The McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics is pleased to announce the winners of the 2022 Karff Chair Awards. These awards are given to graduating seniors at McGovern Medical School and the School of Dentistry at UTHealth Houston. Prizes for the awards are made possible through the Samuel Karff Chair, which is held by Reverend Dr. Nathan Carlin, Director of the McGovern Center.
The prize amount for each award is $250, with three awards given this year.
Best Humanities Project
Given to a graduating senior who has fulfilled the requirements of the Medical Humanities Scholarly Concentration and completed an exceptional humanities-based project, broadly conceived. Papers can be in areas such as clinical ethics, history, literature, law, the social sciences, and more, or these projects can be practical in nature, such as the creation of learning materials or curricula.
This year’s Best Humanities Project is: Avi Bukhbinder for “Disability as a Dimension of Diversity: The Dearth of Disability Representation in Undergraduate Medical Education”
Best Final Project
This award goes to a graduating senior who has fulfilled the requirements of the Clinical Humanities Certificate Program at the School of Dentistry, and has completed an exceptional humanities-based research paper or project, broadly conceived, or has created an exceptional form of art relating to life in dentistry, also broadly conceived. Papers tend to be in dental ethics, history, literature, the social sciences, and more, or may be practical, such as the creation of learning materials or curricula. Poetry, painting, drawing, dance, musical composition, memoir, fiction, and creative nonfiction are also possible project topics.
This year’s Best Final Project goes to: Kiran Makhnejia for “Behind the Smile: A Perspective on Empathy”
Humanities Leadership Award
This award goes to a graduating senior who has completed the requirement of either the Medical Humanities Scholarly Concentration or the Clinical Humanities Certificate Program, and has been exceptionally active in the life of the McGovern Center through events, dinners, classes, and programs, including participating in the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship, creating or reading student-run elective courses, working with local nonprofit organizations, etc. To win this award, students must display leadership, initiative, and creativity, as well as a commitment to ethics and justice.
The 2022 Humanities Leadership Award recipient is Jeffrey Woods of the Medical Humanities Scholarly Concentration.