News Release

Posted: July 06, 2006

Pennsylvania State University’s College of Medicine Department of Anesthesia Award Honors Hahn

The Pennsylvania State University’s College of Medicine Department of Anesthesia has created a new fellowship award to honor Marc B. Hahn, DO, dean of the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine. The award — the Dr. Marc B. Hahn Pain Medicine Fellowship Award — was created to honor the achievements and contributions of Dr. Hahn in the field of pain management.

“I am both honored and humbled that Penn State would name this award after me,” Dr. Hahn said. “I have committed myself to teaching future pain medicine physicians to hold themselves to the highest ethical standards when treating patients suffering from pain. Hopefully, this award will further that goal, improving pain medicine education and care.”

Dr. Hahn was formerly a professor of anesthesiology and director of the Pain Medicine Fellowship Program at the Pennsylvania State University’s College of Medicine. He also served as chief of the Pain Medicine and Palliative Care Division at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.

“As the fellowship director, Dr. Hahn was one of the pioneers recognizing the importance of fluoroscopic guidance in interventional pain management,” said Vitaly Gordin, MD, current program director. “While being a skillful interventionalist, Dr. Hahn has always emphasized the importance of a multi-disciplinary approach to the treatment of chronic pain patients …. Dr. Hahn’s national reputation has attracted some of the best young physicians in the country who wanted to learn the trade from one of the best in the field.”

The award will be presented annually to one fellow at PSUCOM’s Pain Medicine program who shows excellence in patient care and academic performance and who demonstrates mentoring skills for residents and medical students. The award winner will be selected by the faculty of the pain division at Penn State.

Robert Overbaugh, M.D., one of three anesthesiology fellows and a former student of Hahn’s, recently received the first Dr. Marc B. Hahn Pain Medicine Fellowship Award. For Dr. Overbaugh, the award holds special meaning. He was a student of Dr. Hahn’s in the 1990s when pain medicine was still in its infancy as a specialty. Dr. Hahn introduced Dr. Overbaugh to the field’s dual nature, which allows a physician to address acute patient needs while also following their long-term care. He said while working with residents and medical students, he tries to mimic the teaching model Dr. Hahn displayed while at the College of Medicine.

“He was patient and took a lot of time with students, which isn’t always the norm for a busy specialist,” Dr. Overbaugh said. “He wasn’t overbearing in laying down exactly how to do something, and he encouraged us to develop our own techniques with gentle guiding when we needed it.”

Dr. Overbaugh finishes his fellowship this month and will join Pain Specialists of the Greater Lehigh Valley at Lehigh Valley Hospital in July.

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Contact:Lauren LaFleur 817-735-5152, e-mail llafleur@hsc.unt.edu.