David Seegal Alpha Omega Alpha Visiting Professorship Lecture

David Seegal, MD, served as house staff and faculty in the department of medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons from 1924 to 1964. Dr. Seegal believed the highest priority of a medical school was to train competent physicians. He often quoted William Osler, the inventor of bedside teaching: “I desire no other epitaph… than the statement that I taught medical students in the wards, as I regard this as by far the most useful and important work I have been called upon to do.”

The David Seegal Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) Visiting Professorship was established by Dr. Seegal’s grateful former students to honor distinguished and articulate medical scholars and teachers. Their aim was to identify annually an academic leader whose charisma and intellectual rigor recalled the pedagogical style that made encounters with Dr. Seegal unforgettable. During the course of the professorship, they will attend conferences and rounds and give the David Seegal Alpha Omega Alpha Visiting Professorship Lecture at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. This exercise honors both the newly elected members of AOA and one of the medical school’s legendary teachers.

Most Recent AOA Visiting Professorship Lecture

Related Information

About the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society

Past AOA Visiting Professorship Lecturers

2022–23 Eve Higginbotham, SM, MD, ML, University of Pennsylvania

2021–22 Wendy L. Hobson-Rohrer, MD, MSPH, University of Utah Health

2018–19 Katrina Armstrong, MD, MSCE, Harvard Medical School

2017–18 Nancy Andrews, MD, PhD, Duke University

2016–17 Terence S. Dermody, MD, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

2015–16 Diane Havlir, MD, University of California, San Francisco

2014–15 Curt I. Civin, MD, University of Maryland School of Medicine

2013–14 Myron S. Cohen, MD, University of North Carolina

2012–13 Daniel H. Lowenstein, MD, University of California, San Francisco

2011–12 Lawrence M. Tierney Jr., MD, University of California, San Francisco

2010–11 David Valle, MD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

2009–10 C. Ronald Kahn, MD, Harvard Medical School

2008–09 L. D. Britt, MD, Eastern Virginia Medical School

2007–08 Joseph G. Verbalis, MD, Georgetown University

2006–07 Helen S. Mayberg, MD, Emory University, School of Medicine

2005–06 Jeffery S. Flier, MD, Beth Israel Medical Center

2004–05 Harry Jacobs, MD, University of Minnesota

2003–04 James E. Lock, MD, Harvard Medical School

2002–03 Robert C. Moellering, Jr., MD, Harvard Medical School

2001–02 John W. Griffin, MD, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

Photos from Past AOA Visiting Professorship Lectures

For CUIMC faculty, staff, and students with a current CUIMC email account, click here to view photo album.
For non-CUIMC affiliates, please contact cumc_event_office@cumc.columbia.edu to request access.