The Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics has announced its inaugural Beecher Teaching Awards, which recognize the exceptional teaching of medical ethics at Harvard Medical School. One award recognizes faculty teaching medical students in the Medical Ethics and Professionalism curriculum within Harvard Medical School. The second award recognizes faculty teaching in the Master of Science in Bioethics program at the Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics. Both awards went to faculty who stood out for their excellence in teaching, as measured by students’ end-of-term course evaluations.
The awardee in Medical Ethics and Professionalism is K.B. Krishnamurthy, M.D., M.B.E., (member of the inaugural HMS M.B.E. class). Students thanked Krishnamurthy for her expert facilitation of discussions, despite the difficulties of online teaching. They praised her recognition and thorough exploration of the nuances inherent to the ethical complexities of practicing medicine.
The award for teaching in the Master of Science in Bioethics went to Martha Montello, Ph.D., and HMS Center for Bioethics fellowship alum Lisa Moses, V.M.D.
In a first for teaching evaluations at the center, Montello’s students asked for her course to be both extended and made mandatory in the M.B.E. curriculum. They thanked her for giving them a more complete, and more complex, understanding of bioethics.
Moses’ students praised her teaching as compelling and masterful, particularly in fostering a safe and inclusive learning environment. They also appreciated her empathy and care for them, as both students and people.
Featured series 
