Harvard Medical School Honors CHA Physician with Excelling in Teaching Award
Pictured left to right - Pieter Cohen, MD, Gaurab Basu, MD, MPH, Sudha Natarajan, Rick Pels, MD, and Ameen Barghi HMS Class of 2020
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Gaurab Basu, MD, MPH, Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) primary care physician, instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS), and co-course director of the CHA Internal Medicine Social Medicine & Research Based Health Advocacy course, was named a recipient of the 2018 Charles McCabe Faculty Prize for Excellence in Teaching Award from HMS. Dr. Basu was selected for his outstanding teaching in the Cambridge Integrated Clerkship (CIC) at CHA.
The CIC was launched in 2004 and is a pilot effort that replaces the third year traditional clerkship curriculum with a "continuity of care" curriculum. Each year, twelve enrolled HMS students are organized into teams and each team has a cohort of patients. Patients are selected by faculty and represent a spectrum of patients across disciplines and specialties. Students follow the patients longitudinally through all phases of diagnosis and treatment, all services, through any hospitalizations, and including follow-up after discharge.
A student who nominated him for this award said, “Dr. Basu pushes us to take ownership of patients. Dr. Basu introduced me to two patients with complex medical issues. I felt overwhelmed and uncertain of my ability to care for these patients, yet Dr. Basu pushed me to act as their primary provider and lead the coordination of their care. He provided not only excellent teaching on evidence-based practice, but also constant feedback on the quality and organization of my clinical work. I felt challenged, but also well-supported”
Dr. Basu earned his Master of Public Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and his Medical Degree from The Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont. He arrived at CHA in 2010, where he completed his medical residency and sees patients at CHA Somerville Campus Primary Care. Dr. Basu has been an instructor of medicine at HMS since 2013 and has interests in health equity medical education, global health and human rights. He was previously chosen as a Harvard Macy Scholar and the Curtis Prout Academy Fellow at the Harvard Medical School Academy.
“I am grateful to have the opportunity to teach medicine to students at CHA, introducing them to the dynamic, diverse and resilient patient population we serve,” commented Dr. Basu. “I hope I can help them learn not only excellent clinical medicine, but also help in identifying the numerous social and systemic barriers our patients face in their lives.”