ACGME accepting nominations for Courage to Teach and Courage to Lead awards
Annual awards honor outstanding program directors and designated institutional officials

CHICAGO, May 7, 2010 –The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education is accepting nominations for the 2011 Courage to Teach and Courage to Lead awards. The deadline for submitting nominations is July 1.

The Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award is presented each year to 10 notable program directors who embody ”the courage to teach,” demonstrate excellent leadership and mentoring skills and meet other criteria. The award is named after Parker J. Palmer, PhD, a distinguished sociologist and teacher who wrote The Courage to Teach.

The Parker J. Palmer Courage to Lead Award is given each year to three distinguished designated institutional officials–the people who are responsible for all residency programs in a sponsoring institution. One award is given to a designated institutional official in each of three categories: small hospital, large hospital and tertiary academic medical center.

Recipients of the Courage to Teach and Courage to Lead awards will receive $1,000 and a plaque, along with registration and travel to the 2011 ACGME Annual Educational Conference. At the conference, which will be held March 3-6 in Nashville, Tennessee, they will be honored at a luncheon. In addition, they will be invited to attend a retreat next May at the Fetzer Institute in Kalamazoo, Michigan, which will focus on physician formation.

Nominators must submit an application form, the nominee’s curriculum vita and three letters of support. The application form and instructions are posted on the ACGME website, www.acgme.org.

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The ACGME is a private, non-profit council that accredits approximately 8,800 residency programs in 130 specialties and subspecialties educating 112,600 residents. Its mission is to improve health care by assessing and advancing the quality of resident physicians’ education through accreditation.