Art Dalley, Ph.D., was given one of four national teaching awards at the AAMC annual meeting in Boston.
VUMC’s Dalley lands national teaching award at AAMC meet
BOSTON — Art Dalley, Ph.D., professor of Cell and Developmental Biology and Master Clinical Teacher, received the prestigious Alpha Omega Alpha Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teacher Award Nov. 6 at the Association of American Medical Colleges annual meeting here.
“I am deeply honored that Vanderbilt's School of Medicine nominated me for this award, and very surprised and excited to receive it,” Dalley said. “I am delighted that such an award exists. Although teachers often receive praise and appreciation from their students and colleagues at the local level, which is beyond value and much appreciated, there are relatively few means or opportunities for teachers to receive recognition outside of their own institution and especially at such a national level.”
Dalley was one of four in the nation to receive the award, which honors “tireless efforts to provide the nation's next generation of doctors with an outstanding educational experience,” according to the AAMC.
Dalley joined the Vanderbilt faculty in 1998. He previously served on the faculty at Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, Neb., for 24 years. He earned his Ph.D. and B.S. from the University of Utah.
At Vanderbilt, Dalley also serves as director of Medical Gross Anatomy, and has co-authored several textbooks on the subject. His book, Clinically-Oriented Anatomy, was adopted for use at 90 percent of medical schools in its first year of publication and has since been translated into six languages. Dalley has also helped edit the world's top-selling anatomical atlas, co-authored an anatomical software program and spent a year revising and relocating the definitions of some 20,000 anatomical terms for the 26th edition of Stedman's Medical Dictionaries.
Dalley has been recognized at every institution where he's instructed students, including the Mayo Clinic, where he was a visiting professor.
“It's truly wonderful to be involved in a discipline and a profession that you love, and by which you remain both fascinated and challenged,” Dalley said. “I greatly appreciate the efforts, attention and role-modeling provided by my own teachers and mentors and the support and encouragement I have received from the School of Medicine. I'm also grateful for a team of dedicated and stimulating faculty, 30 years of highly motivated, intelligent and dedicated students, reliable technical support, and, most importantly, a patient, understanding and forgiving wife, Muriel.”
The AOA award is named for long-time executive secretary Robert J. Glaser, M.D., and was initiated in 1988 to provide national recognition to outstanding faculty members who have distinguished themselves in medical student education.
Along with Dalley, 1988 Vanderbilt University School of Medicine graduate Charles H. Griffith III, M.D., associate professor of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics for the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, was one of the recipients.
Jeanette Norden, Ph.D., professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, received the AOA Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teacher Award in 2002.