This year’s Culmination Ceremony marks a significant milestone in a partnership committed to advancing medical education and the training of the next generation of physicians.
A partnership was established in 2009 to provide medical students an education with a global perspective and exposure to different health care systems to be better providers and leaders in medicine.
Professor Ron Amedee, Head of the UQ-Ochsner Clinical School explains that this year’s graduates will join a growing network of alumni, who after this ceremony will number over 1,000 who are now changing and saving lives every day across the globe.
“Our medical program continues to provide a world-class educational culture where our students flourish,” Professor Amedee said.
“They become top medical professionals who meet challenges with confidence, think innovatively, focus on wellness, and above all, put their patients first.
Professor Deborah Terry, UQ’s President and Vice-Chancellor said she was immensely proud to say that we have reached a major milestone in our partnership with Ochsner, as we celebrate the graduation of the 1,000th student from our joint MD program.
Professor Deborah Terry AC, delivering her welcome speech at the Culmination Ceremony.
During the Culmination Ceremony, several UQ-Ochsner physicians, residents, and graduating students were recognized with awards.
The 2024 Teacher of the Year award – the highest individual award of excellence – was bestowed upon:
-
Vu Vuong, MD – OBGYN
The following teachers were shortlisted:
- Yaw Asamoa-Bonsu, MD – Pediatric ICU
- Tarek Balamane, MD – Family Medicine
- Cara Coleman, MD – Pediatric ICU
- Marlon Joseph, MD – Med Peds
- Charles Leithead, MD – Vascular Surgery
- Stephen Moran, MD – PM&R
- Heather Owens, MD – Neonatology
- Juan Carlos Velez, MD – Nephrology
The Resident Teachers of the Year for 2024 are:
- Joshua King, MD – Medicine
- Charles Sisk, MD - OBGYN
- Steven Fielkow, MD - Pediatrics
- Oriane Ezedine, MD – Psychiatry
- Christopher Zumwalt, MD – Surgery
The following graduating medical students were recognized for excelling clinically and academically:
- Nathan Au-Yeung - Internal Medicine-American College of Physicians Excellence Award
- Carlos Santaolaya - E. Edward Martin, Jr., Family Medicine Award
- Colton Paterson - John Lockwood Ochsner, Sr. Surgical Award
- Levi Griffin - Student Excellence Award for OB/GYN
- Jaskaran Singh Dhillon - Student Excellence Award for Psychiatry
Recipients of the 2024 Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Award included:
- Newshaw Arvin - Utilizing Mindfulness in the Virtual Reality Format for Relief of Fibromyalgia-Related Pain in Pain Clinic Patients
- Jacob Bassin - Changes in the Cross-Sectional Area of the Multifidus Muscle Following Multiple Unilateral Radiofrequency Ablations of Lumbar Medial Branches: A Retrospective Review
- Kian Fahimdanesh - Mobile Health Interventions in Post-Stroke Care: Assessing Outcomes and Cost-Effectiveness in Rural Communities
- Navid Hasani - Advancing Management of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Multicenter Comparative Analysis of Yttrium-90 (Y-90) Radioembolization versus Drug-Eluting Beads Transarterial Chemoembolization (DEB-TACE) on Patient Outcomes
- Min Kang - Surgical Treatment of Refractory Gastroparesis is Successful in Selected Patients
- Ryan Luessen - Identification of predictive and prognostic factors contributing to colorectal cancer progression and treatment response in African American and non-Hispanic White patients
- Ava Zamani - Single System Outcomes Using Yttrium-90 Radioembolization with Personalized Dosimetry in the Treatment of Early-Stage Hepatocellular Carcinoma
