Annual awards honor outstanding program directors and designated institutional officials

CHICAGO, Apr. 21, 2008–The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education is now accepting nominations of program directors for the 2008-09 Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award and nominations of designated institutional officials for the 2008-09 Courage to Lead Award. The awards recognize distinguished teachers of residents and noteworthy designated institutional officials (DIOs) at hospitals and academic medical centers that sponsor residency programs.

The Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award is given annually to 10 program directors who have demonstrated dedication, effectiveness, and innovation in teaching residents. It is named after Parker J. Palmer, PhD, a sociologist and senior adviser at the Fetzer Institute who wrote The Courage to Teach and several other books.

The Courage to Lead Award is presented annually to three designated institutional officials, who are the individuals responsible for graduate medical education at a hospital or academic medical center. The award honors DIOs who create exemplary learning environments for residents; nurture the ethical, professional, and personal development of residents; and ensure good patient care. The DIOs are chosen in three categories of sponsoring institutions: small community hospital, large community hospital, and academic medical center.

The Courage to Teach and Courage to Lead award recipients will be honored at an awards ceremony held during the 2009 ACGME Annual Education conference, which will take place in Dallas March 5-8. Award winners will receive a plaque and check for $1,000. In addition, they will be invited to attend a retreat at the Fetzer Institute in Kalamazoo, Mich., in May.

Nominations are due July 2, and must include the application, curriculum vitae, and three letters of reference. The application forms are available on the ACGME website, www.acgme.org .

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The ACGME is a private, non-profit council that accredits approximately 8,100 residency programs in 126 specialties and subspecialties educating 103,000 residents. Its mission is to improve health care by assessing and advancing the quality of resident physicians’ education through accreditation.