Amar Uxa MD

Assistant Professor
Clinician Teacher
Staff Cardiologist
University Health Network/Sinai Health System

W. T. Aikins Award for Excellence in Individual Teaching Performance: Clerkship

MD Program Awards

Biography

Dr. Amar Uxa completed medical school, internal medicine, and cardiology training in India. He then completed general cardiology training followed by a fellowship in interventional cardiology and heart failure from the University of Toronto. Subsequently, he completed the Master Teacher Certificate Program from the University of Toronto.
He joined the Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology as a Clinician Teacher and Assistant Professor in 2010. He is an active faculty member in the Division of Cardiology at the University Health Network, Mount Sinai Hospital. Dr. Uxa is also the Medical Director of Cardiology Consults Service at Toronto General Hospital. He designed Cardiology Consults Service as an elective rotation, which is now offered as an elective/selective rotation to trainees at the University of Toronto as well as other Canadian universities. He was awarded the Andersons Award (2017) for the design and administration of this elective rotation which is highly popular among medical trainees.
He is a Medicine site Co-Director for clerkship at Toronto General Hospital. He has also been actively involved in medical education at all levels of training for the last ten years.
Dr. Uxa has been awarded multiple teaching awards including the E.D. Wigle Cardiology teaching award (2015) and was re-nominated in 2020 by cardiology residents. He is also the recipient of the Department of Medicine's (UHN/MSH) Excellence in Teaching Award for Undergraduate Teaching (2016) as well as the Wightman Berris Academy Award for Individual Teaching Excellence for both Postgraduate (2018) and Undergraduate teaching (2020).
His current educational interests are advancement of competency based cardiac cath and hemodynamic training for cardiology residents and improving understanding of basics of ECG and cardiac pathophysiology for undergraduate and postgraduate trainees.

Quote from the Winner

“Learner’s needs assessment” is an integral part of my Teaching Philosophy. After having taught trainees at multiple levels, I strongly believe knowing your trainees is the first step in the process of transferring knowledge. I structure my teaching material according to learners needs. I encourage my students to relate and make connections between concepts in order to increase their understanding of cardiac physiology and gain confidence. I help my trainees to improve their knowledge by setting learning targets (target growth) and self-reflection.

About the Award

These awards are named after William Thomas Aikins, the first Dean of the Faculty of Medicine after its reorganization in1887. They are the Faculty’s most prestigious awards in the MD Program. They were established to recognize and formally reward outstanding teachers in the areas of Individual Teaching Performance (Foundations and Clerkship), Development and Use of Educational Innovations, and Course / Program Development and Coordination. Recipients of these awards have significantly contributed to high-quality undergraduate teaching by establishing and integrating new and effective methods of instruction into the curriculum.