Excellence in Faculty Mentoring Awards

Dr. Simerjot Jassal

Recipient of the Excellence in Faculty Mentorship in Education Award

Quotes submitted with her nomination

"Dr. Jassal provides a constant source of positivity, hope, and optimism that helps me get through difficult times. However, what makes Dr. Jassal's support and mentorship so impactful is that she provides this same level of individualized guidance and commitment to so many other educators here at UCSD."

"While helping propel others to success, Dr. Jassal is a model of the very qualities her mentees aspire to emulate."

Dr. Reid Sasaki

Recipient of the Excellence in Faculty Mentorship in Clinical Medicine Award

Quotes submitted with his nomination

“One of Dr. Sasaki's most remarkable qualities is his approachability and unwavering support for his mentees. Always accessible, he promptly addresses concerns and offers guidance, ensuring that his mentees feel supported and valued."

“Dr. Sasaki's strong advocacy for work-life balance is evident in his tireless efforts to suppor the well-being of. his colleagues. Through his advocacy, he has secured additional staffing resources, significantly improving patient safety and the psychological well-being of our team.”

Dr. Sara Gianella Weibel

Recipient of the Excellence in Faculty Mentorship in Research Award

Quotes submitted with her nomination

“ [Dr. Gianella Weibel] has dedicated a tremendous amount of time, energy, passion, and resources to everyone whom she has mentored, helping her mentees reach their career goals, develop research skills and achieve research independence. Dr. Gianella Weibel uses a mentee-centered and inclusive mentoring approach in her work, tailoring her coaching and guidance to meet mentees where they are, establish trust, and ensure that individuals from underrepresented backgrounds can thrive in academia.” 

“Dr. Gianella is a rockstar scientist, educator, and mentor. She sponsors her mentees, pouring so much of herself into her mentees that we become capable of anything we can dream and we model our own mentorship on the outstanding example she has set.” 

Dr. Lawrence Ma

Recipient of the Dr. Larry Friedman Mentorship Award

Description of the award

This award recognizes gifted teachers who have consistently provided mentorship to junior faculty who aim to dedicate a substantial portion of their work to medical education and who assist in their career development within the medical education realm. 

Dr. Rechell Rodriguez

Recipient of the Excellence in Faculty Mentorship in Education Award

Dr. Rechell Rodriguez is an internist at the VA San Diego and Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCSD.  She received her M.D. from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS), School of Medicine, and completed her Internal Medicine residency at Wilford Hall Medical Center, San Antonio, TX.  She completed faculty development training at Stanford University. She has extensive medical education experience as a prior Clerkship Director for 11 years, core faculty member of three different Internal Medicine residency programs over 16 years, and Associate Dean for the School of Medicine, USUHS for three years before retiring as a Colonel in the U. S. Air Force in 2019. Dr. Rodriguez has received numerous teaching awards and honors and is a Master of the American College of Physicians. Currently, she is inaugural faculty for the Master Clinician Program for the UCSD Internal Medicine Clerkship, a member of the MED 401 Clerkship Committee, a VA representative on the UCSD Academic Excellence subcommittee for Faculty Development, and a member of the VA Women’s Health Committee. She is passionate about the education & development of physicians and has been involved in diversity efforts as well as the recruitment and retention of women physicians.

Quotes submitted with her nomination

“During the Standford Clinical teaching Course, Rechell helped me recognize my clinical precepting strengths that I had never recognized as noteworthy.  She validated my creative ideas about clinical teaching and curriculum development."

“To say the least, she really has changed my career as a mentor."

Dr. Kyle Edmonds

Recipient of the Excellence in Faculty Mentorship

Kyle P. Edmonds, MD FAAHPM is the Chief of the Section of Palliative Care within the Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology, and Palliative Care at UC San Diego Health Sciences where he is an Associate Professor with appointments in the Department of Medicine, Department of Family Medicine, and Skaggs School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences. He has been the Director of the UC San Diego Health Palliative Care Program since 2021. Kyle received his medical degree from the University of Arizona College of Medicine and trained in Family Medicine at St. Joseph’s Hospital & Medical Center in Phoenix, AZ.  Following residency, he trained in palliative medicine as a Dr. Seuss Foundation Fellow of Palliative Medicine at the Institute for Palliative Medicine at San Diego Hospice and Scripps Health before joining the clinical faculty UC San Diego. He practices inpatient consultative palliative medicine in addition to serving in multiple formal and informal leadership roles across the institution and within organized medicine at the San Diego County Medical Society (SDCMS), California Medical Association (CMA), American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM), and American Medical Association (AMA).

Quotes submitted with his nomination

“ Kyle is a gifted teacher with extensive content expertise.  He has taught me so much about palliative care that I never would have known and that has helped to maximize my impact on patients."

“ What makes Kyle a true standout is that way he takes notice of one’s strength and interests, and then commits himself to fostering opportunities for growth in those area.”

Dr. Atul Malhotra

Recipient of the Excellence in Faculty Mentorship in Research Award

Dr. Malhotra is Research Chief of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Sleep Medicine, and Physiology at UCSD. In addition to being very active clinically in the ICU and in the outpatient clinics, he runs a large NIH-funded laboratory focused on the applied physiology of respiratory disease.  He has >400 original plus >290 reviews/chapters since his first faculty appointment in 2000.  He has received teaching awards from the UCSD Pulmonary and Critical Care fellows as well as international teaching recognition as a distinguished Chest educator. He recently received the Mayo Clinic Distinguished Alumnus Award and the William C. Dement lifetime achievement award from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. He is PI on 6 NIH grants including a T32 training grant and mentors numerous K23/K08/F32 awardees. In 2015, he served as President of the American Thoracic Society.

Quotes submitted with his nomination

“ I first met Atul during my medical residency and then interacted with him during Pulmonary and Critical Care fellowship.  I was struck by his encyclopedic knowledge, enthusiasm for teaching, and interest in helping me find a research project that matched my own interest.” 

Atul is one of the world’s leaders in the fields of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine, and he served as an outstanding mentor to me and to so many others, with an unimpeachable record of dedication to his trainees.”