Graduating medical students select Lynch for Hippocratic Award

James W. Lynch Jr., M.D., has been chosen by spring graduates at the University of Florida College of Medicine to receive the Hippocratic Award for teaching excellence, the highest honor bestowed by fourth-year medical students.

The class of 2003 selected Lynch as the faculty member they would most like to emulate and who best represents the ideals of Hippocrates, the father of medicine, in compassionate patient care and inspirational teaching.

Lynch, a professor in the department of medicine’s division of hematology and oncology, directs an oncology course for second-year medical students and heads the division’s fellowship training program. “Dr. Lynch’s untiring devotion to patients, their families and the students he teaches is the reason he was chosen,” said Ankit Desai, academic chairman of the senior class. “He makes himself available to his students through personal teaching conferences held every week.”

Desai and Juan Raposo, communications chairman of the senior class, spoke at the award ceremony in early May. The Hippocratic Award has been given by graduating seniors each year since its inception in 1969.

Robert T. Watson, M.D., senior associate dean for educational affairs and a member of the award’s founding class, presented the award to Lynch, who was overcome with emotion.

“Timing is everything,” Lynch said. “Last night I asked my wife, ‘Does anything I do really matter?’”

He later said he was surprised to win and that the award boosted his spirits at the end of a difficult week.

“I try to lead by example,” he added. “I enjoy working together with students.”

Lynch also received the award in 1995 and is a three-time recipient of the College of Medicine’s Clinical Science Teacher of the Year award.

“Dr. Lynch is the perfect blend of science-based knowledge, compassion, concern, altruism, true caring and ethical behavior,” Watson said. “He teaches well because he is committed to students becoming better physicians, not because he wants to become their best friend. He has high personal standards and expects no less from colleagues and learners.”

Watson, also a past winner of the Hippocratic Award, added, “Dr. Lynch is the antithesis of narcissism, a person who enjoys others doing well, and who takes pride in helping others be better educators and physicians.”

W. Stratford May Jr., M.D., Ph.D., director of the University of Florida Shands Cancer Center and chief of the division of hematology and oncology, said, “This is a well-deserved award for an outstanding clinician and teacher.”

Lynch’s wife, Laura, attended the ceremony.

“It is the support of my wife, family and faith that gives me the strength to do what I do,” Lynch said.

Lynch received his medical degree from Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Va., in 1984. He completed a residency in internal medicine at UF in 1987. He joined the UF medical faculty in 1991 after completing a fellowship in oncology at the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Md.