The AAMC has launched a new debt management initiative called FIRST
for Medical Education. FIRST offers a full range of financial
information, resources, services, and tools for applicants, medical
school students, residents, advisors, and financial aid officers
(FAOs). The program, developed with input from the AAMC Group on
Student Affairs Committee on Student Financial Assistance and the
Organization of Student Representatives, aims to help medical school
students expand their financial literacy, make smart decisions about
student loans, and manage their student debt wisely. The FIRST program
offers a Web site with a number of resources including: "First Facts,"
short, informational sheets on a variety of financial aid related
topics; an FAO Lender Assessment Tool for financial aid administrators
to sort survey data based on loan industry-related criteria in order
to compare various loan programs; and a new Economic Hardship Deferment
Calculator for medical students and residents to estimate eligibility
for deferment. Future phases of FIRST will include streaming video,
podcasts, a comprehensive debt management curriculum and additional
Web-based tools.
Nominations sought for resident
community service award
The AAMC Organization of Resident Representatives (ORR) is seeking
nominations
for the 2008 Resident Community Service Recognition Award. This
annual award is given to a resident physician who has demonstrated
a commitment to community service above and beyond the rigors of
residency training to serve the needs of the community. Residents
enrolled at any AAMC-member institution are eligible for nomination.
The award will be presented at the association's annual meeting
on Nov. 1. The award includes a $1,000 contribution to the recipient's
non-profit charity of choice. Nominations are due June 30.
Women in Medicine program seeks award nominations,
poster submissions
The AAMC Women
in Medicine program is seeking nominations for the 2008 Women
in Medicine Leadership Award. The award recognizes individual and
organizational contributions to advancing women leaders in academic
medicine. Any member of the academic medicine community may nominate
one individual or organization for the award, which will be presented
during the association's annual meeting in San Antonio this fall.
Nominations are due June 6.
The Women in Medicine program is also soliciting submissions
of abstracts and posters to be presented at the AAMC annual meeting.
AAMC Women Liaison Officers, faculty affairs professionals, directors
of diversity programs, leaders of professional societies, and other
leaders in academic medicine are encouraged to submit abstracts.
Submissions are due June 6.
NIH awards next round of clinical,
translational research grants
Fourteen research institutions have been accepted into the National
Institutes of Health's (NIH) Clinical
and Translational Science Award (CTSA) consortium. Together
these institutions will receive $533 million over five years as
they work to reduce the time it takes for laboratory discoveries
to become patient treatments and to engage communities in clinical
research efforts. The 2008 awardees are: Albert Einstein College
of Medicine of Yeshiva University; Boston University; Harvard University;
Indiana University School of Medicine; Northwestern University;
Ohio State University; Scripps Research Institute; Stanford University;
Tufts University; University of Alabama at Birmingham; University
of Colorado Denver; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill;
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; and University
of Utah. These recipients will join the 24 institutional members
of the consortium.
On the move
Paul Rothman, M.D., has been named dean of the University of Iowa
Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, effective immediately.
He has served as head and professor of internal medicine at the
UI Carver College of Medicine and UI Hospitals and Clinics since
2004. He succeeds Jean Robillard, M.D., who is stepping down from
the deanship to focus on serving as UI vice president for medical
affairs.
Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., will step down as director of
the NIH's National Human Genome Research Institute, effective Aug.
1. He has served in this position since 1993, and now intends to
explore writing projects and other professional opportunities. Dr.
Collins is credited for leading the Human Genome Project, a public
effort to sequence the human genome.
