John Foringer, M.D., recipient of the 2012 Herbert L. and Margaret W. DuPont Master Clinical Teaching Award
Dr. John Foringer, associate professor of internal medicine, is the recipient of the 2012 Herbert L. and Margaret W. DuPont Master Clinical Teaching Award.
Established in 2001 and made possible by a gift from the DuPonts, the award recognizes and preserves the essence and quality of the master clinical teacher, reflecting the Medical School’s top priority of quality clinical medical education.
Foringer, also the program director of the Division of Renal Diseases and Hypertension, said he was surprised and honored to receive the award.
“Having done all my training at this university, including medical school, residency, chief resident, and fellowship, I watched the educators I have great admiration for—such as Drs. Frank Arnett, Phil Orlander, and Cheves Smythe—receive this award before me, and I am humbled to be included as a recipient,” he said. “It is especially nice to receive the award from the DuPonts as Dr. DuPont taught me throughout my career and today is the attending I use as the lead-off lecturer in The Fundamentals of Clinical Medicine each semester because of his ability to relate so well to the second-year students.”
Foringer teaches across all four years of the Medical School curriculum, the residency, and the renal fellowship.
“My core endeavor in education is to promote dedication to the art of learning that is career-long. Sometimes the best physicians know when they don’t know something and then have the desire and drive to find the answer,” he said. “If the learners that come before me take away a sense of humility and dedication to better themselves as physicians, I am succeeding as a clinical teacher.”
He added that he encourages students to be individuals when it comes to learning. “I stress to our students and trainees to always think for themselves—never accept the herd mentality.”
Foringer is a ’96 graduate of the Medical School and also completed his residency in internal medicine and fellowship in renal diseases and hypertension at the Medical School. Certified in internal medicine and nephrology, his areas of clinical interests include critical care nephrology, renal disease in cancer patients, and transplantation. He cares for patients at the UT Physicians Texas Medical Center location on Fannin. He is chief of medicine at LBJ General Hospital and vice chair of Internal Medicine for Harris County Hospital District Programs. He joined the Medical School faculty in 2002.
Previous recipients of the DuPont award are Pedro Mancias, M.D., 2011; Phil Johnson, M.D., 2010; Francisco Fuentes, M.D., 2009; Cheves Smythe, M.D., 2008; Eugene Toy, M.D., 2007; John Sparks, M.D., 2006; Victor Lavis, M.D., 2005; Philip Orlander, M.D., 2004; Ian Butler, M.D., 2003; Patrick Brosnan, M.D., 2002; and Frank Arnett, M.D., 2001.
— Darla Brown, Office of Communications, Medical School