The AAMC received the 2023 Friends of Pathology Award on July 18 at the Council of the Association of Pathology Chairs (APC) annual meeting in Chicago.
In unanimously recognizing the AAMC, the APC noted the singular importance of the AAMC’s advocacy efforts in six key areas of mutual interest: increasing National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding, appropriately regulating laboratory-developed tests in academic health care, supporting sound immigration policy for International Medical Graduates and faculty, valuing differential diagnosis and proper test utilization in medical education, enhancing recruitment strategies for physician-scientists, and cultivating diversity and equity in health care. AAMC colleagues who were instrumental in the work recognized by the APC include Senior Director of Government Relations and Legislative Advocacy Len Marquez; Heather Pierce, JD, MPH; and former colleague Christa Wagner. AAMC Chief Public Policy Officer Danielle Turnipseed, JD, MHSA, MPP, and Marquez were in attendance to receive the award from Dani Zander, MD, president of the Association of Pathology Chairs and Lydia Howell, immediate past president.
The biennial Friends of Pathology Award was established in 2007 to recognize the important roles played by nonpathologists in supporting and communicating the value of laboratory medicine in patient care. Past awardees have included Senator Edward M. Kennedy, former NIH Director Francis Collins, MD, PhD, the Brookings Institution, and New York Times reporter Katherine Wu.