Duke Graduate Medical Education

Due Date: April 3, 2012

The Ralph Snyderman, MD GME Research Award was established September 1, 2004. The goal is to encourage and recognize excellence in research involving graduate medical education. Winners are acknowledged by a prize of $1000 and their name on a plaque.

Ralph Snyderman, MD, is Emeritus Chancellor for Health Affairs at Duke University, President and CEO of Duke University Health System and James B. Duke Professor of Medicine. He oversaw the development of the Duke University Health System, one of the few fully integrated academic health systems in the country. He was a passionate advocate for medical education and excellence in teaching He is past Chair of the Association of American Medical Colleges' Council of Deans and past Chair of the AAMC.

Dr. Snyderman accepted his first faculty appointment at Duke University Medical Center in 1972 as a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator, assistant professor of medicine and immunology, and Chief of Rheumatology at the Durham Veteran's Administration Hospital. He rose through Duke's academic ranks, becoming chief of the Division of Rheumatology and Immunology in 1975. By 1984, Dr. Snyderman became the Frederic M. Hanes Professor of Medicine and Immunology. Dr. Snyderman is internationally recognized for his contributions in inflammation research, and he continues to contribute to the body of scientific knowledge. In 1987, Dr. Snyderman left Duke to join Genentech, Inc., a biomedical technology firm in San Francisco, as vice president for medical research and development. A year later he was promoted to senior vice president. While at Genentech, he led the development and licensing several novel therapeutics and supervised 300 staff members working in pharmacology, clinical research and regulatory affairs. He returned to Duke as Chancellor of Health Affairs in 1989.

Dr. Snyderman has received numerous honors and awards, including an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Downstate Medical Center of the State University of New York and a lifetime achievement award from the Arthritis Foundation. He also is a member of the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine. Dr. Snyderman stepped down as chancellor for health affairs and president and CEO on June 30, 2004.

Eligible projects:
Eligible research covers broad areas of concern to academic medicine. Pertinent topics include policies affecting the educational milieu, educational trends affecting or likely to affect medicine, descriptions of innovations in medical education and training. Articles can include medical informatics, information and medical technologies, the history of medical education and humanities topics such as ethics. The projects must have substantial contributions from at least one GME trainee (intern, resident or fellow).

Examples of eligible projects include: evaluation of the impact of a new curriculum on resident knowledge and skills, using PDAs to increase quality of trainee "hand offs" at the end of call, using standardized patients to measure trainee's skills at "communicating bad news", using the patient simulator to teach and assess anesthesia skills, the impact of duty hours on teaching/learning, the history of a program at Duke, an evidence based review of the literature on a particular assessment strategy.