Boonshoft School of Medicine faculty member S. Bruce Binder named Ohio Family Medicine Educator of the Year

S. Bruce Binder is associate professor and chair of the Department of Family Medicine and interim associate dean for medical education in the Boonshoft School of Medicine.

S. Bruce Binder, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor and chair of the Department of Family Medicine at the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, received the 2022 Family Medicine Educator of the Year Award from the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians.

Binder is also the interim associate dean for medical education at the Boonshoft School of Medicine and the medical director of Wright State Physicians Family Medicine practice and the Living Well Clinic in Xenia.

The Ohio Academy of Family Physicians annually presents the Family Medicine Educator of the Year Award to a family medicine educator who exhibits extraordinary merit, encourages students to pursue the ideals of family medicine, participates in research and is an inspiring leader.

The Ohio Academy of Family Physicians is a professional association with more than 5,200 members, including practicing physicians, family medicine residents and medical students.

Binder precepts medical students to instruct direct patient care and teaches Clinical Medicine 1 and 2, which help first- and second-year students hone clinical skills while building relationships with patients and providing effective, compassionate care.

“I think the thing I want [medical students] to take away the most from my time with them is compassionate care for their patient, regardless of either the patients’ or their own circumstances,” he said. “I hope they also see what an incredibly wonderful specialty family medicine is, so much so that they want to do it.

In addition to teaching, Binder leads a grant program aimed at accelerating the transformation of the primary care curriculum across faculty and graduate and undergraduate programs in family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics, including nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

During the implementation of the updated curriculum, the Boonshoft School of Medicine received supplemental funding to provide training to students and providers on medication-assisted treatment in opioid use disorders. The goal of the training is to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of opioid use disorder and to prepare primary care physicians to successfully address the opioid epidemic.

Kate Conway, M.D., assistant professor of family medicine at Wright State and the 2020 Ohio Family Medicine Educator of the Year, praised Binder for his influence on her as a Boonshoft School of Medicine student and faculty member.

“As a BSOM student, I heard Dr. Binder say ‘family first’ inside and outside the classroom. When I returned to BSOM as faculty almost 10 years later, Dr. Binder said this to me again,” Conway said. “I saw firsthand how he had implemented a strategy of ‘family first’ in regards to family medicine faculty being involved in the medical education of BSOM students throughout M1–M4 years.”

Binder joined the Boonshoft School of Medicine faculty in 1991. For many years, he directed the Department of Family Medicine Clerkship and was pre-doctoral director in the department. He also served as director of the school’s Skills Assessment and Training Center and as a preceptor during patient care instruction in the ambulatory care center. He also chaired the Faculty Curriculum Committee for 18 years.

Binder earned his medical degree from the University of Virginia School of Medicine and his Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Virginia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. He completed his residency in the Wright State University-affiliated St. Elizabeth Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program.

In addition to Binder and Conway, Gary LeRoy, M.D., ’88, associate professor of family medicine, and John Donnelly, M.D., professor of family medicine and associate professor of population and public health, received the Ohio Family Medicine Educator of the Year Award in recent years.