Mount Sinai School of Medicine awarded for its focus on the underserved
Mount Sinai School of Medicine (MSSM) will receive the Spencer Foreman Award for Outstanding Community Service at the AAMC's 120th annual meeting in Boston today. MSSM draws from its longstanding commitment to New York's most vulnerable populations, forging a new chapter in its history with a focus on underserved groups, minorities, adolescents, and home-bound, elderly patients. By weaving educational opportunities into its numerous outreach and community initiatives, Mount Sinai is not only eliminating disparities in care, but creating doctors who are aware and a part of their communities.
First female dean of U.S. dental school receives Nickens award
Jeanne C. Sinkford, D.D.S., Ph.D., associate executive director of the American Dental Education Association, oversees the association's Center for Equity and Diversity. She has coordinated grant programs for dental schools, which fund recruitment and retention of women and minority students and faculty and promote primary care, prevention, and public health through academic partnerships, mentorship, and community-based projects. And as the nation's first female dean of a U.S. dental school, she has trail-blazed new paths for both female and minority professionals. Sinkford has had a remarkable career dedicated to ensuring diversity in health care and for that she will receive the Herbert W. Nickens Award today.
Surgeon, professor, and military leader honored with humanism award
Jonathan Woodson, M.D., associate professor of surgery and associate dean for students, diversity, and multicultural affairs at Boston University School of Medicine, will receive the Arthur P. Gold Foundation Humanism in Medicine Award today. Woodson is not only a highly regarded vascular surgeon, but a decorated military leader, service-oriented academician, and esteemed mentor. As a medical educator, he is considered one of the "go-to deans" for new ideas and proposals and has helped students launch important projects, while emphasizing that physicians have a social contract to society and being good stewards of limited health care resources is an essential part of the job.
Penn dean, professor awarded for Flexnerian career
Arthur H. Rubenstein, M.B.B.Ch., dean and Robert G. Dunlop professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (Penn), will receive the Flexner Award for Distinguished Service to Medical Education today. Rubenstein's academic medicine career is said to epitomize what Abraham Flexner envisioned for the future of U.S. medical education, with a greater emphasis on research, an integrated, institutional focus on learning, and above all, a joy for the university environment and academic medicine as a profession. Rubenstein, according to his colleagues, is "the complete academic medicine physician leader."
Former NEJM editor awarded for work on COI
Ten years ago, Jerome P. Kassirer, M.D., decided to sign off as editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) rather than agree to an arrangement he believed would compromise the journal's integrity. Upon leaving, he promised readers he would "find some way to continue to contribute." Kassirer has made good on that promise by helping medical schools and teaching hospitals nationwide revise their conflict-of-interest (COI) policies, in addition to being published in several major medical journals and newspapers and lecturing on COI extensively in the United States and abroad. For his contributions, Kassirer, special assistant to the dean at Tufts University School of Medicine, will be awarded today with the David E. Rogers Award.
Creator of first AIDS blood test receives award
While most people hope to avoid viruses, Robert Gallo, M.D., has spent his waking hours pursuing them, saving millions of lives by developing the first test to diagnose AIDS. Today, as director of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Gallo leads more than 300 researchers who work toward innovative therapies and, ultimately, a preventive HIV vaccine. Founded by Gallo himself 13 years ago, the institute also provides AIDS treatment to patients throughout the United States, and under his leadership, has substantially expanded the school's reach from 200 to 5,000 patients. For his contributions, Gallo will receive the Award for Distinguished Research in the Biomedical Sciences today.
Four medical school professors receive national teaching award
Today the AAMC will honor four medical school professors, who are also mentors, role models, and friends to the students they teach and mold. The Alpha Omega Alpha Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teacher Award will be given to: Eugene C. Corbett, Jr., M.D., Anne L. & Bernard B. Brodie professor of medicine, professor of nursing, and assistant dean for clinical skills education at the University of Virginia School of Medicine; Erika A. Goldstein, M.D., M.P.H., professor of internal medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine; Ronald A. Arky, M.D., Charles S. Davidson distinguished professor of medicine and dean of curriculum at Harvard Medical School; and David A. Asch, M.D., M.B.A., Robert D. Eilers professor of medicine and health care management and economics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Wharton School.
House poised for vote on health care reform
The House of Representatives moved closer to a floor vote on health care reform legislation this week when Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Emeritus John Dingell (D-Mich.) filed a manager's amendment to the Affordable Health Care for America Act. House leadership promised members at least 72 hours to review the amendment before beginning floor consideration of the bill.
On Nov. 2, the AAMC sent a letter to House leadership and key committee chairs applauding their progress. The letter highlights the importance of additional investments in the physician workforce and a repeal of the sustainable growth rate used to calculate Medicare physician payments. It also praises House leaders for excluding an independent Medicare commission from their bill, "given the potential for unintended consequences … if Medicare payment policy is changed without adequate Congressional review."
House Democrats introduce physician payment legislation
Four House committee leaders introduced legislation to avert the scheduled 21.2 percent reduction in calendar year (CY) 2010 Medicare physician payments. The stand-alone bill is based on provisions that were approved as part of the House "tri-committee" bill on health care reform. Estimated to cost $210 billion over 10 years, the legislation would eliminate the accumulated Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) deficit associated with the CY 2010 cut and "rebases" Medicare physician payments using 2009 expenditures.
Before holding a final House vote on the new SGR bill, House leaders plan to add statutory provisions to the legislation that Congress must fully offset any new spending, but the requirement would not apply to the SGR fix. The House approved legislation that accomplished similar goals in July, but the Senate has not acted on the bill.
On the move
The University of Texas (UT) Southwestern School of Medicine has named J. Gregory Fitz, M.D., its new dean, effective Oct. 1. He also will serve as executive vice president for academic affairs at UT Southwestern and provost of UT Southwestern Medical Center.
A. Eugene Washington, M.D., M.Sc., has been named dean of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) David Geffen School of Medicine and vice chancellor of health sciences at UCLA, effective Feb. 1. Washington currently serves as executive vice chancellor and provost and professor of gynecology, epidemiology, and health policy at the University of California, San Francisco. Washington replaces Gerald Levey, M.D., who held both positions.
