Brendan Durr, DO

Brendan Durr, DO doesn’t shy away from asking tough questions and placing demands on the medical students and residents he teaches. That’s why he was “speechless” when he won the Central Region House Staff Fellow Teacher of the Year award for 2021. “Honestly, getting the award was a big surprise,” he said. “I can be demanding. I am not afraid to call people out.”

Perhaps it is his straightforward approach that learners prize. Dr. Durr, who is concluding a cardiology fellowship, said that when he teaches, he tries to take students and fellows through his thought process. “I recall what it is like to be a resident. Observing how doctors make decisions and think about clinical problems – it’s an internal process. It’s not obvious unless it’s shared. I try to take learners along though my thought process and that’s not something you can get from research or reading papers,” he said. Despite thinking of himself as a tough teacher, Dr. Durr often strikes a softer note. “It’s important to remember that we were all where these students and residents are now. I was once the learner. It’s important to take the extra time so people can learn. It’s our job. It’s our duty.”

Dr. Durr said he developed this mentorship style thanks to the Geisinger doctors who taught him. As a student at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM), he opted to complete his third and fourth years of medical school in Danville. He then matched at Geisinger and remained throughout his residency and fellowship. “I did all my training at Geisinger,” he said. “So, when I am working with my ‘near peers,’ I feel I am passing along what I got from my teachers. It’s because of the people at Geisinger, the mentors I had that I’ve grown as a physician.”