Jean A. Petershack, MD, clinical professor and director of Medical Student Education in the Department of Pediatrics, was named a 2021 Piper Professor by the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation.
Dr. Petershack received a $5,000 award, certificate and gold pin, to be presented at the foundation’s request by William L. Henrich, MD, MACP, president of UT Health San Antonio.
The Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation is a local foundation that awards excellence in teaching and provides scholarships and student loans. The Piper Professor Award was established in 1958 to recognize superior teaching at the college level and is made annually to only 10 educators across Texas, honoring their outstanding achievements in teaching.
“I am humbled to even be considered for such a wonderful award,” Dr. Petershack said. “I hope that it brings honor to the university, to those who have taught me over the years, those who have mentored me, and to my incredible learners and wonderful family.”
Dr. Petershack has won numerous other honors in her 22 years of teaching at UT Health San Antonio. In 2008, she received a UT Health San Antonio Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching, and in 2015 she received the esteemed Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award, the highest teaching honor in The University of Texas System. In addition, she frequently ranks as a top doctor in local, statewide and national physician ranking lists.
“I am passionate about all aspects of both learning and teaching, and desire to provide the best possible example of compassionate, competent care to my patients and my learners,” Dr. Petershack said about her teaching philosophy. “My role in education is to guide the person in front of me, the whole person, in all areas of professional growth. Evidence-based teaching is just as important as practicing evidence-based medicine, and I take a scholarly, deliberate approach to all of my educational and clinical activities. Excellence in both requires continuous quality improvement for optimal outcomes.”