2017 Dean's Awards: Clinical Honorees (with video)

On Nov. 14, 2017, Dean Marschall S. Runge, M.D., Ph.D., and the executive vice deans for the University of Michigan Medical School presented Dean's Awards to 23 faculty and staff for exceptional accomplishment in the areas of teaching, research, clinical care, community service, innovation and administration.

This year's recipients, who received their awards during a dinner and ceremony in the Omenn Atrium of the A. Alfred Taubman Biomedical Science Research Building, include Outstanding Clinician Award recipients James D. Geiger, M.D., Rachel L. Glick, M.D., Marie M. Lozon, M.D., and John M. Park, M.D., and Lifetime Achievement Award in Clinical Care recipient Richard H. Simon, M.D.

“This group features some of our top clinicians who make meaningful contributions to the care of our patients and enable us to improve health,” said David A. Spahlinger, M.D., executive vice dean for clinical affairs and president of the U-M Health System. “They are on the front line, delivering outstanding patient care, and their excellence is a hallmark of Michigan Medicine.”

James D. Geiger, M.D., is the Daniel H. Teitelbaum, M.D., Collegiate Professor of Surgery in the Medical School and Section of Pediatric Surgery at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.

A 1983 graduate of the University of Michigan, who returned to campus for internship, residency and two fellowships in pediatric surgery and critical care, he joined the Medical School faculty in 1995 as an assistant professor in the Section of Plastic Surgery. He was promoted to associate professor in 2003, and full professor in 2010. He assumed the Teitelbaum Professorship in 2016.

He has pioneered the application of minimally invasive techniques in children and has developed a national prominence in the area of pediatric cancer surgery. He is known nationally as a surgeon who often takes on the most-complicated pediatric solid tumor cases. He completed the first dendritic cell based vaccine studies in the treatment of pediatric malignancies. For the past 12 years, he has shifted his academic focus to medical device innovation. He has been involved in the development and commercialization of a number of medical devices including an emergency airway intubation device, intravenous access devices, methodologies for monitoring during anesthesia and in critical care, and a handheld high-dexterity instrument platform for minimally invasive surgery,

In 2011, he was a member of the inaugural class of inductees into the Medical School’s League of Research Excellence.

Rachel L. Glick, M.D., is a professor of psychiatry in the Medical School.

A graduate of the University of Michigan (1981) and Medical School Inteflex Program (1984), she joined the faculty in 1991 as a clinical instructor in the Department of Psychiatry. She was promoted to assistant professor of psychiatry in 1994, associate professor in 2001, and professor in 2007.

She has dedicated her career to the development and expansion of psychiatric emergency services, twice serving as director of Psychiatric Emergency Services during a 15-year period. She has built bridges between inpatient, psychiatric emergency services, and outpatient care, and is always available for consultation, day or night.

She is a multiple Dean’s Awards honoree, as she received the Kaiser Permanente Award for Excellence in Pre-Clinical Teaching in 2013. That same year, she was a member of the inaugural class of inductees into the Medical School’s League of Educational Excellence.

Marie M. Lozon, M.D., is a professor of emergency medicine and pediatrics and communicable diseases in the Medical School.

She joined the Medical School faculty in 1991 as a lecturer in the Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases. She was promoted to assistant professor in 1994, and named assistant professor of surgery in 1996 (when Emergency Medicine was a section of the Department of Surgery). She became an assistant professor of emergency medicine in 1997, and associate professor of both emergency medicine and pediatrics and communicable diseases in 2002. She was promoted to full professor in both departments in 2017.

She helped to found the Department of Emergency Medicine and has been a longtime caregiver in emergency and trauma care of children. With her help, the department has grown from a small area in the back of the adult emergency department to a fully functioning Children’s Emergency Department with 30,000 annual visits and 19 faculty members.

She is widely regarded for her outstanding clinical acumen and passion for the care of children, a trait she relied on to build Children’s Emergency Services at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.

John M. Park, M.D., is the Cheng-Yang Chang Endowed Professor of Pediatric Urology and a professor of urology in the Medical School.

A “lifer” who spent his entire academic career at Michigan, he joined the Medical School faculty in 1995 as a lecturer in urology surgery. He was promoted to assistant professor in the Department of Urology in 1999, associate professor in 2004, and full professor in 2014.

Regarded as the premier pediatric urological surgeon in the state of Michigan, he is renowned for his commitment to outstanding patient care. Founder of the Program for Disorders of Sex Development, he leads a multidisciplinary clinic of psychologists, endocrinologists, surgeons and urologists to help patients and families with congenital malformations of their genitourinary tracts. He also is surgeon-in-chief at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.

In 2013, he was a member of the inaugural class of inductees into the Medical School’s League of Educational Excellence.

Richard H. Simon, M.D., is a professor of internal medicine in the Medical School.

He joined the Medical School faculty in 1981 as an assistant professor of internal medicine. He was promoted to associate professor in 1989, and full professor in 1995.

A leading authority nationally in the clinical care of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, he has driven the development of multidisciplinary care and institutional standards of CF care.

During his tenure as director of the Adult Cystic Fibrosis Program, he has gradually built up a team of physicians, social workers, dieticians, pharmacists, respiratory therapists and medical consultants in gastroenterology and endocrinology to treat patients of CF, a genetic disease that impacts multiple organ systems.