Boston - A group of resident physician leaders at Boston Medical Center (BMC) have been recognized by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education for incorporating health equity into graduate medical education programming. Granted to pediatrics residents from BMC and Boston Children’s Hospital’s Boston Combined Residency Program (BCRP) Urban Health and Advocacy Track (UHAT), the prestigious 2022 David C. Leach Award is being given in recognition for the Health Equity Rounds curriculum that addresses the impact of racism and bias on clinical care.
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) is presenting the award to Beverly Aiyanyor, MD, Rohini Jain, MD, and Neha Limaye, MD, who were all resident leaders of the Health Equity Rounds program during the 2020-2021 academic year. The annual award recognizes residents and fellows who have fostered innovation and improvement in their programs, advanced humanism in medicine, and increased efficiency and emphasis on educational outcomes.
Established in 2016 by a group of pediatrics residents at BMC, Health Equity Rounds is a resident-led case-based conference series with a curriculum that facilitates interdisciplinary education and discussions to openly address racism and bias that affects patient and family encounters and clinical care outcomes. Health Equity Rounds was founded on the notion that it was critical to have a space for these discussions that spanned from the trainee to faculty level in order to promote culture change across the department and improve our overall communication and ability to make an impact in this space.
“This award is a testament to the tremendous efforts of our resident leaders to ensure that health equity is incorporated into grand rounds,” said Bob Vinci, MD, Chief of Pediatrics at Boston Medical Center. “It is critical to ensure that our doctors understand how racism and bias can impact patient outcomes, and the space provided during grand rounds facilitates open and honest discussions about how to address these issues in practice.”
Vinci and Catherine D. Michelson, MD, MMSc, a pediatrician at BMC and program director of the BCRP, nominated this group of residents for the award. Heather Hsu, MD, MPH, and Caroline Kistin, MD, MSc, both pediatricians at BMC, served as faculty mentors and supported the residents on these efforts.
While ACGME only presents awards to current residents, this award acknowledges the tremendous efforts of residents and attending physicians who have developed and led Health Equity Rounds over the past five years, including: Thomas Kuriakose, MD; Jamie Lim, MD; Sabrina Karim, MD; Alyssa Robinson, MD; Larissa Wenren, MD; Catherine Coughlin, MD; Karina Javalkar, MD; Tolulope Rosanwo, MD; Sonia Taneja, MD, MSc; Katherine Douglas, MD; Amanda Nelson, MD; Nisha Dalvie, MD; Cara Guenther, MD; Alexandra Pottorff, MD, MPH; Janani Sundaresan, MD, MSc; Ayesha Dholakia, MD; Tyler Rainer, MD; Daniel Zheng, MD; Alexandra Power-Hays, MD; Faraz Alizadeh, MD; Cynthia Akagbosu, MD; Destiny Tolliver, MD; Yuan He, MD, MPH; Stephanie Donatelli, MD; Camila Mateo, MD, MPH; Katie Nash, MD; Joanna Perdomo, MD; Amanda Stewart, MD, MPH; Heather Hsu, MD, MPH; and Caroline J Kistin, MD, MSc.
“It is an absolute honor to have the Health Equity Rounds Team named as recipients of the ACGME David C. Leach Award,” said Beverly Aiyanyor, MD, a pediatric resident with the Boston Combined Residency Program during the 2020-2021 academic year. “Our goal is to use medical education as a tool to combat implicit bias and racism and to empower ourselves with the skillset to do so. This recognition informs others in the national graduate medical education community about this crucial work and sends a message that this work is valued and needed for our patients.”
All of the ACGME annual award recipients will be featured in the Awards Hall at the 2022 Annual Educational Conference, being held virtually March 30 - April 1, 2022.
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About Boston Medical Center
Boston Medical Center (BMC) is a private, not-for-profit, 514-bed, academic medical center that is the primary teaching affiliate of Boston University School of Medicine. It is the largest and busiest provider of trauma and emergency services in New England. BMC offers specialized care for complex health problems and is a leading research institution, receiving more than $166 million in sponsored research funding in fiscal year 2019. It is the 13th largest funding recipient in the U.S. from the National Institutes of Health among independent hospitals. In 1997, BMC founded Boston Medical Center Health Plan, Inc., now one of the top ranked Medicaid MCOs in the country, as a non-profit managed care organization. Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine are partners in Boston HealthNet – 12 community health centers focused on providing exceptional health care to residents of Boston. For more information, please visit http://www.bmc.org.
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