Two Yale School of Public Health faculty and a student are being honored by the graduating class of 2016 for their exceptional skills in the classroom and in helping to train and prepare future public health leaders.
Assistant Professor Nicola Hawley is the 2016 Teacher of the Year and Assistant Professor Shiyi Wang is the Distinguished Student Mentor. Both are in the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology. Yasmmyn Salinas, a Ph.D. candidate, received the Teaching Fellow Award.
Hawley was named Teacher of the Year for the passion that she brings to the Global Non-communicable Disease course that she teaches, her accessibility and thoughtful feedback and for encouraging students to hone their critical thinking skills.
“I am so honored to receive this award from the students,” said Hawley, Ph.D. “I was lucky to have incredibly talented students from across a number of different schools in my class. It was their diverse insights and experience (and incredible enthusiasm) that really shaped the success of the course.”
Hawley’s research focuses on how maternal and child health are impacted by rising levels of obesity and diabetes, determining how the delivery of health care impacts the identification and treatment of these diseases during the perinatal period and developing interventions to prevent the intergenerational transmission of chronic diseases. Much of her research is done in Samoa.
The Distinguished Student Mentoring Award recognizes faculty who help shape the next generation of public health professionals and who serve as role models. Wang, M.D., Ph.D., was selected for his supportive and insightful approach and superb academic and thesis mentoring.
I am so honored to receive this award from the students.
Nicola Hawley
“I am so pleased to know that my time and effort are valued by my students,” Wang said. “I have high standards for my students—they should graduate with better knowledge on the thesis topic than I have. And they do achieve this! I encourage those I work with to be proud of their accomplishments, which cultivates success for future careers.”
Wang’s primary interests focus on outcomes research and decision science. Currently, he is working on the evaluation of preoperative breast magnetic resonance imaging for women with newly diagnosed early breast cancer to examine issues that are critical to decision making.
Salinas was honored with the Teaching Fellow Award, an honor that was created last year to recognize a Ph.D. student who plays an instrumental role in shaping the next generation of public health professionals. Salinas was a teaching fellow in three classes at the school and was praised for her passion and mastery of the material, her dedication to the teaching mission and her unwavering commitment to students. "Working as a teaching fellow at YSPH has been incredibly rewarding for me. YSPH students are so bright and motivated – they always keep me on my toes! Interacting with them has not only forced me to think about the course material in new ways but has also reinforced my passion for teaching," she said.
Students used an online ballot to select the award recipients. They will be honored at the YSPH graduation ceremony at Battell Chapel on Monday and their names will be inscribed on plaques that hang outside Winslow Auditorium.