The mission of the Academy of Medical Education Scholars (AMES) at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson is to create and sustain a diverse community of scholars dedicated to excellence and innovation in medical education.
Congratulations
AMES Medical Research Grants
Bhupinder Natt, MD
Department of Medicine
Project: Use of Real-Time Feedback device to improve the technique of Bag-Mask Ventilation
Maxwell Hart, MD, MEd
Department of Medicine
Project: Utilization of ChatGPT for the Assessment of Medical Student-Written Histories of Present Illness
Tejal M. Parikh, MD
Department of Family & Community Medicine
Project: Enhancing Pelvic Anatomy and Reproductive Physical Examination Skills through Handheld Endocavitary Ultrasound
Katherine Robbins, MD
Department of Medicine
Project: Dermoscopy Performance and Educational Phone Application
Julie Armin, PhD
Barbara Eckstein, MD
Colette Scott, MEd
Department of Family & Community Medicine
Project: Developing Patients-as-Educators to Promote Health Equity: Leveraging Patients’ Lived-Experience Expertise to Educate Medical Students
AMES Development Travel Grants
Eva Wilson, DO
Department of Emergency Medicine
Katelyn Fellows, MD
Department of Psychiatry
Elaine Situ-LaCasse, MD
Department of Emergency Medicine
Yamne Callejas
COM-T Office of Financial Aid
Omowunmi Oluwo, MD
Department of Surgery
Anna Alkozei, PhD
Department of Family & Community Medicine
Michelle Abbate, MD
Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology
AMES Travel Grants
Claudio Cheuquen
COM-T Office of Student Affairs
David Neiling
COM-T Office of Student Affairs
Vivienne Ng, MD
Department of Emergency Medicine
Rebecca Whitmer
COM-T Student
Steven Dudick, MD
Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology
Lonnie Lybarger, PhD
Department of Cellular & Molecular Medicine
Katelyn Anderson
COM-T Student
Elaine Situ-LaCasse, MD
Department of Emergency Medicine
AMES Medical Research Grants
Elaine Situ-LaCasse, MD
Department of Emergency Medicine
AMES Development Travel Grants
Richard Amini, MD
Department of Emergency Medicine
Anirudh Gururaj, MD
Clinical Teaching
Elaine Situ-LaCasse, MD
Department of Emergency Medicine
Amy Klein, MD
Department of Medicine
Amanda Goodwin, MD
Resident/Fellow
Vivienne Ng, MD, MPH
Department of Emergency Medicine
Evelyn Alexander, MD
Resident/Fellow
AMES Travel Grants
Katelyn Fellows, MD
Resident/Fellow
Yumi Shirai, PhD
Department of Family and Community Medicine
Thomas Nguyen, MD
Resident/Fellow
Ahmed Elkamel, MD
Resident/Fellow
Current Opportunities
Call for Vernon and Virginia Furrows and AMES Excellence in Teaching Awards 2026
Vernon and Virginia Furrow Awards:
Excellence in Basic Science Teaching, Medical Student Curriculum
Excellence in Clinical Science Teaching, Medical Student Curriculum
Excellence in Graduate Medical Education
Excellence in Innovation in Medical Education
Excellence in Teaching, Undergraduate Curriculum
AMES Awards:
Excellence in Basic Science Teaching, Medical Student Curriculum
Excellence in Clinical Science Teaching of Medical Students, Residents, or Fellows
Excellence in Teaching Innovation
Excellence in Teaching, Undergraduate Curriculum
Deadline for nominations is Monday, December 8, 2025.
The primary nominator should select the category that applies to the nomination and should detail the peer observations on which the nomination is based. (Student evaluations should not be included except for the undergraduate curriculum.)
To nominate or be considered for any of these awards, please submit the following:
Up to two letters of support from peers may be provided. A nomination will be strengthened considerably if the primary nomination or a letter of support is provided by the faculty's Department Head/ Division Chief. inclusion of details and examples from faculty observations of the nominee's teaching will greatly strengthen an application.
CV of the nominee.
To nominate or be considered for the Undergraduate Curriculum awards, please submit the following in addition to the letter(s) of support and CV of the nominee.
Undergraduate course name and number.
Student Course Surveys for the most recent two years.
PLEASE SUBMIT NOMINATION MATERIALS HERE
Call for AMES New Members 2026
Applications will be reviewed by the AMES group.
Please submit:
A statement of interest by the candidate of no more than one page.
Candidate CV.
Letter of support from candidate's Department Chair or Division Chief.
Request for applications in November 2025 are due December 10 and will be awarded in January 2026.
PLEASE SUBMIT NOMINATION MATERIALS HERE
Upcoming Opportunities
Spring Travel and Development Grants 2026
Call will be sent out around late January or February 2026 and be awarded in March 2026. A call will be sent to your email when applications are open.
If you have any questions, please email the AMES Chair Indu Partha, MD (ipartha@arizona.edu), AMES Vice Chair Jenny Plitt, MD (jplitt@airozna.edu) and/or AMES staff admin Brenna Chabolla Stauffer (brennacs1@arizona.edu).
Members
History
Based upon the recommendations of an advisory committee chaired by Dr. Joseph Alpert in 2007, Dean Keith Joiner approved the formation of an Academy of Excellence in Education at the University of Arizona College of Medicine (COM-T). That organization, now called the Academy of Medical Education Scholars (AMES), was created in 2008 based on a concept originating at UCSF and Harvard and becoming widespread among American medical schools. The idea was to recognize and support the most accomplished teachers and educators at COM-T and, in return, draw on those faculty members for advice and service to the college’s education programs. It was recommended initially that the Academy would:
- Recognize excellent teachers and educators at COM-T
- Work to provide financial support for the recruitment, recognition and retention of outstanding teachers
- Create a body of educationally oriented faculty who would assist the college with activities such as
- faculty development for teaching
- mentoring junior faculty with an interest in education
- peer review of faculty teaching
- Foster research in medical education
- Heighten recognition of the educational mission of the college.
Initial members of AMES were identified by nominations from all departments at COM-T, based on demonstration of educational expertise, educational scholarship and outstanding record of professionalism. Today, those leading medical educators at COM-T continue in their efforts to recruit, mentor and retain outstanding educators and promote excellence in teaching and educational scholarship at all COM-T teaching sites. The Academy also is responsible for selecting the Vernon and Virginia Furrow Awards and awarding annual research grants for educational scholarship. An exciting new effort by the Academy is the creation of an Educators’ Fellowship program, promoting academic faculty development at both the College of Medicine – Tucson and College of Medicine – Phoenix.
Publications
2018
Waterbrook AL, Ellinwood KCSpear, T Pritchard G, et al. “Shadowing emergency medicine residents by medical education specialists to provide feedback on non-medical knowledge-based ACGME sub-competencies.” Adv Med Educ Pract. 2018;9:307-315. PMCID: PMC5942177 PMID: 29765259
2015
Nematollahi S, St John PA, Adamas-Rappaport WJ. “Lessons learned with a flipped classroom.” Med Educ. 2015;49(11):1143. PMID: 26494072
Resources
The Academy of Medical Education Scholars supports the scholarship of education in several ways, including mentorship, funding and providing resources for those wishing to conduct scholarship in education. Such resources include links to funding groups and a bibliography of journals with a focus on academic education topics, which can be accessed here. This annotated bibliography was created by a group of scholars from the AAMC Research in Medical Education Section.
A key source of resources for faculty development is the College of Medicine – Tucson Office of Faculty Affairs.