March 25, 2009

Nursing, Pharmacy Faculty Members to Receive Distinction in Teaching Awards

An influential figure in the field of cardiovascular care and a clinical pharmacist who specializes in infectious diseases are this year’s recipients of the UCSF Academic Senate Distinction in Teaching Awards. The two standout faculty members, Barbara Drew, RN, PhD, and Conan MacDougall, PharmD, will be honored on Wednesday, April 8 at a ceremony in Cole Hall on the Parnassus campus. Drew and MacDougall “are outstanding role models and represent the exceptional contributions of our UCSF faculty,” said William Shore, MD, a UCSF professor of clinical family and community medicine and the chairman of the Distinction in Teaching Awards Selection Committee, which is comprised of students and faculty from each UCSF school. “The breadth of teaching excellence from both recipients is a shining example of the best at UCSF.”

Barbara Drew

Drew is a professor of physiological nursing in the UCSF School of Nursing who holds a joint appointment as a clinical professor of medicine in the UCSF School of Medicine’s Division of Cardiology. She has focused her research on improving electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring techniques and clinical practices to enable more accurate diagnosis of cardiac arrhythmias, myocardial ischemia and other conditions. Drew has taught ECG interpretation to UCSF students and residents for 26 years and “has demonstrated continued creativity and excellence in education” in the School of Nursing and the School of Medicine, Shore said. Drew founded the ECG Monitoring Research Laboratory in the School of Nursing, and her studies have shaped the development of commercial heart monitors. In 2004, Drew chaired the American Heart Association’s expert writing group that published an innovative set of practice standards for ECG monitoring in hospital settings — a publication that earned her the association’s “Clinical Article of the Year” award in 2005. Drew earned a masters of science degree in cardiovascular nursing and a PhD in nursing from UCSF before joining the University faculty in 1990. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and the American Heart Association’s Council on Cardiovascular Nursing, and she was the first woman and first nurse to be elected president of the International Society of Computerized Electrocardiology.

Conan MacDougall

MacDougall is a much newer addition to the UCSF faculty — he arrived in 2005 — but he has already distinguished himself, particularly through his study of antimicrobial agents such as antibiotics, and the worrisome emergence of drug-resistant microbes. Beyond his role as assistant professor of clinical pharmacy in the UCSF School of Pharmacy, MacDougall provides clinical service to the Infectious Diseases Consult Service at UCSF Medical Center and participates in the University’s antimicrobial management program. “As a junior faculty member, Dr. MacDougall has achieved excellence in all areas of teaching in a very short time,” Shore said. In addition to antimicrobial use and resistance, MacDougall also specializes in pharmacoepidemiology, the study of the use of drugs in society, including how drug-safety issues are identified and addressed. He received his doctor of pharmacy degree at UCSF in 2002 and returned two years later to complete his infectious diseases specialty residency. The Distinction in Teaching Awards were established in 1951 and are given in two categories. The first is open to faculty members who have been at UCSF for five years or fewer, while the second honors those who have been with the University for more than five years. The campus community is invited to this year’s awards ceremony, which will take place at noon on April 8 in Cole Hall.

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