created an incredibly well-organized course, and is masterful at explaining the material. He makes himself available to individual students and engages everyone in class. His approach to teaching has been an inspiration to me.”

Another added, "Excellent lectures and workshops. Dr. Eckman impressed me with his ability to deliver complicated mathematical models in a simple way.”  

Haynes also thanked Eckman for the time and support he offers students outside the classroom for their class projects and thesis research. "We recognize the dedication and enthusiasm you bring to the classroom, and our program is fortunate to count you among its teaching faculty,” she wrote.