Award-Winning Teachers

Sarah Barnhard’s personal experience as a graduate of our residency and transfusion fellowship programs brings a special dimension to her educational role as a faculty member, leading to her choice by residents for the 2016 Faculty Teaching Award in Clinical Pathology. A subspecialty expert in in transfusion medicine and apheresis, Barnhard brings an additional focus in quality improvement since she is one of the first graduates of UC Davis Health’s certificate program in healthcare quality improvement. Barnhard is also very engaged with medical students as the faculty advisor for the Pathology Student Interest Group.

Here’s what residents say about Barnhard:

"Barnhard is such a joy to work with, and she has the estimable ability to turn even the most banal moment into a high-value teachable moment."

"I would love to have more time with Barnhard for my next Blood bank rotation. There is so much to learn from her."

Patricia Dalton is a surgical pathologist and leads the educational experience at our teaching affiliate, the Mather VA Medical Center.  She is a dedicated teacher who is committed to providing the residents with an outstanding experience during their rotations.  She is a long-standing member of our Residency Advisory Committee and ensures that the VA rotations are aligned with the expectations and standards of our program and the ACGME. In recognition of her outstanding contributions, the residents honored her with the Resident’s Teaching Award for Volunteer Faculty in 2014 and 2020.

Here’s what residents say about Dalton’s teaching:

“Dalton is one of the very best instructors that we have as part of surg path within the UC Davis pathology system. I have and continue to learn so much information from her during our teaching sessions. She has been essential in my development as a pathologist.”

“Wonderful teacher with helpful feedback. Clear direction and well organized. Efficient. Double scoping was awesome and so helpful at my stage!”

“I appreciate Dalton's patience with teaching, both at the microscope and in particular taking the time to go over grossing step by step on complicated specimens.”

An expert in hematopathology and informatics, Graff was honored by the housestaff with their 2018 Clinical Pathology Teaching Award. In addition to providing clinical teaching to housestaff in pathology and many other specialties, Graff teaches students in the master’s program in medical informatics, and serves in a leadership role as the Associate Program Director for the department’s ACGME-approved Clinical Informatics Training Program. Here’s what trainees have to say about Graff: “Graff is very supportive and an excellent teacher. It is always a great experience and privilege to work with Graff.” “Incredibly enthusiastic, knowledgeable.” “Graff’s enthusiasm was infectious!”

Ralph Green is a national leader in education who served two terms as Chair of the Graduate Medical Education Committee for the Association of Pathology Chairs. As chair of this committee, he guided pathology residency education through major changes due to increased applicants, national changes to the ACGME required curriculum, and the introduction of Maintenance of Certification requirements by the American Board of Pathology. In recognition of his major contributions during this transformative time, the APC honored with an award for “Extraordinary Service to Pathology Resident Education” in 2008. Green has continued his contributions to education as a member of the Education Committee of the Association for Investigative Pathology, and was appointed our residency program director in 2014. His passion for inspiring others in their careers includes outstanding contributions as a mentor and Green was recognized with the 2015 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring.

Here’s what residents say about Green’s teaching:

“Wonderful teacher. I enjoyed the week this attending was on service and had great confidence in his ability.”

Dorina Gui has distinguished herself as an outstanding teacher in multiple departments. She is the recipient of the 2015 Ruebner-Rosenquist Excellence in Teaching Award by the Gastroenterology fellows which recognizes her excellence in many educational settings, including her highly regarded multi-disciplinary slide sessions held around the multi-headed microscope which are a favorite of housestaff in both GI medicine and pathology. One of Gui's most significant contribution to our teaching program has been through her role as grossing room director through which she has greatly enhanced the teaching experience by creating new standardized grossing protocols and initiating regular training sessions for first-year residents and pathology assistants, among other innovations. The housestaff are highly appreciative of her educational efforts, and consider our training in grossing surgical specimens to be an outstanding experience.

Han Lee was honored with the Pathology Faculty Teaching Award for 2020-2021, presented by our residents and fellows. Lee also was honored with the Faculty Professionalism Award, determined by an annual survey of all Pathology Personnel. Lee received the award in recognition of the high level of professionalism he has brought to the neuropathology service, improving relationships with clinicians, courteously accepting additional clinical service on short notice, and contributing significantly to a positive, hands-on learning environment for residents and fellows.

Here is what housestaff and colleagues say about Lee:

"Lee has exhibited the utmost of professionalism, cheerfully accepting additional clinical service and/or call on short notice, and always being willing to teach residents, fellows and medical students. He has worked with Residency program leaders to fully develop an expanded neuro rotation. He is always upbeat and courteous to everyone, regardless of rank and position. He is a joy to work with."

"Always willing to pitch in, super friendly."

"Deeply interested in resident education, a courteous colleague who is always ready to help out with cases, hands-on educator."

"Super helpful, friendly, smart, kind. Always willing to pitch in on service or teach."

"Commitment to teaching and professional responsibilities."

The recipient of the residents’ 2016 Faculty Teaching Award in Anatomic Pathology, Karen Matsukuma joined our faculty in 2015 as a gastrointestinal and liver pathologist. Matsukuma has enhanced our training program by creating new standardized grossing templates for GI specimens in surgical pathology, and through her participation in departmental educational workshops and committees to improve the educational experience. She is also very active in medical student teaching. Here’s what residents say about Matsukuma:

“Working with Matsukuma is a pleasure. She is crazy smart, efficient, available, and friendly. She treats everyone with a great deal of respect, and is always working hard to see the value and potential for learning in everything around her. She is an inspiration and a role model.”

“Great attending to work with! Very approachable and enthusiastic about resident education. High yield learning.”

“One of the things that I most appreciate about Matsukuma is that she gives everyone time to speak. Many attendings (and physicians in general) will interrupt people after about 75% of a sentence. But, Matsukuma gives everyone enough room to get all of their thoughts out ‐‐ and she does it because she's genuinely interested in learning how someone is thinking, and hearing what they have to say. It refreshing, respectful, and greatly appreciated.”

Frank Melgoza practices at the Mather Veterans Administration Hospital in Sacramento, and is the recipient of the residents’ Faculty Teaching Award for affiliated faculty in 2017. He received his M.D. at the UC Davis School of Medicine. We are especially proud to have one of our own alumni contribute to education for our residents.

Here’s what residents say about Melgoza:

“A very knowledgeable teacher with great attitude toward others. Very well respected among residents. Very professional.”

“Melgoza has been a pleasure to work with. He really takes the time to teach. At the VA the attending on service usually helps with grossing, but Melgoza will help when asked if he knows his colleague is busy with service duties and does not make the resident wait for a prolonged period of time. Also the environment is very comfortable and friendly, and mistakes made by the residents are met with a professional attitude rather than intimidation.”

Director of Apheresis Grace Monis, M.D., Ph.D., was honored by Pathology housestaff with their 2020 Faculty Teaching award for Clinical Pathology. Here’s what our housestaff say about working with Monis: “Monis is an excellent faculty. She is calm in her approach and is very approachable. She explains things in a very lucid manner and lets you know what she expects of you.” “Always a pleasure to work with. She does a great job with giving graduated responsibility and for giving you cases that have the most educational benefit.” “Easy to work with and is always pleasant. It is evident she loves to teach and help residents learn the most on their time on Apheresis. She is conscious of which cases will be most beneficial/interesting for residents to learn from..” “Monis does an excellent job of explaining the overall process of apheresis as well as the more "behind the scenes" aspects of running an apheresis service. It is always a joy to work with her during the apheresis rotation.”

Kristin  Olson has received many teaching awards.  In 2018 and 2020, she was voted the Outstanding Basic Science Instructor by the graduating medical students, twice received the annual Faculty Teaching Award from our residents, as well as the Department of Internal Medicine’s Division of Gastroenterology’s annual Ruebner-Rosenquist Award for outstanding teaching, and the 2015 Kaiser Award for Outstanding Clinical Teaching. Olson also plays a leadership role in medical student education and serves as the Instructor of Record for our highly rated general and systemic pathology courses for medical students, in addition to a popular elective in GI pathology. She is very active in resident education and provides clinical teaching while on clinical service, in addition to didactic lectures in the residents lecture series.

Here’s what residents say about Olson’s teaching:

“Olson is a delight to work with as a resident. She is a thoughtful teacher and challenges the residents to know full details about their cases and patients. She explains the finer points of GI pathology effortlessly and has an open door policy for  questions. She even entrusts the GI service to advanced residents so they can attempt management and triage of cases on their own.”

“I can’t say enough about Olson. She is a great teacher, pathologist and role model.”

“Olson always takes the time to answer my questions, gives ample feedback on ways to improve, and is always available to help. She takes the time to go over slides on sign-out and teaches in an organized fashion that makes learning much easier.”

Kurt Schaberg is an excellent teacher and role model. As early as his first year on the faculty, he quickly distinguished himself as one of the department’s best teachers, and received the 2020 Faculty Teaching Award in Anatomic Pathology from the housestaff, as well as the department’s 2020 Professionalism Awards. Here’s what our housestaff say about working with Schaberg: “Schaberg is fantastic to work with. He is a great teacher, available and willing to help, and very knowledgeable.” “Thank you for your as always, excellent slide session with a good mix of cases presented with good pace to enable getting through the material efficiently. Much appreciated.” “Schaberg is an exceptional attending in his attention to resident education… His pragmatic approach to resident learning is much appreciated.” “As always, Schaberg's session was engaging, informative, and memorable. Excellent work.”

The recipient of the 2016 Residents’ Teaching Award for VA Faculty, Joshua Shulman is an outstanding teacher who makes the VA educational experience an important complement to the UC Davis Medical Center experience. Here is what residents say about Shulman:

"Thank you Shulman for the wonderful teaching and amazing and kind personality. I learned a lot!!!"

"I can't believe how patient Schulman is with me as I struggle to understand even the basics of derm path. It is very much appreciated."

"Great to have Shulman at the VA."