OU College of Medicine Presents Stanton L. Young Master Teacher Award

The University of Oklahoma College of Medicine presented its major award for excellence in medical education Wednesday evening to faculty member David M. Kelley, M.D.

Kelley was presented the Stanton L. Young Master Teacher Award during a ceremony at the Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club. This is the 36th year the award has been presented. It was established through an endowment made by the late Oklahoma City businessman Stanton L. Young. The award comes with a $15,000 cash prize, one of the largest in the nation for medical teaching excellence.

A family medicine physician, Kelley serves as assistant professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the OU College of Medicine. In addition to his busy clinical practice, Kelley is director of the family medicine clerkship, in which medical students rotate through family medicine clinics as part of their education. He also is director for the department’s Division of Undergraduate Education, helping to shape the family medicine experience for medical students.

In presenting the award, John P. Zubialde, M.D., interim executive dean of the OU College of Medicine, said Kelley is “a man who is revered by his students for his unparalleled passion for providing physicians with the skills and mindset necessary to advance the practice of personalized and meaningful healthcare.”

In their letters of nominations, medical students said Kelley connects with them on a personal level and values their opinions. He teaches them not only the complexities of medicine but the individual growth that can occur with an understanding of self.

“He ends every patient encounter by thanking his patients for allowing him to serve them as their doctor. This perspective on the patient-doctor relationship is one of the greatest lessons I’ve learned in medical school,” one of his students said.

Kelley, a native of Colorado, earned his medical degree from Loyola Stritch School of Medicine and completed his residency training at Adventist LaGrange Memorial Hospital, both in Illinois. Before coming to the OU College of Medicine, he practiced in Racine, Wisconsin. He and his wife, Kelly Curran, M.D., an adolescent medicine physician, joined OU in 2014 after they decided they wanted to devote their careers to training the next generation of physicians.