In his annual State of the Medical School address, Dean Duane Compton, PhD, delivered an overview of the Geisel School of Medicine’s achievements over the past year. Dean Compton expressed his excitement at the collective accomplishments within the school’s mission areas.
“Every year I'm really amazed and surprised about how much we all collectively accomplish,” said Compton. “I am specifically using the word ‘we’ because you all have done a lot this year and have a lot to be proud about.”
Reflecting on his decade-long tenure as dean of the medical school, Compton highlighted the school's achievements and expressed gratitude to the community. He conveyed optimism for the incoming dean and the future of the Geisel School of Medicine.
“Serving in this role gave me a vantage point into everything that we were doing in the school," said Compton. “But you get to see what's going on both for individuals and for teams and for departments in our centers and institutes; you get to see the impact of that. And you know, this school achieves so much way above our scale and way above our size.
“And so, I'll just conclude by basically thanking each one of you for what you've done. Each one of you has done something to help this school and help this school improve. I'm here in gratitude, and I want to thank you for that.”
2025 Research Excellence Awards
The Geisel Research Excellence Awards celebrate the outstanding scientific contributions and advancements within our community. Nominations were submitted by the Geisel community and reviewed by the Research Excellence Award Committee. The honorees were selected for their outstanding scholarly contributions in one of two categories:
- Research Excellence Awards, which recognize outstanding contributions to Dartmouth biomedical research
- Citizen Awards, which celebrate exceptional contributions to Dartmouth’s research environment.
Susan Roberts, PhD, the senior associate dean for foundational science and chair of the Research Excellence Awards Committee, introduced this year’s honorees, noting that there were 52 nominees for the eight awards.
This year’s Research Excellence Awardees are:
Research Excellence Award for Junior Faculty in Foundational Science: Benjamin Ross, PhD
Research Excellence Award for Senior Faculty in Foundational Science: Joint award to Claudia Jakubzick, PhD, and James O’Malley, PhD
Research Excellence Award for Junior Faculty in Clinical Science: Matthew Leboeuf, MD, PhD
Research Excellence Award for Senior Faculty in Clinical Science: Eric Henderson, MD
Research Excellence Award for Geisel Staff: Aricca Van Citters, MS
Outstanding Citizenship Award for Faculty: Michael Whitfield, PhD
Outstanding Citizenship Award for Geisel Staff: Amy Orr
Special Recognition in Foundational Science Award: Katherine Hixon, PhD
2025 Leading Forward Awards
The Leading Forward Awards were introduced in 2024 to honor the outstanding contributions of our staff and faculty, recognizing their commitment to Geisel’s core values of Integrity, Inclusion, Innovation, Community, and Excellence.
This year, the Leading Forward Award Committee received 22 eligible recommendations representing 14 departments across Geisel. The Committee reviewed each of these nominations, and five individuals were selected for their significant contributions to Geisel demonstrating the school’s values.
Leading Forward Awards Committee co-chair Jennifer L. Rickards, MNPL, Director of Operations and Strategic Initiatives at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, introduced this year's honorees.
The 2025 Leading Forward Awardees are:
Charles Barlowe, PhD, chair and professor of biochemistry and cell biology, James C. Chilcott ‘20 Professor in Pharmaceutical Sciences
Stephen McAllister, MBA, MALS, director, Geisel information technology
Donald Miller, MD, assistant professor of surgery
Susan Shaker, Med, director, pre-clerkship curriculum
Christian Spalding, MPH, research administration manager
The full list of award winners is available in the event program.
You can watch the video of the event here.
