St. Francis Physician Named Teaching Award Recipient

Donald Christmas, MD, Associate Program Director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program at St. Francis Medical Center, was recently named a recipient of the Dean’s Special Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching by Drexel University College of Medicine. Dr. Christmas will receive the award at the College of Medicine’s commencement ceremony held in May.

The Drexel award honors excellence in clinical teaching and outstanding commitment and contribution to Drexel’s medical students. The students and administration of the college select the awardee by both a ballot and input from the Dean's office, which includes an administrative review of evaluations of rotations.

Dr. Christmas enjoys working with internal medicine residents and medical students; helping to prepare them for the next phase of their lives. He stresses the importance of practicing excellence when it comes to patient care. “I often refer residents and students to a quote by Thomas Sydenham, ‘The art of medicine is to be properly learned only from its practice and its exercise.’”

Dr. Christmas is a graduate of the Ross University School of Medicine and Seton Hall now Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall–St. Francis Internal Medicine Residency Program.

The Dean's Special Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching began in 1993. It was developed to recognize the teaching excellence medical students received at the clinical teaching sites of Hahnemann University School of Medicine, a predecessor school of Drexel College of Medicine. Hahnemann later merged with the Medical College of Pennsylvania, and in 2002, the school became Drexel University College of Medicine. One awardee is selected from each of the affiliate sites each year.

Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall–St. Francis Internal Medicine Residency Program has a total of 28 residents. It is accredited by the Accrediting Council for Graduate Medical Education. There are 13 rotations per year, including Emergency Medicine, Orthopedics, Ophthalmology, Psychiatry, Ambulatory, Dermatology, Gynecology and ENT. Graduates of the program have proceeded on to various careers including hospitalists, researchers, academic teaching, and sub-specialty fellowships at renown universities and medical centers throughout the US.