“I enjoy teaching so much that my research sometimes suffers. I can’t help it....I try to teach by always asking myself if my explanations are sufficient for students with their backgrounds, not mine.”

Stephen Katz loves to teach. His 30 teaching awards--including the Minnesota Medical Foundation’s Lifetime Distinguished Teaching Award--and evaluation scores that are almost always better than 90 percent speak to that.

But the words of former students say it best: “I can say, without a doubt, that Dr. Katz was the best professor I’ve ever had.” “His accessibility and compassion are magnetic, and he somehow manages to have a personal, meaningful impact on dozens of medical, dental, and graduate students.” “He has been an inspiration to many students, and I know that his example has motivated me to become a better physician and teacher.”

Katz is also director of graduate studies for the Cellular and Integrative Physiology Program, where he has revised policies and developed a unique master’s program for working scientists. He revamped a physiology course for students in two schools into separate, more focused courses.

Katz has published numerous research articles and book chapters and, according to a former student, “took time and care to make sure each student working with him was involved in the design and interpretation of experiments and given a chance to be published in a scientific journal.”

But it all comes back to teaching. His department head agrees: “Stephen Katz is one of the most gifted, enthusiastic, hardworking, and beloved educators in the Medical School.”

Visit the Stephen A. Katz faculty Web page here.