1986 Metcalf Cup & Prize

Carl Franzblau, MED

Professor Carl Franzblau’s entire career as a teacher has been spent at the Boston University School of Medicine. It has been a great career in medical research and teaching. Dr. Franzblau’s first doctoral student, now a professor of biochemistry at a major medical center, says, “I credit whatever skills I have to his guidance and to the example he set.” And one of his current students says, “He exemplifies excellence not only as a lecturer-teacher, but also as a caring and understanding human being.”

Students have been praising Dr. Franzblau in these terms for twenty-three years. Medical students, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty colleagues alike are captivated by his stimulating approach to the intricacies of modern biochemistry. A former student remarks that “long after the actual lecture has been forgotten, the sense of excitement and interest in the subject is remembered.” Professor Franzblau demonstrates the power of a great lecturer to motivate learning and understanding by his students long after the precise words of his lecture have been forgotten.

Brilliant in the lecture hall, he is also brilliant in the laboratory. Again and again students remark on the time and care that Dr. Franzblau lavishes on student research projects, and on his ready accessibility to any student who has encountered a problem with an experiment. In recent years, their admiration has increased as Professor Franzblau has taken on the additional duties of the chairship of his department without any diminution in his concern for students. Many students echo the tribute that one of his students has tendered: “I can honestly say that without his counsel and unqualified support, I would not be graduating.”

His superb qualities as a teacher and his unwavering loyalty to Boston University have fully earned him our highest award for excellence in teaching, the Metcalf Cup and Prize.