Awards - W T Aikins
Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
The W. T. Aikins Awards are named after Dr. W.T. Aikins, the first Dean of the University of Toronto, Temerty Faculty of Medicine after it was reorganized in 1887. These awards are the Faculty's most prestigious awards for sustained commitment to and excellence in undergraduate teaching. The Award winners are selected from nominees in a Faculty-wide process that requires support from both faculty and students. This teaching award is given serious consideration in the academic promotions process.
All faculty members are eligible for nomination, with a minimum of 10 years of teaching service in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, for their teaching performance in the undergraduate medical (MD) program. Please note that teaching performance in Arts and Science, graduate, and post-graduate medical programs will not be considered for the Aikins award. Both faculty members and students are welcome to submit nominations. The deadline to complete the on-line nomination form and submit accompanying nomination letters is Friday, January 19, 2024. The MD Program Teaching Awards Committee will review and evaluate all nominations. Each award winner will receive a framed certificate and a crescent glass award at the 22nd Annual Education Achievement Celebration event in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine scheduled on Wednesday, May 15, 2024. Awardees will also have their names inscribed on the Aikins plaque on the wall, situated in the Medical Sciences Building foyer.
The award categories are:
- Individual teaching performance - foundations (lectures, laboratories, seminars, workshops, tutorials, or, in clinical skills)
- Individual teaching performance - clerkship (lectures, seminars, workshops, tutorials, portfolio, clinical skills, interviewing skills or in electives)
- Development and use of educational innovations
- Course/program development and coordination
Award Criteria:
Any faculty member in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine with a minimum 10 years of teaching service within the faculty are eligible to be nominated for their teaching performance in the undergraduate medical (MD) program in one of the following categories. Summary data from at least 3 years of formal student evaluations are required in consideration for these awards. Please note that a previous winner may be nominated for an Aikins Award in the same category as the previous award only after a lapse of five years. A previous winner may be nominated for an Aikins Award in a different category from a previous award at any time.
The minimum number of nominators required for each nomination, and who can nominate, depends on the category as follows:
- Individual teaching performance - foundations (PDF) Requires at least 3 nominators (including at least 2 students).
- Individual teaching performance - clerkship (PDF) Requires at least 3 nominators (including at least 2 students).
- Development and use of educational innovations (PDF) Requires at least 3 nominators (including at least 1 student and 1 faculty member).
- Course/program development and coordination (PDF) Requires at least 3 nominators (including at least 1 student and 1 faculty member).
To submit your nomination:
- Fill out and submit a preliminary nomination form (PDF) by Friday, January 19, 2024.
- Attach a letter indicating why this individual is being nominated in the selected category. Letters that are the most helpful address the criteria for the award and present evidence supporting the nominee's excellence in those criteria.
If you have any questions, please contact:
Barbra MacDonald, Administrative Coordinator, Office of the Associate Dean, MD Program md.reception@utoronto.ca.
W. T. Aikins Award Winners
Foundations
- 2023 Barathi Rajasri Sreenivasan, Department of Medicine
- 2022 Hosanna Au, Department of Paediatrics
- 2022 Hani Amad, Department of Medicine
- 2020 Laurence Biro, Department of Family and Community Medicine
- 2019 Joyce Nyhof-Young, Department of Family and Community Medicine
Clerkship
- 2023 Yayi Huang, Department of Medicine
- 2023 Yonah Krakowsky, Department of Surgery
- 2023 Mark Wheatcroft, Department of Surgery
- 2022 Fuad Moussa, Department of Surgery
- 2021 Tamina Eapen, Department of Psychiatry
- 2020 Edsel Ing, Department of Ophthalmology & Vision Sciences
- 2020 Amar Uxa, Department of Medicine
- 2019 Fayez Quereshy, Department of Surgery
Course/Program Development and Coordination
- 2023 Anne McLeod, Department of Medicine
- 2022 Nirit Bernhard, Department of Paediatrics
- 2021 Seetha Radhakrishnan, Department of Paediatrics
- 2020 David Chan, Department of Medicine
- 2020 Angela Punnett, Department of Paediatrics
- 2019 Marcus Law, Department of Family and Community Medicine
- 2018 Not awarded
- 2017 Jacqueline James, Department of Medicine
- 2016 Pamela Coates, Department of Paediatrics
- 2015 Barbara (Dee) Ballyk, Division of Anatomy, Department of Surgery
- 2015 David K. Chan, Department of Medicine
- 2014 Susan Goldstein, Kymm Feldman and the evolving members of the FMLE Course Committee; Department of Family and Community Medicine
- 2013 Eleanor Latta, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology
- 2012 Anita Rachlis, Department of Medicine
- 2011 Jodi Lofchy, Department of Psychiatry
- 2010 Not awarded
- 2009 Vincent Chien, Department of Medicine
- 2008 Not awarded
- 2007 Not awarded
- 2006 J. Banack
- 2005 J. Ali
- 2004 D. Elman, M. Schreiber, R. Freeman, R. Hooks, D. Tabak
- 2003 I. Johnson
- 2002 J. Bradley
- 2001 Not awarded
- 2000 Not awarded
- 1999 Not awarded
- 1998 F. Silver, M. Silverman
- 1997 D. Reid, T. Rutledge, D. Wasylenki
- 1996 Dr. Gasner; D.E. Isenman and D. Painter, D.G. White and the Department of Family & Community Medicine Undergraduate Education Committee
- 1995 P. Brubaker, D. Gray, M. Pare; Group Award: C. Whiteside, N. Byrne, D. Alli
- 1994 M. Vearncombe, P. McCleary
- 1993 R. Schneider
- 1992 A. Gotlieb
- 1991 Not awarded
- 1990 D.J. Amato, A. Biringer
- 1989 W.J. Weiser
- 1988 J.R. Ross
- 1987 P.H. McCleary, J.L. Provan, R.M. Shier
- 1986 D.L. Shaul, I.M. Taylor
- 1985 D.W. Chamberlain (inaugural recipient)
Development and Use of Educational Innovations
- 2023 Not awarded
- 2022 Not awarded
- 2021 Laurence Biro, Joyce Nyhof-Young and the LGBTQ Clinical Skills Team; Department of Family and Community Medicine
- 2020 Glendon Tait, Department of Psychiatry
- 2019 Jory Simpson, Department of Surgery
Small Group Teaching
(Note: This category was renamed in 2019 to Foundations)
- 2018 Nadine Abdullah, Department of Medicine
- 2018 Martin Schreiber, Department of Medicine
- 2018 Justin Weissglas, Department of Psychiatry
- 2017 Ariel Shafro, Department of Psychiatry
- 2017 Graham Roche-Nagle, Department of Surgery
- 2016 Carol Heck, Department of Physical Therapy
- 2015 Fok-Han Leung, Department of Family and Community Medicine
- 2014 Gemini Tanna, Department of Medicine
- 2013 Not awarded
- 2012 Robert Silver, Department of Medicine
- 2011 David Jenkins, Department of Medicine
- 2010 Peter Ferguson, Department of Surgery
- 2010 Ron Kodama, Department of Surgery
- 2010 Shirley Lee, Department of Family and Community Medicine
- 2010 Yuna Lee, Department of Medicine
- 2009 Adrian Brown, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
- 2009 Robert Sargeant, Department of Medicine
- 2008 Stacey Bernstein, Department of Pediatrics
- 2008 Christopher Wallace, Department of Surgery
- 2007 Sender Herschorn, Division of Urology, Department of Surgery
- 2007 Ophyr Mourad, Department of Medicine
- 2007 Michael Sved, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
- 2006 W. Gold
- 2006 R. Hilliard 2005 A. Agur (inaugural recipient)
Large Group Teaching
(Note: This category was renamed in 2019 to Clerkship)
- 2018 Not awarded
- 2017 Barbara (Dee) Ballyk, Department of Surgery
- 2017 Philip Berger, Department of Family and Community Medicine
- 2016 Not awarded
- 2015 Not awarded
- 2014 Not awarded
- 2013 Jeffrey Wassermann, Department of Anesthesia
- 2012 Dante Morra, Department of Medicine
- 2011 Barbara (Dee) Ballyk, Division of Anatomy, Department of Surgery
- 2010 Michael Wiley, Department of Anatomy
- 2009 James Ingles, Department of Molecular Genetics
- 2008 Lori Albert, Department of Medicine
- 2007 Reinhart Reithmeier, Department of Biochemistry
- 2006 C. Perumalla
- 2005 S. Shumak (inaugural recipient)
Individual Teaching Performance
(Note: This category was divided into two subcategories in 2005)
- 2004 Not awarded
- 2003 S. Shadowitz
- 2002 W. Chapman
- 2001 G. Olscamp
- 2000 M. Kapral, R. Kodama
- 1999 P. Bronskill, M. Cusimano, B. Liebgott
- 1998 R. Baker, C. Bayliss, R. Hilliard, M. Schreiber
- 1997 D. Brooks, D. Panisko, M. Sarin, M. Wiley
- 1996 C.M. Deber, D.J. Gare, P. McKee
- 1995 M. Goldberg, J. Butany, R. Richardson
- 1994 A. Gotlieb, R.K. Murray, S. Mintz, I. Taylor
- 1993 J. Keystone
- 1992 R. Hyland, J. Tenenbaum
- 1991 R. Reznick
- 1990 E.J. Akesson, H. Ho Ping Kong
- 1989 A. Agur, C. Chalin
- 1988 J. Desmond, D.K. MacFadden
- 1987 U. Ackermann, H.S. Himal
- 1986 C. Whiteside
- 1985 K.V. Robb, A. Roberts (inaugural recipients)
Development and Use of Innovative Instructional Methods
(Note: This category was renamed in 2019 to Development and Use of Educational Innovations)
- 2018 Not awarded
- 2017 Not awarded
- 2016 Not awarded
- 2015 Not awarded
- 2014 Not awarded
- 2013 C. Perumalla, S. Matthews, and N. Kee (Group Award), Department of Physiology
- 2012 Not awarded
- 2011 Not awarded
- 2010 Not awarded
- 2009 Not awarded
- 2008 Michael Wiley, Department of Surgery
- 2007 Not awarded
- 2006 Not awarded
- 2005 Not awarded
- 2004 M.J. Hohol, P.A. Stewart
- 2003 Not awarded
- 2002 Not awarded
- 2001 M. Bell
- 2000 Not awarded
- 1999 Not awarded
- 1998 Not awarded
- 1997 Not awarded
- 1996 W.J. Weiser
- 1995 V. Watt
- 1994 D. Cleave-Hogg, M. Wallace
- 1993 I. Silver
- 1992 M. Shier
- 1991 Not awarded
- 1990 R. Cohen, C.G. Jamieson, J.L. Provan (Group award)
- 1989 R.A. Buckman, S. Mintz
- 1988 Not awarded
- 1987 M.L. Chipman
- 1986 Not awarded
- 1985 N. Ranganathan, B. E. Stubbs (inaugural recipients)
Special Contribution to Teaching
- 1997 N. Camerman