{"id":210024,"date":"2024-02-27T09:05:40","date_gmt":"2024-02-27T14:05:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=210024"},"modified":"2024-03-20T12:30:57","modified_gmt":"2024-03-20T16:30:57","slug":"students-nurse-anesthetists-share-neuroscience-honors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2024\/02\/students-nurse-anesthetists-share-neuroscience-honors\/","title":{"rendered":"Students, Nurse Anesthetists Share Neuroscience Honors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three students and two nurse anesthetists are this year\u2019s winners of the Dr. Richard Simon Excellence in Clinical Neurosciences Award<\/a>, presented annually at UConn Health since 2020.<\/p>\n

The awardees are fourth-year medical student Jasmin Williams, third-year medical student Lily Zhong, fourth-year medical student and MD\/Ph.D. candidate Nathan Leclair, and nurse anesthetists Matthew Scoggins and Susan Shafer.<\/p>\n

Named for the UConn John Dempsey Hospital\u2019s chief of medical staff, the award honors clinicians, staff, or students \u201cwho exemplify excellence in any area of the neurosciences at UConn Health.\u201d Simon<\/a> is a professor of surgery in the Division of Neurosurgery and has been a member of the UConn School of Medicine faculty for four decades.<\/p>\n

\"Jasmin
Jasmin Williams is a member of the UConn School of Medicine Class of 2024. (Semaj Campbell Photography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From Williams\u2019 nomination:<\/p>\n

\u201cFaculty members and neurology residents alike have gone out of their way to report how impressed they were with Jasmin\u2019s performance during the neurology rotation and the advanced neurology elective\u2026. I believe that Jasmin will be an outstanding neurologist as well as a thoughtful, mature and compassionate physician \u2013 one that I would be happy to have care for a loved one.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI am truly honored to receive the Richard Simon Excellence in Clinical Neuroscience Award as a fourth-year medical student, especially just before embarking on my journey to neurology residency,\u201d Williams says. \u201cThis award serves as a source of inspiration and as a reminder of the responsibility that I carry as a future neurologist to provide compassionate and high-quality care to patients.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Lilzy
Lily Zhong is a student at the UConn School of Medicine, Class of 2025. (Tina Encarnacion\/UConn Health photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From Zhong\u2019s nomination:<\/p>\n

\u201cMs. Zhong exudes a remarkable passion for the care of older adults with neurocognitive disorders, particularly dementias. She has demonstrated leadership in volunteerism, a clinical skill set beyond her current training level, and multiple valuable contributions via her research. She has done all of this while excelling in an intense medical school curriculum.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI am incredibly honored to be one of the recipients of an award that celebrates the tremendous contributions to neuroscience made by Dr. Richard Simon,\u201d Zhong says. \u201cI would like to thank my mentor, Dr. Jaclyn Olsen Jaeger, who has provided me with unwavering support in my clinical and research interests since my first year of medical school. I would also like to thank Dr. George Kuchel, director of UConn\u2019s Center on Aging and chief of geriatrics, for his continued mentorship, as well as a huge thank you to everyone at the UConn Center on Aging. I really appreciate this recognition and am grateful to be a part of this amazing UConn neuroscience community!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Family
Matthew Scoggins, pictured with his family, is a nurse anesthetist at UConn Health. (Photo provided by Matthew Scoggins)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From Scoggins\u2019 nomination:<\/p>\n

\u201cMatthew Scoggins stands out as an exemplary individual whose dedication, expertise, and passion for advancing the field of clinical anesthesia and neuroscience have significantly contributed to its progress and innovation\u2026. His dedication to clinical excellence, leadership, innovation, and education has made a lasting impact on the field of clinical neuroscience and has inspired countless individuals within our community.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cEvery CRNA in the anesthesia department works extremely hard to deliver exemplary care to our neurosurgery patients,\u201d Scoggins says. \u201cI am honored to have been selected from among these excellent providers and to share this award with my co-winners.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Nathan
Nathan Leclair is an MD\/Ph.D. candidate at UConn Health, Class of 2024. (Photo provided by Nathan Leclair)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From Leclair\u2019s nomination:<\/p>\n

\u201cClinically, he performs at the level of a resident with an excellent fund of knowledge. He has been tremendously productive in the research realm with many publications in high impact journals. On the educational front, he is sought out by other students as a leader for guidance and advice. Nate is truly a tribute to our medical school. His dedication to clinical neurosciences is something that I have rarely seen. I hope one day we can recruit him to the University of Connecticut faculty, no matter what neuroscience subspecialty he pursues.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cFirst, I want to extend my gratitude to the Departments of Neurosurgery and Neurology for the tremendous amount of opportunity and mentorship provided to me during my medical school career,\u201d Leclair says. \u201cReceiving the Richard Simon Excellence in Clinical Neuroscience Award is a reminder of my passion to advance the field of neuroscience through translational research and thoughtful patient care.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Susan
Susan Shafer is a nurse anesthetist at UConn Health. (Photo provided by Susan Shafer)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From Shafer\u2019s nomination:<\/p>\n

\u201cSusie, as she is commonly referred to, is truly an outstanding nurse anesthetist. She is dedicated to patient care at a level that is truly impressive. She was integral to launching our Awake Craniotomy Program at the University of Connecticut. Susie has always been an ultimate advocate for patient care. Her insights into complex neuroscience patients from the anesthesia perspective has contributed to optimizing patient care on countless occasions.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI am truly honored to be a recipient of the Richard Simon Excellence in Clinical Neuroscience Award,\u201d Shafer says. \u201cI will continue to work every day to make this committee and UConn Health proud.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Hilary Onyiuke<\/a>, professor of neurosurgery and founder and co-director of UConn Health\u2019s Comprehensive Spine Program, chairs the selection committee, which includes leadership from the Division of Neurosurgery, the Department of Neurology, and the neuroradiology section of the Department of Radiology.<\/p>\n

\"outdoor
From left: Dr. Hilary Oniyuke, Dr. Richard Simon, and Dr. Ketan Bulsara (photo provided by Ketan Bulsara)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cOn behalf of the Richard H. Simon Clinical Neuroscience Award Committee, we received numerous exceptional nomination requests from members of the UConn Health community and found it pleasantly difficult in arriving at the list of eventual winners, a true legacy and reflection of Dr. Simon’s exemplary career,\u201d Onyiuke says. \u201cWe jointly congratulate the selected winners on their dedication to hard work and excellence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am grateful to Dr. Onyiuke for his leadership of the multidisciplinary clinical neurosciences committee for the work in selecting this year\u2019s recipients,\u201d says Dr. Ketan Bulsara<\/a>, chief of the UConn Health Division of Neurosurgery. \u201cDr. Simon has dedicated his entire career to the University of Connecticut. The selection of these exemplary recipients truly celebrates Dr. Simon\u2019s career and growing legacy of excellence that transcends all specialties.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Richard Simon Excellence in Clinical Neurosciences Award in its 5th year<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":210122,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2429,2288,2289,1868,179],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2010],"class_list":["post-210024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-awards-scholarships","category-neurology","category-neurosurgery","category-meds","category-uconn-health"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-27 13:31:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210024"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":211395,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210024\/revisions\/211395"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/210122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210024"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=210024"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=210024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}