Distinguish Service Award Honoree: Scott Epstein
Since 1941, the Tufts University Alumni Association has honored accomplished individuals for service to their profession, communities, and to Tufts. The Distinguish Service Award is presented to an alum who has demonstrated significant service to the Tufts University Alumni Association and/or to Tufts University.
Scott Epstein, M84, is a Professor of Medicine, and Public Health and Community Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine (TUSM). He currently serves as the TUSM Director of Continuous Quality Improvement and Medical Director of the Physician Assistant Program. A 1984 TUSM graduate, he subsequently completed internal medicine residency training and served as chief medical resident at Tufts Medical Center (Tufts MC). With the exception of fellowship training at Boston University (1989-1992), he has spent his entire career at Tufts.
In 1992, he joined the Pulmonary and Critical Care Division at Tufts MC eventually directing the Medical Intensive Care Unit. From 2004-2007, he was Vice Chair for Education, Residency Program Director, and Clerkship Director in the Department of Medicine at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center, a Tufts teaching hospital.
Dr. Epstein then spent 15 years as TUSM Dean for Educational Affairs, stepping down on Dec 31, 2021. During that time, he led two major curricular revisions emphasizing the integration of clinical and basic science, population medicine, clinical reasoning, simulation, and clinical skills training. He has been a committed educator in the classroom and at the bedside. He directed the 2nd year TUSM Pulmonary Course for nearly 25 years and now co-directs the Introduction to Clinical Reasoning Course.
Tufts medical students and residents have recognized him for excellence in teaching on thirty separate occasions. Dr. Epstein is also the recipient of the Zucker Prize for Outstanding Innovations in Clinical Teaching, the Dean’s Outstanding Mentor Award, the Outstanding Teacher in the Clinical Sciences Award, the Outstanding Teacher in the Preclerkship Years Award, and the TUSM Distinguished Alumni Award. His research interests have focused principally on mechanical ventilation and critical care. He has published 275 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, commentaries, editorials, and scientific abstracts. His publications have been cited by subsequent authors more than 9000 times.