Baizer Recognized With Teaching, Mentoring Award

By Dirk Hoffman

The Meyerson Award was established through a generous gift from the late UB President Emeritus Martin Meyerson and his wife, Margy Ellen, to recognize exceptional teaching and mentoring at the university. It is the highest university award given specifically for undergraduate mentoring.

“Faculty members who exemplify these qualities are foundational to UB and its academic mission. They provide the guidance and support needed to help undergraduate students develop the skills necessary for not only research and creativity but also for critical thinking and innovation,” says Lisa Gagnon of UB’s Office of Fellowships and Scholarships.

“This award sets the bar for faculty excellence in helping our undergraduates reach their full potential as young scholars and launching their future careers.”

Baizer was first hired by the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB in 1976 and notes the first student who worked in her lab was Aviva Abosch, who went on to complete an MD-PhD program and then become one of a very small number of female neurosurgeons at the time.

“I am very thrilled and honored to receive this award,” Baizer says. “Since I learned of it, I have been thinking fondly of the many students I have worked with over the years, and very glad that those efforts made an impact on their lives and careers.”

Baizer says her teaching and mentoring of undergraduate students takes on two very different forms.

She teaches two large undergraduate courses that are team-taught and can often have well over 200 students.

Secondly, she works with students individually in her laboratory, where she is a comparative neuroanatomist studying different brain organization between humans and several other species including rats, monkeys, cats and chimpanzees.

Baizer says students find her research and lab in several ways — one is through UB programs such as the Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities and the Experiential Learning Network, while some students develop an interest in neuroscience after attending lectures.

“I have also had a few students from my undergraduate college (Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania) which encourages mentoring of students by alumnae,” she says.

Baizer notes some students sign up for independent research for credit, while others just volunteer.

“Overall, these students seem to fall into two classes: those who are thinking about a career in research with the idea of going to graduate school and others who are interested in a career in medicine and see laboratory experience as a prerequisite for applying to medical school,” she says.

When a student expresses interest in working in her lab, Baizer schedules an initial meeting.

“The major point I try to make is that doing research in neuroscience is very, very different from reading about neuroscience. In textbooks, you read about perhaps 10 major discoveries per paragraph. Each of those discoveries likely emerged after several years of slow, tedious, sometimes boring work in the laboratory.”

“I try to emphasize that not everyone will actually like doing research but spending a few hours a week in the laboratory will give a taste of what research is like and whether it is an appealing career option,” she says.

Working closely with students in the laboratory provides time and opportunity for discussions about career plans: graduate school or medical school (or both), and, in some cases, a different direction entirely, Baizer notes.

“My goal is not to direct students into research but to help them figure out the optimal career path for them, based on interests, abilities and personality.”

In their nomination forms for the Meyerson Award, colleagues and mentees alike extolled Baizer’s virtues as an educator and researcher.

A fellow faculty member in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics who has worked with Baizer for the past 16 years says “she has consistently demonstrated a profound commitment to creating an engaging and inclusive learning environment.”

“Her innovative teaching methods in large undergraduate classroom settings often employ case-based studies that lead students towards understanding complex neurophysiological principles by providing the opportunity to explore and apply the scientific principles that are presented in class to medical cases,” she says.

“In fact, Dr. Baizer is known for her ability to make complex concepts accessible and relatable while fostering critical thinking, which has significantly contributed to the academic growth of our students.”

A first-year neurology resident credited Baizer with “putting me in a position to commit myself to medical school as the next part of my career.”

“I was rather directionless when I started in her lab. She spent countless one-on-one hours selflessly helping me introspect to understand who I am, what do I want out of life, and why,” he says. “Looking back, I am still moved when I think about how this person with no requirement or obligation to me whatsoever went so far out of her way in her established position and career to lend a helping arm to me.”

An undergraduate student who worked in Baizer’s lab as a research assistant described her mentoring as “never overbearing; rather, she provides the right amount of guidance to challenge students while still allowing them to take ownership of their work.”

“I believe this is one of the most valuable qualities in an educator, as it equips students with the confidence and ability to continue their academic and professional journeys with independence and resilience,” she says.

Baizer says one reason she enjoyed working with students in her laboratory so much is her experience of being a mother of a developmentally disabled child.

Jessica Lea Baizer was intellectually and developmentally disabled, with a severe seizure disorder that led to her death in 2022 at the age of 35.

“I was never able to teach her to read or count or garden or sew or cook, let alone to do experiments,” she says. “Students in the laboratory were my ‘laboratory children’ and I really valued the experience of teaching them.”

Other recipients of a 2024-25 Meyerson Award are:

• Omer Gokcumen, PhD, professor of biological sciences in UB’s College of Arts and Sciences
  
• Kenneth Joseph, PhD, associate professor of computer science and engineering at UB’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
  

The Meyerson Award will be presented to Baizer and the other recipients at a breakfast in February 2025 hosted by the Office of Fellowships and Scholarships.