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Health Science Center professor L. Thomas Wolff, M.D., Named Distinguished Teaching Professor by the State University of New York

L. Thomas Wolff, M.D., professor of family medicine at the State University of New York Health Science Center at Syracuse, has been named a Distinguished Teaching Professor by the State University Board of Trustees.

In announcing the honor, State University Chancellor John W. Ryan described Dr. Wolff as a “superlative teacher, setting the highest standards for his students.” Dr. Wolff will be honored at the Health Science Center’s Fall Faculty Convocation Sept. 8.

Dr. Wolff of Liverpool has been affiliated with the Health Science Center since 1969 when he was an instructor in the Department of Family Practice. He became professor and chairman of the Department of Family Practice in 1973. He also directed the Family Practice Residency Program at St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center.

Dr. Wolff’s expertise in family medicine caught the attention of Olympic organizers who tapped the physician to be chief of general practitioners at the 1980 Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid, N.Y. There, he directed family practice physicians responsible for general health care needs of athletes in the Olympic village.

In 1988 Dr. Wolff began the development of a Rural Medical Education (RMED) program. RMED provides a different approach to medical education by enabling students to complete up to 40 percent of their clinical training in community-based settings and small rural hospitals. Each year, the RMED program places up to 17 third- year medical students in rural communities full time for nine consecutive months to work and learn under the supervision of a board certified physicians.

Earlier this year, Dr. Wolff was named associate director of the statewide Area Health Education Center, a federally funded program designed to alleviate physician shortages in many areas of New York state.

Dr. Wolff joins Camillo A. Benzo, Dr. Patricia J. Numann, Bonnie St. Andrews and Elinor J. Spring-Mills as the fifth Health Science Center professor to be named a Distinguished Teaching Professor by the SUNY Chancellor.