August 2014
Five faculty members and a staff member were honored Aug. 27 at the Faculty Council's annual awards ceremony. The awards went to:
- Joedrecka Brown Speights, M.D., associate professor, Department of Family Medicine and Rural Health (guardian of the mission and service).
- Heather Flynn, Ph.D., vice chair for research, Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine (outstanding faculty educator).
- Mohamed Kabbaj, Ph.D., professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences (outstanding faculty investigator).
- Jacquelyn Manduley, academic program specialist, Office of Medical Education (outstanding staff member).
- Curt Stine, M.D., associate chair, Department of Family Medicine and Rural Health (outstanding faculty educator).
- Angelina Sutin, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine (outstanding faculty investigator).
Here are excerpts from their nominations.
JOEDRECKA BROWN SPEIGHTS
Several nominators mentioned that Joedrecka Brown was a role model for students as well as for fellow faculty members. She was named the outstanding mentor at the 2014 Medical Student Education Conference by the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. She’s also an advisor for the Student National Medical Association here at the College of Medicine.
She works on the Access to Care Committee through Capital Medical Society, the Leon County Domestic Violence Fatality Review Team, Physicians Against the Trafficking of Humans, and the Healthy Infant Partnership. Her research is aimed at eliminating health disparities, with special attention to black infant mortality. And apart from all of that, she’s a great doctor who practices medicine that’s congruent with our mission.
HEATHER FLYNN
(Taken from a letter of nomination)
“Having been an educator in medical schools since 1978, I can honestly say [Heather Flynn] is one of the best teachers I have known. Here’s the real situation in medical school education: Any experienced physician knows that psychology plays a huge role in a person’s illness. Yet medical students seem almost intrinsically to see psychology as unimportant, a distraction from ‘real medicine,’ and ‘soft.’ Dr. Flynn has an amazing ability to provide teaching to medical students and residents in a way that is not only heavily evidence-based, but interesting!
“She has taught me a great deal about motivational interviewing and depression. I have watched her provide this teaching to medical students in the classroom setting as well as in small groups and one-to-one. She is a very active listener, who uses humor and nonjudgmental approaches to open up learners to new information. I understand she is now helping to incorporate motivational interviewing into our CLC teaching, an idea that I think is fabulous.”
MOHAMED KABBAJ
Mohamed Kabbaj demonstrates a commitment to rigorous science. He has over 150 publications and has published over 20 articles just in 2013 and 2014. His impact on the field is significant, as evidenced by almost 2,700 citations since 1995. He has been published multiple times in leading journals such as Journal of Neuroscience, Nature Neuroscience, Journal of Neuroendrocrinology and Psychopharmacology. And he has been invited as a speaker to numerous national and international meetings.
In addition to his impressive accomplishments in scientific discovery, Mohamed Kabbaj has been funded by NIH continuously since his second year with the College of Medicine. In fact, he’s the only faculty member here with two five-year R01 grants from NIH. He also serves on both NIH and NSF study sections.
His work in the neurobiology underlying individual and sex differences in depression, drug addiction and anxiety, as well as molecular mechanisms underlying social behaviors, will continue to break new ground. In addition, he’s dedicated to creating a lab that is an important learning environment for graduate students. Despite all of these accomplishments, he’s described by colleagues as personable, approachable, humble, supportive and collaborative.
JACQUELYN MANDULEY
Five letters nominated Jacquelyn Manduley for this award, calling her critical to the success and day-to-day operations of the Office of Medical Education. She has diverse technical skills; has developed systems that improve accuracy and efficiency; is committed to meeting the educational needs of our students; maintains a positive attitude even when dealing with difficult or new tasks; takes the initiative on projects; and works collaboratively with course directors/faculty, staff and students.
Excerpts from nominations: “This person takes on the most challenging tasks, navigates the most frustrating terrain, deals with seemingly endless potential barriers and/or problems to deliver products we all are proud of, and never once draws attention to her role in getting the job done. This staff member makes all of us look good and makes us more successful.” And: “Course directors and students rightly credit this individual for making their courses better and their lives easier and more satisfying.”
CURT STINE
Curt Stine has the ability to take the best of what others have to offer and utilize it to the advantage of our learners. He also has the ability to make you think about the underlying reasons for your ideas about teaching, learning and curricular goals. He’s committed to continuous quality improvement, and enthusiastic about curricular changes that enhance student learning.
Excerpt from one of the nomination letters: “During his time at our College of Medicine (for the past 12 years), he has had numerous teaching/educational responsibilities…. In every endeavor, he has worked hard to promote educational innovation, quality improvement and excellence. He’s a vocal proponent of interdisciplinary teaching and strives to bring varied departments, disciplines and course directors together for the optimal teaching of our students. He is an enthusiastic teacher who can give a great lecture to students, and is highly rated as a small group leader, but he does not seek the spotlight, but gives others the chance to shine. He is clearly deserving of this award.”
ANGELINA SUTIN
In just a couple of years at the College of Medicine, Angelina Sutin has had 14 publications, nine of which listed her as first author. Overall, she has over 60 publications in journals such as Psychological Medicine, Journal of Personality, Journal of Behavioral Medicine, Psychology and Aging, and JAMA Psychiatry and has been cited 523 times since 2006, almost 300 of those in the past two years.
She’s an associate editor of a major journal in her field and an ad-hoc reviewer for over 25 other journals. She’s been a lead presenter at major national conferences, including the American Psychological Association, the Gerontological Association of America, and the Association for Research in Personality. She’s currently PI for an FSU planning grant and is funded as a co-PI on an R01 from the National Institute on Aging. Somehow she also finds time to mentor undergraduates, Bridge students and medical students.
Angelina Sutin’s research in the areas of how personality traits are associated with physical and mental health across adulthood and how personality shapes the psychological understanding of personally meaningful experiences will continue to create new knowledge in the field.
