Don't ask Felner himself. This year's Papageorge Teaching Award winner is reluctant to pat his own back. "Let's just say I have the best job in the medical school," he says. "I look forward to coming to work each day. Teaching is uplifting and stimulating to me. I agree with Christa McCauliff, the teacher who died in the Challenger space shuttle disaster, who said, 'I touch the future. I teach.' " Modesty aside, Felner's reach as a teacher is irrefutable. On multiple occasions he has been voted by students as the best clinical science teacher, as best basic science teacher, and as best basic science teacher in the pathophysiology course (a course he developed seven years ago). He's the only Emory faculty member to be selected as best professor on both the clinical and basic science side of things. In the 1970s, Felner (along with cardiologist Michael Gordon of the University of Miami) developed the "Harvey" cardiology patient simulator and several computer-assisted programs to assist in the teaching of cardiology. In the years since, the Harvey model has been incorporated into the curricula of more than 50 medical schools in the United States and 20 abroad. Harvey - a pioneer in virtual reality teaching - allows students to learn skills in physical examination and in the diagnosis of cardiovascular disease on macroscopic and microscopic levels. Felner's senior course using Harvey is hands-down the most widely sought-after elective in the medical school.

Cardiology for dummies: Joel Felner's Harvey class is the most popular elective in the medical school, and Harvey himself is a model of how simulated patients can be effective teaching aids. And affordable ones. "Harvey is the cheapest faculty member we have," says Felner (second from left). "He works for free, never complains, and never calls in sick."

This past spring, Felner was named an honorary member of the class of 1999, the fifth time graduating seniors have so recognized his importance to their Emory medicine experience. In 1996, he won the university's highest teaching honor, the Emory Williams Award. Felner credits much of his success to the work ethic of his father - "an old-fashioned general practitioner in New York who worked 18-hour days and was dedicated to, and loved by, his patients" - and to the impact of two Emory mentors, Robert Schlant and Willis Hurst. "These two outstanding teachers and educators taught me cardiology and fostered my desire for an academic teaching career," says Felner, who first came to Emory in 1969 as an instructor of medicine while he was a researcher at the CDC. He became senior resident in 1971 and a cardiology fellow a year later. "In those days, Dr. Hurst was chairman of the department of medicine and Dr. Schlant was director of the division of cardiology," he says. "Dr. Hurst - who still teaches, to rave reviews, in my Harvey elective - instilled in me an addiction to the educational process and a love for the rewards of teaching. Dr. Schlant is a stickler for detail who understands the literature and research protocol better than anyone that I have known. He challenged me to pursue a career in academic medicine, to develop research projects, and to write books and articles about echocardiography. Both of these men have been major players in virtually all of my accomplishments in academic medicine - from my love of learning to my desire to understand the mechanism of disease, from the way I teach cardiology to the way I conduct a bedside examination." In turn, Felner has become a role model and mentor in his own right. Adam Pearlman, a student in Felner's cardiac pathophysiology lectures and his Harvey cardiology elective, nominated Felner for the Papageorge Award. In a letter to the award committee, Pearlman said they would be hard pressed to find a more captivating or zealous lecturer than Joel Felner. "His love for the material, passion for teaching, and impossibly strong Brooklyn accent make every lecture an unforgettable experience," Pearlman wrote. "In medical school, the most satisfying moments are when we respond to challenges with success. There is no greater workload in the preclinical years than pathophysiology, particularly the cardiology section. Dr. Felner drives students, imbuing only the highest expectations into our educational experience. His rigorous curriculum is widely regarded as a sign of respect toward us, a reflection of his belief that we have the capacity and motivation to perform at maximum levels." Felner's influence, Pearlman wrote, will be felt far beyond his impact as simply a cardiology teacher. "The time he has devoted to our lives we will carry with us in our futures as doctors. The way we learn, the manner in which we challenge ourselves, the love for our fields, the sense of duty to teach those who enter medicine behind us - all these will reflect his example." -- Darryl Gossett

From the Director  /  Letters Regenesis: Renewing Medical Education at Emory What makes Joel Felner so good? Virtual Doc A New Voice for Nursing Moving Forward  /  Noteworthy Youth, Firearms, and Violence Finding the Papa of the Mummies