AAMC Humanism in Medicine Award

The AAMC Humanism in Medicine Award annually honors a medical school faculty physician (MD or DO degree) who exemplifies the qualities of a caring and compassionate mentor in the teaching and advising of medical students. The nominee must also possess the desirable personal qualities necessary to the practice of patient-centered medicine by teaching ethics, empathy, and service by example. The award is administered through the Organization of Student Representatives.

The goal of the award is to emphasize, reinforce, and enhance the importance of humanistic qualities among medical school students and faculty. The presence of a caring, compassionate, and collaborative learning environment serves as positive reinforcement to prospective physicians of the desirability of such qualities in the doctor-patient relationship.

2008 Recipient

Yolanda Hill Wimberly, M.D.
Medical Director and Professor of Pediatrics
Morehouse School of Medicine
Watch Dr. Wimberly's video on Humanism in Medicine

Selection Criteria

The criteria employed in the selection of the award recipient will include the assessment of his/her professional and personal skills, personal attributes, and professional and academic activities that provide evidence of the following five qualities and characteristics:

• Positive mentoring skills
• Involvement in community service
• Compassion / Sensitivity
• Collaboration with students and patients
• Modeling ethics of the profession

For more information go to: www.aamc.org/members/osr/humanism/criteria_addition.htm

Written nominations must provide evidence and documentation of the nominee's embodiment of these five qualities and characteristics. Nominations should also include academic, mentoring, advising, and counseling activities as well as specific examples of community service that demonstrate the nominee's effectiveness in role modeling the importance of these qualities to students, patients and faculty. Specific Selection Criteria

The Nomination and Selection Process

Each medical school will have the opportunity to nominate one physician faculty member (MD or DO degree). The nomination process will be conducted and supervised by the Organization of Student Representatives (OSR) in each medical school. The OSR representative will be responsible for distributing information to students within his/her institution by announcing the nomination process and describing the selection criteria. The OSR representative will appoint an institutional selection committee composed of medical student representatives of each of the four years of medical study. Upon completion of the selection process, the Dean of Student Affairs will be required to sign off on the institution's nominee. The OSR representative will notify the nominee of the award nomination.

The award selection committee is comprised of a maximum of six OSR Administrative Board members. AAMC staff serve as advisors to the selection committee. The selection committee will meet during the summer to select the national award recipient.

The Calendar

• The selection process will be completed by August 2009.
• The award recipient will be notified at the time of selection.
• All nominees for the award will be notified of the recipient and status prior to the AAMC Annual Meeting.
• The 2009 national award recipient will be announced and honored during the 2009 AAMC Annual Meeting in Boston.

The Award

The recipient of the AAMC Humanism in Medicine Award will be honored at an awards dinner held during the 2009 AAMC Annual Meeting and will be invited to speak to the Organization of Student Representatives about the importance of humanism in medicine. The award recipient will receive a grant of $5,000, and $1,000 will be donated to the nominating institution's OSR interest group in support of OSR-related activities.

For more information, contact:

Ally Anderson, M.A.
Manager, Student and Community Service Programs
Student Affairs and Programs
Association of American Medical Colleges
2450 N Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20037-1127

aanderson@aamc.org
202-828-0682

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