EDUCATION: Meet Our Clinical Teacher-Scholar

Robert N. Averbuch, MD; Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Associate Director of Residency Training,
Director, Director, Adult Outpatient Psychiatry Services

Q: Please tell us about your career path and how you became interested in psychiatry.

A: I majored in psychology during my undergraduate experience at Emory University and did an honors thesis on implicit vs. explicit memory, all of which I found fascinating.  During my first year of medical school, I  particularly enjoyed the small group segment of the Human Behavior course.  Drs. Carlos Muniz and Ralph Maurer were my small group leaders and they were a phenomenal pair to learn from- very different interview styles, but both so thoughtful in their clinical reasoning and instruction.  I really didn’t give psychiatry too much additional thought until my 3rd year clinical clerkship.  While rotating on psychiatry I recall having a “Eureka!” moment one night on call.  It was 4:00 a.m. and I was in the emergency room interviewing a patient with depression;  In spite of being awoken in the middle of the night, I really enjoyed the experience and it didn’t feel at all like work.  In addition, I thoroughly enjoyed my adolescent psychiatry rotation and that sealed the deal.

Q:  What are your clinical and/or research interests?

A: My clinical interest is in outpatient psychiatry.  I particularly enjoy working with the student population (student mental health) and young adults.  I completed a fellowship in forensic psychiatry at UF and continue to do some independent medical evaluations (IMEs) with the fellows in our program.
My research has focused in the area of medical student education, where I have investigated the value of video as a teaching tool.  I participated in the 5th cohort of the Master Educator’s Fellowship (formerly MIME) and the project that evolved from that experience was a study of video’s effects on attention and retention.  More specifically, by including short video case illustrations and vignettes from television, movies, and other media in lectures, we were able to demonstrate improved retention of the material that was tested.  Additionally, students uniformly had a positive response to the videos in terms of their ability to attend to lecture, enjoy the material, and grasp difficult concepts.

Q: You are known as a gifted teaching-scholar. Please share some of your educational achievements. 

A: My greatest joy has been directing the Human Behavior course in the first year medical student curriculum.  This spring was my 5th year as course director and it continues to be a labor of love for me.  The course has been the highest rated basic science course for the past few years and provides a wonderful opportunity to introduce psychiatry to medical students early on. This spring, the graduating class presented me with the 2009 Golden Apple Basic Science Teacher of the Year, which was perhaps the most meaningful award I have ever won. 
I have also been honored by being a 3-time recipient of the Exemplary Teaching Award from the UF College of Medicine and was recently informed that I had been selected as 2009 College of Medicine Basic Science Teacher of the Year (to be officially presented in April, 2010).  I have the good fortune of also directing the 3rd year Psychiatry Clerkship and owe both of those positions to the mentorship of my chair, Dr. Mark S. Gold, who provided the opportunities that greatly furthered my career in education. 
This past year I was also inducted into the Society of Teaching Scholars, which was a tremendous honor.  However, I can honestly say the most rewarding educational experience for me has been the opportunity to watch students develop through the 4 years of medical training and foster and inspire their interest and enthusiasm for psychiatry.

Q:  What is it about education and teaching that inspires you?

A: The opportunity to work with such a gifted group of students and residents here at UF is inspiring in and of itself.  Being able to convey my enthusiasm for the field and seeing that translate to the learners is very rewarding.  Also, I very much enjoy developing new teaching materials and formats.  The creativity that teaching demands keeps the job very interesting and challenging.

Q: What new educational developments do you see in the future?

A: I think we will continue to move towards more interactive lecture formats with greater use of video and simulations to illustrate concepts.  As it becomes easier to incorporate video clips into lecture presentations, I hope that more of us will take advantage of this powerful medium. 

Q:  If you could select only one message to get across to those you instruct, what would that be?

A:  For medical students I would say,”Make sure that you are doing this for the right reasons and be sure you pick a field that you truly enjoy, one that ignites your creativity and one that you can see yourself doing for years to come.”