PHILADELPHIA — David A. Asch, MD, MBA, the Robert D. Eilers Professor of Medicine and Health Care Management and Economics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Wharton School, was presented with the Alpha Omega Alpha Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teacher Award by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).
The award was presented on Saturday, Nov. 7, during the association’s annual meeting in Boston.
Recognizing Dr. Asch, the AAMC said, “Dr. David Asch combines his passion for education with an appreciation for medicine's lighter side. In addition to the wit and humor he brings to classroom instruction, Dr. Asch's longstanding focus on inter-professional education and collaboration, according to his students, has helped them understand the ‘intricacies of the enigmatic health care system.’"
In his two decades at Penn, Dr. Asch has worked to link the school of medicine with nearly all of the university's 11 other schools, an effort that in 2006 earned him Penn's highest teaching honor, the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching.
Dr. Asch is also executive director of Penn's Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics (LDI). LDI is a formal venture among The University of Pennsylvania’s schools of medicine, business (Wharton), nursing, communication (Annenberg), dental medicine, and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, to improve the health of the public through studies on the medical, economic, social, and ethical issues affecting health care. As executive director, Dr. Asch helped develop a summer undergraduate minority research program that pairs students from under-represented minority groups with Penn faculty to complete research projects. Dr. Asch also co-directs the Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society Scholars Program at the University of Pennsylvania.
The Glaser Awards were established in 1988 to provide national recognition to faculty members who have distinguished themselves in medical student education. The award is named for long-time AOA executive secretary Robert J. Glaser, MD.
Dr. Asch received his AB degree from Harvard University, his MD degree from Weill Cornell Medical College, and his MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.
The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $550 million awarded in the 2022 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of “firsts” in medicine, Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries and innovations that have shaped modern medicine, including recent breakthroughs such as CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System’s patient care facilities stretch from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to the New Jersey shore. These include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, Penn Medicine Princeton Health, and Pennsylvania Hospital—the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.
Penn Medicine is an $11.1 billion enterprise powered by more than 49,000 talented faculty and staff.