April 6, 2012 — Dr. Eugene C. Corbett Jr. will receive the 2012 Jane F. DesForges Distinguished Teacher Award at the annual meeting of the American College of Physicians, to be held April 19 in New Orleans.

Corbett, a general internist, is on the faculty in the Division of General Medicine, Geriatrics and Palliative Care in the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He is the Bernard B. and Anne L. Brodie Professor of Medicine and Professor of Nursing, and currently serves as assistant dean for clinical skills education.

The physicians' group established the award in 1968 and renamed it in 2007 in honor of Desforges, the first woman to receive the award. Corbett is the first U.Va. faculty member to receive the national award.

The award is given to a member of the association who has demonstrated the ennobling qualities of a great teacher. The organization's Virginia chapter nominated Corbett.

He has been an active member of the American College of Physicians since 1975 and elected to serve twice on the Virginia Chapter Governor's Council. He has served as a mentor for new members and is invited annually to teach clinical skills at the national meeting.

Having originally served as a rural general practitioner for 11 years, he has since practiced and taught as an academic physician at U.Va. since 1985. Corbett has won every teaching award in the schools of Medicine and Nursing at U.Va., many more than once. He last won an All-University Teaching Award in 2006.

Corbett has published articles on medical education and related research, particularly in clinical skills education. He is also a faculty member of the Stanford Faculty Development Program and the Harvard Macy Institute for Medical Educators.