UH Manoa Geriatrics Fellowship Program Founder Wins National Award

Annual award honors only 10 recipients each year

CHICAGO — Patricia Blanchette, professor and chair of the Department of Geriatric Medicine and founder of the Geriatric Medicine Fellowship Program at the UH Mānoa John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM), is one of 10 individuals from across the country to receive the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education‘s (ACGME) 2005 Parker J. Palmer "Courage to Teach" award. The annual award honors residency and fellowship program directors for their dedication to teaching physicians in training.

"Good patient care depends on the whole doctor showing up, not just intellect," said David C. Leach, executive director of the ACGME. "These program directors are being celebrated because they have systematically promoted the formation of resident physicians in ways that foster humanism as well as exceptional competence."

The award is named after Parker J. Palmer, a noted sociologist and educator who wrote "The Courage to Teach," a book about the spiritual, emotional and intellectual aspects of teaching. Palmer also developed a teacher education program that has served as a model for teachers of physicians.

Blanchette is also a past recipient of the University of Hawaiʻi Alumni Association‘s Distinguished Alumni Award from both UH Mānoa and Leeward Community College. She credits the many excellent teachers at both campuses who have served as her role models throughout her own teaching career.

"Pat is an outstanding educator and magnificent physician as well. Her dedication to her students is remarkable," said Ed Cadman, JABSOM dean.

Blanchette and the other award recipients will be honored on Feb. 14, 2005, during ACGME‘s 2005 winter meeting in Chicago.

The ACGME is a private, non-profit organization that accredits about 8,000 medical residency programs in 27 medical specialties that educates nearly 100,000 medical residents. Its mission is to improve the quality of health care in the United States by ensuring and improving the quality of graduate medical education for physicians in training.