Minami med teacher of year

DR. TARO MINAMI has been recognized as Teacher of the Year by the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School, where he is an assistant professor of medicine. Minami is director of simulation and ultrasound training and fellowship site director for pulmonary and critical care medicine at Memorial Hospital.

What is one of your greatest challenges as a teacher?

It is challenging to teach someone who is not enjoying what he/she is doing. My role here is to let them realize that they in fact like what they do, or suggest for them to find something else.

What is the best piece of advice or lesson you try to instill in your students?

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Patients are your teachers. Bedside is your school and you learn so much from your patients, as long as you are willing to. Spend as much time at the bedside with your patients [as possible], simply because you learn the most.

After being born in and attending medical school in Japan, what made you decide to pursue medicine in the U.S.?

I wanted to learn the U.S. medical-training system, especially after I read a book about the U.S. medical-education system written by a Japanese physician who graduated from the Warren Alpert Medical School when I was a medical student in Japan. I thought the best way to learn the system is to put yourself in it. So here I am. I am so humbled and honored to receive the award from the exact place I have longed for. I just wanted to be in the system and wanted to enjoy myself, but never expected this to occur to me. •

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