Graduation 2014: CUMC Faculty Receive 2014 Presidential Teaching Awards

Two CUMC faculty members—Deborah Cabaniss in P&S and Roger D. Vaughan in the Mailman School of Public Health—received Presidential Awards for Outstanding Teaching from Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger at the University’s commencement ceremony May 21. They were among five Columbia educators recognized this year.

Presidential Awards for Excellence in Teaching are awarded to current Columbia faculty who have had a significant influence on the intellectual development of students at the University. The awards, given since 1996, recognize teaching excellence at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Deborah L. Cabaniss, MD, is clinical professor of psychiatry and a 1988 graduate of P&S. She is director of the Virginia Apgar Academy of Medical Educators at P&S and director of psychotherapy training in the Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Cabaniss coordinates the teaching and supervision of psychotherapy for psychiatry residents, teaches two year-long courses in psychotherapy for residents, lectures medical students in their preclinical year, and offers many electives for residents and medical students. She has won numerous teaching awards, including the Nancy Roeske Award for teaching medical students, the Irma Bland Award for teaching psychiatry residents, and the Edith Sabshin Award for teaching psychodynamic concepts to medical students and residents. Her books, “Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: A Clinical Manual” and “Psychodynamic Formulation,” are used in psychiatry residency training programs across the country and in Canada and are being translated into Mandarin, Korean, and Farsi.

Roger D. Vaughan, DrPH, is professor of biostatistics and vice dean for academic advancement at Mailman. As former interim chair of the Department of Biostatistics, he launched two new master’s degree tracks, created cutting-edge statistics courses, and transformed its doctoral program curriculum. In 2011, Dr. Vaughan received the Teaching Excellence Award, which the Mailman student body awards to faculty “whose stimulating classroom presentation inspires and challenges students, and whose contributions through teaching and advising will be long remembered.” In 2006, he was inducted into the medical center’s Glenda Garvey Teaching Academy, and in 2013 he received the Outstanding Teaching Award from the American Statistical Association. Read the Mailman School announcement.