Kirstin Parkin honored with two awards from the College of Human Medicine
Kirstin Parkin, associate professor in Department of Microbiology, Genetics, & Immunology, has received two recent honors from Michigan State University's College of Human Medicine, each of which recognizes a different aspect of her contributions to medical education: leadership in curriculum development and a deep commitment to mentoring students.
Parkin recently received CHM's Outstanding Curriculum Contribution Award and was also inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society, a national honor society that celebrates the human connection in health care by recognizing medical students, residents, and faculty who model integrity, excellence, compassion, altruism, respect, and empathy. Faculty inductees are selected primarily through nominations and recommendations from students, and only up to two faculty members are inducted from the college each year.
"As soon as I read it, I just teared up," Parkin said of learning she had been selected for the honor.
The Outstanding Curriculum Contribution Award recognizes faculty members who have made exceptional or innovative contributions to the development, improvement, or delivery of the college's medical education curriculum.
In 2025, Parkin was appointed CHM's first-year medical student course director, taking on a central role in the college's transition to a new version of its Shared Discovery Curriculum. In that role, she coordinated faculty from basic science, social science, and clinical disciplines across the college's East Lansing and Grand Rapids campuses.
Parkin led an interdisciplinary group of faculty and staff responsible for developing and organizing the new curriculum, one of the most substantial revisions to the college's M.D. curriculum in the past decade. The work involved aligning learning objectives, courses, clinical experiences, and assessments across multiple campuses and disciplines before the curriculum launched in fall 2025.
"It was a whole team effort," Parkin said, "There were a lot of faculty being so supportive in many ways."
"Dr. Parkin has long been known as an inspiring educator: intentional in her approach, encouraging to students, and always enthusiastic about her subject matter," said Robin Demuth, CHM's Associate Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education. "Kirstin is collaborative, positive, and relentless in her focus on creating the best possible student educational experience. She stepped into this leadership role at a critical moment and helped guide the final development of Shared Discovery Curriculum 2.0, one of the most significant revisions to our curriculum in the last decade."
While the curriculum award recognized Parkin's work helping shape the educational experience for medical students, the Gold Humanism Honor Society induction reflected the impact she has had on students personally.
Since joining CHM in a full-time position four years ago, Parkin has served as a scholar group fellow, mentoring a small cohort of medical students throughout their first two years of medical school. The relationships have continued long after those formal meetings ended, with many students remaining in close contact as they progress through training and prepare for residency.
"I always tell students that I'm walking beside you," Parkin said. "I'm not going to lift you over anything, because you've got to go over all these hurdles, but I'm next to you, encouraging you."
Parkin said that approach to mentorship is grounded in a philosophy she and fellow faculty member Mark Greenwood shared with students from their first day of medical school. "He said, 'You want to be a good and kind physician,'" Parkin recalled. "And I said, 'Let's add curious.'"
The phrase “Good, Kind, & Curious” became a guiding principle for the group and a reflection of the qualities Parkin hopes students carry into their careers as physicians.
Reflecting on the Gold Humanism honor, Parkin said the greatest reward has been the opportunity to learn from the students she mentors.
"What an honor it is just to walk beside them," she said. "I learned as much from them, if not more, than they learned from me, I think."
Parkin has taught at CHM since 2011 and is known for her expertise in immunology education. She regularly teaches subjects outside her primary field, including histology, biochemistry, physiology, and cell biology. Her contributions to education also extend beyond the medical school through workshops on inclusive teaching, mentorship of graduate students conducting educational research, and scholarship focused on medical education.
These latest honors add to a growing list of recognitions for Parkin's contributions to student learning. In 2024, she received CHM's Green Apple Award, a student-selected honor recognizing faculty members who have made a positive impact on students' educational experiences.
