Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) recently established the Academy for Excellence in Education Lillian B. Nanney Award for Outstanding Service to the VUSM/Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) Community of Educators.
The announcement, which was a surprise to Nanney, was made on Nov. 7 by Neil Osheroff, Ph.D., John G. Coniglio Professor of Biochemistry and professor of Medicine, and by Bonnie Miller, M.D., Senior Associate Dean for Health Sciences Education, VUSM, and Executive Vice President for Educational Affairs, VUMC.
Lillian Nanney, Ph.D., is the founding director of the Academy for Excellence in Education, established in 2007 by VUSM to reinvigorate the education enterprise within the Medical Center and to give educators a forum to voice and implement their collective ideas for achieving excellence in teaching and learning. Under her leadership its membership has grown to 110.
“Lillian was the inaugural director of the academy and faithfully led it for its first decade,” Osheroff said. “In so doing, she was the driving force behind much of the structure and “ecology” of the academy and she played an essential role in establishing a tight and interactive community of educators in VUSM/VUMC. Dr. Miller, the rest of the academy board, and I feel strongly that it is most fitting that we honor Lillian with this award.”
Nanney is professor of Plastic Surgery, Medical Education and Administration and Cell and Developmental Biology, and serves as the director of the Plastic Surgery Research lab. She was integral in providing educational training opportunities for many educators as they prepared to teach effectively within Curriculum 2.0.
She is the co-director of two Immersion Courses and the longitudinal experience in teaching anatomy to medical students.
“Lillian has provided exemplary service to our community of educators over the past 10 years, first in establishing the Academy and then in serving as its leader. This award demonstrates our gratitude for Lillian’s service and her unending advocacy for Vanderbilt’s educational missions,” Miller added.
The award will be presented annually to a faculty member who has served Vanderbilt’s education community in a way that honors Nanney’s legacy.
