Educational leaders recognized at Baylor College of Medicine

Baylor College of Medicine’s top educational leaders were honored at Faculty Awards Day, held Wednesday at the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital.

“Our faculty are improving health outcomes, training the next generation of healthcare and biomedical research leaders, and serving our community and communities at large, nationally and globally,” said Dr. Biykem Bozkurt, senior dean of faculty at Baylor. “We are grateful to them for the many ways they contribute to our institution.”

Presidential Awards
Established in 1999, the Barbara and Corbin J. Robertson, Jr. Presidential Award for Excellence in Education recognizes faculty members who have made long-standing, consistent and highly valued contributions to the educational mission of the College. Recipients become members of the Baylor Society of Presidential Educators and receive a crystal award and $10,000. Corbin J. Robertson, Jr. was in attendance to present the award.

The 2025 recipients of the Robertson Presidential Award are Dr. Nadia Ismail, professor of medicine and vice dean in the School of Medicine, and Dr. Matthew Rasband, professor of neuroscience and director of the Neuroscience Graduate program. These two awardees have played a significant role in the training of medical and biomedical sciences students, respectively.

McGovern Awards
The John P. McGovern Outstanding Teaching Awards were established in 1986 and are determined by second-, third- and fourth-year medical students and based on outstanding teaching of preclinical, or foundational, and clinical medical school curriculum. The nominees are approved by the Faculty Awards Committee.

The 2025 recipients of the McGovern Teaching Awards are Dr. Bryan Tucker, associate professor of medicine, in the foundational sciences, and Dr. Arindam Sarkar, assistant professor of family and community medicine, in the clinical sciences.

Clark Faculty Service Award
Established in 2017, the award honors faculty members whose exemplary service with professionalism has not previously been recognized through an official award by the College. Recipients represent their professions and Baylor’s mission, vision and values at the highest level and have made significant, enduring contributions to the College.

Recipients for 2025 are Dr. Malvika Juneja, associate professor of family and community medicine, Dr. Shweta Parmekar, assistant professor of pediatrics, Dr. Jessica Davila, professor of medicine, Dr. Esther Sampayo, associate professor of pediatrics, and Claire Horner, J.D., associate professor in the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy.

Norton Rose Fulbright Faculty Excellence Awards
The Norton Rose Fulbright Faculty Excellence Awards provide an opportunity for Baylor faculty who meet designated standards of quality, quantity and breadth to receive recognition for their sustained exemplary educational contributions across all areas of the College. They were presented this year in four categories: teaching and evaluation, educational leadership, educational research and development of enduring educational materials.

See the full list of Norton Rose Fulbright winners in the Faculty Awards Day program.

In addition, the 2025 Graduating Class Outstanding Faculty Awards were selected by fourth-year medical students and given to Dr. Tara Harris, Dr. Atul Maheshwari, Dr. Navdeep Sekhon and Dr. Rosa Michelle Schmidt.

Also recognized were the faculty who were appointed to endowed chairs and professorships: Dr. Shanda Blackmon, professor of surgery, the Olga Keith Wiess Chair of Surgery III; Dr. Nicola Hanania, professor of medicine, the Brown Foundation Endowed Professorship in Adult Cystic Fibrosis; Dr. Fasiha Kanwal, professor of medicine, Nancy Chang, Ph.D., Endowed Professorship for the Biology of Inflammation Center II; Dr. William Lagor, professor of integrative physiology, Kyle and Josephine Morrow Endowed Professorship; Dr. Irina Larina, professor of integrative physiology, Kyle and Josephine Morrow Endowed Chair IV; Dr. Leo Luznik, senior faculty in medicine, Alta G. Longenbaugh Professorship in Cancer Immunology; Dr. Javier Medina, professor of neuroscience, the Brown Foundation Chair in Neuroscience; Dr. William “Chris” Pederson, professor of surgery, Josephine Abercrombie Endowed Professorship in Plastic Surgery Research; Dr. Robert T. Ripley, professor of surgery, Meyer-DeBakey Chair in Investigative Surgery; Dr. Jasvinder Singh, professor of medicine, Nancy Chang, Ph.D., Endowed Chair for the Biology of Inflammation Center I; Dr. François St-Pierre, associate professor of neuroscience, Vivian L. Smith Endowed Professorship in Neuroscience; Dr. Jose Torrealba, professor of pathology, W.L. Moody, Jr., Chair in Pathology; Dr. Ravi Ghanta, professor of surgery, the Olga Keith Wiess Endowed Professorship of Surgery II; Dr. Yuqing Huo, professor of ophthalmology, Danny B. Jones Endowed Chair in Ophthalmology; Dr. Elizabeth Kvale, senior faculty in medicine, Robert J. Luchi Clinical Chair in Geriatrics; Dr. Ida Orengo, professor and chair of dermatology, Dr. John E. Wolf Endowed Chair in Dermatology; Dr. Alexis Shafii, associate professor of surgery, Jimmy and Roberta Howell Professorship in Cardiovascular Surgery; Dr. Christina Weng, professor of ophthalmology, Alice R. McPherson Retina Research Foundation Chair in Ophthalmology.

Baylor also recognized its leaders in clinical excellence. Read more here about these award winners.