The American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) and the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology (AUPO) are proud to present this year’s Straatsma Award for Excellence in Resident Education to Evan “Jake” Waxman, MD, PhD. The award recognizes and celebrates Dr. Waxman’s achievements as a residency program director in ophthalmology.
Dr. Evan “Jake” Waxman is the vice chair for education at the UPMC Eye Center at the University of Pittsburgh. He has served as the director of medical student activities in his department since he started at Pitt in 1999 and as residency program director since 2004. He is proud to be a graduate of the MD, PhD program at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and to have had Steven Podos as a mentor. He is equally proud to be a graduate of the residency program at UC Davis and to have had the opportunity to have trained under AUPO members Drs. John Keltner and Mark Mannis.
Dr. Waxman is the recipient of numerous medical student teaching awards including the William I. Cohen Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Kenneth Schuitt Award recognizing the Dean’s Master Educators and the AUPO’s own Excellence in Medical Student Education Award. He has received numerous resident teaching awards and is currently the chair of the AAO Resident Self-Assessment Committee. He served two terms on the AAO Committee for Resident Education and is a past president of the AUPO Program Director’s Council. He serves as the AUPO’s liaison to the Organization of Program Directors Associations. Dr. Waxman is the founder and director of Pitt Med’s Guerilla Eye Service (GES), an outreach effort that brings eye care to neighborhoods and people that would not otherwise have access. GES makes use of portable equipment and the energies of medical students, residents and faculty to provide complete eye exams at primary care clinics for indigent patients. Dr. Waxman has been recognized with the Pitt Chancellor’s Award for Service, the Jefferson Award, the Gold Humanism Society’s Leonard Tow Award and Carnegie Science Catalyst for Professional and Community Education Award for these efforts.