Dr. Clayson receives the Dean's Award for Lifetime Achievement in Teaching presented by Dean Antonio Gotto (right) and Dr. Jack Barchas (left), chairman of the Department of Psychiatry.
Dr. M. David Clayson, professor of clinical psychology in psychiatry, was honored as the first recipient of the Dean's Award for Lifetime Achievement in Teaching, which was presented at an award reception hosted by the Medical College on Feb. 5. In attendance to celebrate this honor with Dr. Clayson were many students, faculty and administrators.
Dr. Clayson, who joined the Department of Psychiatry in 1963 as head of psychology at the Payne Whitney Clinic, established PWC's first internship training program in clinical psychology. Under his leadership, the educational and clinical activities of the psychology section were extended to other departments at the Medical Center and to the orthopedic services at the Hospital for Special Surgery and the oncology services at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Dr. Clayson participates in the core curriculum in the first, second and third years and has served as a faculty advisor to freshmen students for a number of years. This year, he taught the Medicine, Patients and Society course as well as sections of the Brain and Mind course.
At the awards presentation, Dr. Peter Marzuk, associate professor of psychiatry and director of medical student education in psychiatry, described Dr. Clayson's distinguished teaching career at the Medical College. In 1983, Dr. Clayson became the first member of the Department of Psychiatry and the first and only clinical psychologist and non-physician to receive the Medical College's highest teaching honor, the Elliott Hochstein Award, which is voted by the members of the graduating class. In addition, he has been elected numerous times to the "Senior List" of faculty members selected by the graduating class for excellence in teaching. He is also the only non-physician at the Medical College to be elected a faculty member of AOA, the academic medical honor society.
In addition, Dr. Marzuk noted, Dr. Clayson "has known the extraordinary pleasure of having the first-born son of a graduate of the medical school named for him."
In his remarks, Dr. Jack Barchas, chairman of the Department of Psychiatry, said, "I've never known anyone who wanted to be a good teacher more than David Clayson."
Dr. William Frosch, professor of psychiatry and vice chairman of the department, noted that Dr. Clayson is one of the country's leading authorities on psychological testing and is regarded by many to be the best in the field.
Dr. Clayson with many of the first- and second-year medical students who took the Medicine, Patients and Society course that he taught.
Dr. Antonio Gotto, dean of the Medical College, noted that Dr. Clayson has made major contributions to the growing recognition of the significant psychological aspects of illness in all medical specialties. Dean Gotto also announced that Dr. Clayson has made a gift to the Medical College to endow a prize to be awarded to a student for outstanding contributions to medicine and the arts.
For many years, Dr. Clayson was also active in the orthopedic residency training program at the Hospital for Special Surgery, where he instituted an annual retreat for residents focusing on the psychological aspects of orthopedic training and practice.
At the awards presentation, several medical students and HSS residents spoke about the tremendous benefits that they and others have received from Dr. Clayson's extraordinary understanding of, and commitment to, education and training in the medical profession.
In accepting the award, Dr. Clayson noted that all the time that he has spent in teaching has been a reciprocal process—one in which he has received as much nurturing from students as he has given to them. As a result, he said, "I feel that I'm now in the 54th year of my adolescence."