Winter named UF College of Medicine’s Basic Science Teacher of the Year

Dr. William E. Winter has been selected by University of Florida College of Medicine students as the Basic Science Teacher of the Year for 2000-2001.

Winter is a professor in the departments of pathology, immunology and laboratory medicine, pediatrics, and molecular genetics and microbiology. He directs the second-year immunology course and lectures extensively on laboratory medicine to first- and second-year medical students. Winter also participates in several immunology courses for graduate students in the Interdisciplinary Program in Biomedical Sciences.

“The best part of teaching is when a you bump into a student in the hall and they remember that you taught them something that they found useful in their clinical clerkships or residency,” said Winter, who also directs the pathology residency program. “So whether I have been successful or not is not measured by what scores students receive on tests. My measure of success is the students’ ability to use the information that they learned in their second-year pathology studies in taking care of patients in the real world.”

He said one major goal of his training program is that students must learn to become their own best instructor. “Do they learn how to learn?” Winter said. “Do they know how to begin to approach the problem? Do they know what resources are available? Information will become outdated and evolve over time, but the ability to learn new things is timeless.”

Winter said he hopes students find the information that he provides useful as they solve problems throughout their training and career.

Winter recently was recognized by the Class of 2003 as the Most Enthusiastic Pathology Teacher of the Year for the 2000-2001 term. He received the 1999-2000 UF Pathology Teacher of the Year Award, which was given by the Class of 2002, and the campuswide UF Teaching Improvement Award in 1998. He also is a founding member of the UF College of Medicine Society of Teaching Scholars.