Burns receives Piper Professor Award, recognizing outstanding teaching

By Valerie Garcia

Dr. Dennis Burns
Dr. Dennis Burns, Professor of Pathology

Dr. Dennis Burns, Professor of Pathology, has received the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation’s Piper Professor Award, a prestigious honor awarded annually to 10 outstanding educators from Texas universities.

Dr. Burns said he still vividly remembers when he was bitten by the “teaching bug” more than three decades ago. In 1983, during his first year of fellowship training at UT Southwestern Medical Center, he was asked to fill a sudden vacancy and serve as interim course director for a sophomore pathology course. He flourished, and was selected by his students for an Outstanding Faculty award at the end of the academic year.

This experience launched his academic medical career. He has received more than 40 teaching honors over his career, including 27 Outstanding Faculty awards.

“At a very basic level, I can simply say that I teach because I love it,” Dr. Burns said. “The opportunity to share knowledge and, more importantly, to inspire others to actively engage in the learning process, has been a source of enormous gratification to me throughout my career. As a medical professional in a teaching environment, I have been entrusted with a very special privilege – to do my utmost to ensure that those I teach become the most effective caregivers and future educators that they can be.”

To provide UT Southwestern medical students with the best possible preparation for the changing landscape in health care delivery, Dr. Daniel K. Podolsky set curriculum reform as one of his strategic priorities in 2009, when he announced his vision and agenda during his first year as President of UT Southwestern. A few years later, when the Medical School was ready to take on the first major curriculum reorganization in its history, Dr. Burns was named co-chair of the Medical School Planning Committee for Curriculum Reform, and he was a major leader of the multiyear effort that resulted in the new Foundation for Excellence Curriculum that was launched in 2015 when the Class of 2019 arrived on campus.

“Dr. Burns is widely regarded as an exceptional educator, and we are greatly indebted for his role in the reshaping of our Medical School curriculum,” Dr. Podolsky said. “The new curriculum utilizes innovative teaching strategies in an integrated approach to the basic science and clinical components of medical education that should excite and inspire the next generation of physicians.”

The Piper Foundation was created in 1950 by Randall Gordon Piper and Minnie Stevens Piper. In 1951, it launched a loan program that allowed economically disadvantaged students in Texas to attend college. After the Pipers’ deaths in 1955, their foundation initiated the Piper Scholars Program for undergraduates, the Pipers Fellows Program for graduate students, and the Piper Professors Program to recognize inspiring educators. For Professors, each university is allowed one nomination per year for the award.

Dr. J. Gregory Fitz, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Provost, and Dean of the Medical School, also praised Dr. Burns for his leadership role in developing and implementing the new curriculum. “The new curriculum will enable us to prepare our students to keep pace with rapid changes in medicine and clinical practice and develop the knowledge, compassion, and leadership to serve as examples of excellence both to peers and patients alike.”

Many of Dr. Burns’ colleagues and students wrote letters of support for his nomination. Reoccurring themes in the letters include mentions of Dr. Burns’ passion, commitment, and devotion to his students. Dr. Angela Mihalic, Associate Dean for Student Affairs, described Dr. Burns as the most beloved and celebrated teacher on campus. Dr. Mihalic also noted that she herself was a pathology and neuroscience student of Dr. Burns during her time as a medical student in the early 1990s.

“I was deeply honored, thrilled and humbled to receive this award,” Dr. Burns said. “Teaching has been a big part of my life for a long time. It’s amazing to know that there are people who think well enough of me to nominate me for something as wonderful as this award. I never thought that anything like this would happen.”

A native of Ohio, Dr. Burns was born in Cleveland and grew up in Lima. He earned a bachelor’s degree with honors in chemistry from Baylor University and received his medical degree from UT Southwestern Medical School. He has written or been a co-author of more than 125 articles in peer-reviewed journals, 11 textbook chapters, and a pathology textbook.

Previous Piper Professors still on the faculty at UT Southwestern, and the year they were selected, are:

Dr. James Richardson, Professor of Pathology, Molecular Biology, and Plastic Surgery (2008); Dr. Phillip “Eugene” Jones, Chairman of Physician Assistant Studies (2009); Dr. Ellen Vitetta, Professor of Immunology and Microbiology (2011); Dr. Jerry Shay (2013), Professor of Cell Biology (2013); and Dr. Joel Goodman, Professor of Pharmacology (2014).

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Dr. Burns holds the Jane B. and Edwin P. Jenevein Chair of Pathology.

Dr. Goodman holds the Jan and Bob Bullock Distinguished Chair for Science Education.

Dr. Podolsky holds the Philip O’Bryan Montgomery, Jr., M.D. Distinguished Presidential Chair in Academic Administration, and the Doris and Bryan Wildenthal Distinguished Chair in Medical Science.

Dr. Shay holds The Southland Financial Corporation Distinguished Chair in Geriatrics.

Dr. Vitetta holds the Scheryle Simmons Patigian Distinguished Chair in Cancer Immunobiology.