Patients Honored for Impact on Medical Students Through Legacy Teachers™ Program

SOM Legacy Teachers Award Recipients
Medical student Tyler Swearingin with SOM Legacy Teachers Award Recipient Ellis Ingram, MD, associate professor emeritus

The University of Missouri School of Medicine hosted a special luncheon Monday, March 20 designed to honor patients who inspired and provided important lessons to third-year medical students.

The 18th annual Legacy Teachers™ event provided medical students the opportunity to submit essays, artwork or poetry describing a patient they recognized as one of their greatest teachers. Ten medical students from the Columbia campus participated in the event.

The program culminated in a luncheon where Legacy Teachers and their families were honored by the third-year students who nominated them. Richard J. Barohn, MD, the Executive Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs and Hugh E. and Sarah D. Stephenson Dean at the MU School of Medicine welcomed the special guests and their family members. 

“This program is one of our best examples of how academic medical centers play a unique role in improving health,” Barohn said. “Only comprehensive academic medical centers, like MU, simultaneously provide care, education and research in ways that improve the lives of patients today and for generations to come.”

The Legacy Teachers received a certificate from the medical school recognizing their contributions to student education. Students involved also received a certificate as well as a Legacy Teacher pin, which was created in 2020 in recognition of the 15th anniversary of the program’s creation.

“These Legacy Teachers have made a profound impact on our students both personally and professionally,” said Betsy Garrett, MD, professor emerita in the Department of Family and Community Medicine and director of the Legacy Teachers program. “Our goal was to honor and recognize the immense contribution of our Legacy Teachers and their families.”

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Legacy Teachers