ACGME Honors Graduate Medical Education Community with Annual Awards, Including John C. Gienapp Distinguished Service Award

CHICAGO, March 02, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) this week presented awards to 27 recipients at its Annual Educational Conference, one of the largest gatherings of graduate medical educators in the world.

The ACGME honored 25 individuals and two institutions for their innovation, dedication and service in the field of graduate medical education. The awardees were recognized during a reception Thursday, March 1, 2018, at the 2018 ACGME Annual Educational Conference in Orlando, Florida. The conference is one of the largest gatherings of graduate medical educators in the world.

For the first time in six years, the ACGME selected a recipient for the John C. Gienapp Distinguished Service Award:

Timothy C. Flynn, MD, FACS
University of Florida College of Medicine
Gainesville, FL

The John C. Gienapp Distinguished Service Award was established in 1999 in recognition of John C. Gienapp, PhD who served as Executive Director of the ACGME for 19 years. The award honors individuals who, like him, have dedicated themselves to graduate medical education and have made outstanding contributions to the enhancement of residency education and ACGME accreditation activities, including:

• serving on and chairing its Review Committees or ACGME Committees
• serving as a specialist site visitor or on an appeal panel
• volunteering for special assignments that contributed to revising requirements or program or institutional information forms
• assisting Review Committee staff in the implementation of new or innovative projects to improve the accreditation process

Dr. Flynn received his medical degree with honors from Baylor College of Medicine in 1974. He completed his surgery residency at the University of Texas, Houston in 1980 and remained on faculty until 1984 when he came to the University of Florida.

Dr. Flynn has training and Board certification in general surgery, vascular surgery, and surgical critical care. He has distinguished himself nationally in graduate medical education and academic surgery at the University of Florida in several roles.

He is also past-Chair of the ACGME Board of Directors, past-Chair of the American Board of Surgery, and past-Chair of the American College of Surgeons Board of Governors, among others.

“The ACGME is proud to honor these exceptional individuals and institutions of the graduate medical community. Through these awards, the ACGME hopes to inspire institutions, designated institutional officials, program directors, residents, fellows, and coordinators to continue their mission to improve health care by advancing the quality of resident physicians’ education,” said Thomas J. Nasca, MD, president and chief executive officer, ACGME.

The DeWitt C. Baldwin Jr. Award, in its third year, is presented to Sponsoring Institutions by the ACGME and the Arnold P. Gold Foundation to recognize institutions with accredited residency/fellowship programs that are exemplary in fostering a respectful, supportive environment for medical education and the delivery of patient care, which leads to the personal and professional development of learners.

The recipients of this year’s DeWitt C. Baldwin Jr. Award are:

Excela Health Latrobe Hospital Latrobe, PA

Memorial Hospital of South Bend South Bend, IN

The 2018-20 Jeremiah A. Barondess Fellowship in the Clinical Transaction, presented in partnership with the New York Academy of Medicine, invites junior faculty in internal medicine to develop innovative programs that enhance this fundamental element of clinical care through educational innovation.

This year’s recipient is:

Bethany Joy Brisbin, MD
Chief Fellow of Palliative Medicine
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
Columbus, OH

The Parker J. Palmer Courage to Lead Award is for designated institutional officials who have demonstrated strong leadership and astute resource management and have encouraged innovation and improvement in residency programs and their Sponsoring Institutions. The recipients of this year’s Courage to Lead Award are:

Jerri Curtis, MD National Capital Consortium Bethesda, MD	Karen E. Heiser, PhD Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus, OH
Tsveti Markova, MD, FAAFP Wayne State University School of Medicine Detroit, MI

The Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award is given to program directors who have fostered innovation and improvement in their residency programs and served as exemplary role models for residents. The recipients of this year’s Courage to Teach Award are:

Saadia Akhtar, MD Emergency Medicine Mount Sinai Beth Israel / Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai New York, NY	John Del Valle, MD, AGAF, FACP Internal Medicine University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI
Benjamin R. Doolittle, MD, MDiv Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Yale University Kensington, CT	Kimberly D. Manning, MD Transitional Year Emory University School of Medicine Atlanta, GA
Vishad Nabili, MD, FACS Otolaryngology UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine Los Angeles, CA	Christopher J. Nagy, MD Anesthesiology San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium Fort Sam Houston, TX
Jerry Rushton, MD, MPH Pediatrics Indiana University School of Medicine Indianapolis, IN	Jamshid Shirani, MD Cardiovascular Diseases St. Luke’s University Health Network Bethlehem, PA
Suzanne Woods, MD Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Duke University Hospital Durham, NC

The David C. Leach Award recognizes residents and fellows who have fostered innovation and improvement in their residency programs, advanced humanism in medicine, and increased efficiency and emphasis on educational outcomes. The recipients of this year’s David C. Leach Award are:

Jonathan Lim, MD Internal Medicine Baylor College of Medicine Houston, TX	Brett W. Sadowski, MD Internal Medicine National Capital Consortium Bethesda, MD
Srilakshmi Vallabhaneni, MD Internal Medicine Medstar Harbor Hospital Baltimore, MD	Stella K. Yoo, MD Radiation Oncology LAC+USC Medical Center Los Angeles, CA

The GME Institutional Coordinator Award recognizes an institutional coordinator that demonstrates in-depth knowledge of graduate medical education and the process for internal review. This person skillfully manages the multiple roles of administrator, counselor, enforcer, coordinator, organizer, and scheduler. The recipient of this year’s GME Institutional Coordinator Award is:

Michelle Valdez, MA
Naval Medical Center San Diego
San Diego, CA

The GME Program Coordinator Excellence Award is given to program coordinators in recognition of their in-depth understanding of the accreditation process, excellent communication and interpersonal skills, and projects to improve residency programs. The recipients of this year’s GME Program Coordinator Excellence Award are:

Denise M. Alton Pediatrics University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI	Melissa Beckman Surgery University at Buffalo School of Medicine Buffalo, NY
Linda Howell Pulmonary and Critical Care Emory University School of Medicine Atlanta, GA	Theresa Kiefer Pediatrics National Capital Consortium at Walter Reed National Medical Center Bethesda, MD
Denise Lesniak, MA Emergency Medicine MetroHealth Medical Center Cleveland, OH	Lisa M. Miller Internal Medicine University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI

The ACGME Awards Program is currently accepting nominations for the 2019 awards through March 30, 2018. The ACGME Board of Directors Awards Committee selects awardees.  More information at http://www.acgme.org.

The ACGME is a private, not-for-profit, professional organization responsible for the accreditation of approximately 10,700 residency and fellowship programs and the approximately 800 institutions that sponsor these programs in the United States. Residency and fellowship programs educate approximately 130,000 resident and fellow physicians in 154 specialties and subspecialties. The ACGME's mission is to improve health care and population health by assessing and advancing the quality of resident physicians' education through accreditation.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/aac8a830-d159-4de4-b5cd-a92b60116160

Contact:
Susan White, ACGME
c: 773.414.5383
[email protected]