ACGME establishes GME Program Coordinator Excellence Award
New award will honor outstanding program coordinators

CHICAGO, June 22, 2009 –The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education has created a new award, the GME Program Coordinator Excellence Award, which will be given annually to five notable program coordinators.

Program coordinators – also known as residency coordinators, program administrators or assistant directors – assist program directors, manage administrative tasks, and prepare the documents needed for site visits. The new award is designed to recognize their key role in and contributions to the successful functioning of residency programs.

To be eligible for the award, program coordinators must be a coordinator for an ACGME – accredited program that has full or continued full accreditation and have at least five years of experience in the role. Nominees will be evaluated on their communication and interpersonal skills, understanding of the accreditation process, skill in organizing the ACGME Program Information Form (PIF), and contributions to improving graduate medical education and promoting communication among coordinators, program directors and residents/fellows. Nominees should also actively participate in program coordinator associations or other national conferences and committees.

Award applications are due Aug. 3, and must include a completed application form and four letters of recommendation – one each from current resident/fellows, the program director, the designated institutional official or chair of the graduate medical education committee, and any person involved in graduate medical education who can attest to the nominee’s excellence as a program coordinator. The application form can be downloaded from the ACGME website, www.acgme.org

The ACGME Awards Committee will choose the five recipients at its September meeting. Awardees will receive a check for $1,000 and a plaque. In addition, the ACGME will pay their travel expenses and registration fees for the 2010 ACGME Annual Educational Conference, which will be held March 4-7 in Nashville, Tenn.

For more information, contact Marsha Miller at mmiller@acgme.org

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The ACGME is a private, non-profit council that accredits approximately 8,500 residency programs in 127 specialties and subspecialties educating 108,000 residents. Its mission is to improve health care by assessing and advancing the quality of resident physicians’ education through accreditation.