Ashok Sarnaik, M.D., FCCM, FCCP, FAAP, professor of Pediatrics for the Wayne State University School of Medicine, has been selected to receive the 2021 Shubin-Weil Master Clinician/Teacher: Excellence in Bedside Teaching Award from the Society of Clinical Care Medicine.
The society presents the prestigious award based on recommendations from past students and colleagues.
“This award means a great deal to me since it comes from my students over the last 45 years,” said Dr. Sarnaik, who also previously served as interim chair of the Department of Pediatrics. “I became known outside of Detroit mainly because of my students, who have gone all over the country, many far surpassing me and holding leadership positions. That they would honor me, after all these years, for my bedside teaching and for being their role model, is very humbling and gratifying.”
The award recognizes a Society of Critical Care Medicine member who is a role model in both the teaching and ethical practice of critical care. Nominees must have substantially furthered the expert and appropriate use of life support interventions.
The award will be presented to Dr. Sarnaik during the society’s virtual awards presentation ceremony Feb. 5.
A former co-chief of Critical Care Medicine at Children's Hospital of Michigan, Dr. Sarnaik has been an instructor with the School of Medicine since 1973. He has also served as the hospital's chief resident, director of the Intensive Care Unit, director of the Reyes Syndrome Study Center and of Pulmonary Medicine, vice chair of Pediatric Inpatient Services and associate pediatrician-in-chief.
Dr. Sarnaik received his medical degree in 1969 from the University of Bombay and served a pediatrics residency at the Children's Hospital of Michigan, where he also completed a fellowship in pulmonary medicine. He is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics and the sub-boards of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine and Pediatric Critical Care. His clinical and research interests include the care of critically ill children and respiratory failure.
He has taught residents, fellows and medical students at patient bedside and in classroom and conference settings for 32 years. He developed a physiology course for the pediatric residency program and co-managed an annual Clinic Days program at Children's Hospital of Michigan, in addition to establishing a Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Program. He has mentored 56 fellows during his career.
He served on the state’s Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and Apnea Committee, the Comprehensive Health Planning Council of Southeastern Michigan Criteria and Standards for Intensive Care Units and Cardiac Care Units in Southeastern Michigan, the State of Michigan Pediatric Advanced Cardiac Life Support Subcommittee, the Michigan Committee on Pediatric Critical Care and the State of Michigan Pediatric Critical Care Subspecialty Panel.
He founded the Clinical Excellence Committee at the Children's Hospital of Michigan and served on the hospital's Peer Review Committee. He's a former member of the hospital's board of trustees, and its Medical Affairs Committee and Research Committee.