August 27, 2008

SIU Med School Recognizes Area Physician as “Mentor of the Year”

Dr. Rebecca Hartman has been recognized as the “2007-08 Mentor of the Year” for her work as a volunteer mentor to first-year medical students in Carbondale at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.
  The award was presented during the medical school’s annual “white coat ceremony” for incoming medical students on August 15.  The previous class of freshmen, the Class of 2011, selected her for the honor at the end of their first year.

The medical student nominating Hartman said in the nomination – “She has a sweet and friendly disposition that was comforting not only to her patients but also to the anxious beginning medical student.  She enjoys teaching and helping students know what is important.  She is an exceptional mentor who provided me with an invaluable experience.”

A gynecologist, Hartman has been in practice since 1984 and is now based at New Horizons Group Practice in Carbondale.  She is a fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and board certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology.  She completed her obstetrics-gynecology residency at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine in Lansing, Mich.  Hartman and her husband, Barry Wesley, have two children and live in Murphysboro. 

SIU School of Medicine provides the clinical mentor program for its first-year students in Carbondale.  Sixty area physicians served as mentors this last school year.  Hartman was one of 20 nominated for recognition.
The SIU School of Medicine is based in Carbondale and Springfield and is specifically oriented to educating new physicians prepared to practice in Illinois communities.  Since 1975, 2,202 physicians have earned SIU medical degrees.  Its Web site is www.siumed.edu.

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