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Medical students from Minn. and R.I. Receive Awards for Their Original Research

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, October 10, 2003

Contact:
Amanda Denning
American Academy of Family Physicians
(800) 274-2237, Ext. 5223
adenning@aafp.org

LEAWOOD, Kan. – Three medical students were recognized by the American Academy of Family Physicians for their original research projects during the AAFP Scientific Assembly in New Orleans, Oct. 1-5. Research projects were exhibited as descriptive posters.

Matthew C. Thompson from the University of Minnesota-Duluth School of Medicine received the first-place award in the Medical Student Poster category. Their study, “Ranking Applicants to Family Practice Residencies,” sought to determine which applicant characteristics family practice residency program directors identify as desirable. The authors presented analyses that compared and contrasted programs with differing missions and locations.

Second place in the Medical Student Poster category went to senior exhibitor Patricia D. Myung, M.D., from Brown Medical School, Providence, R.I., for her study, “Sexual Transmission of Hepatitis C.” Myung’s study helped identify recommendations physicians should give to HCV-positive patients and their partners.

An honorable mention was awarded to Theodore R. Ruzanic, also from the University of Minnesota-Duluth School of Medicine, for his medical student poster, “Diversity of Procedures Performed.” Ruzanic’s study compared the types of medical procedures performed in rural and urban family practice settings.

First- and second-place recipients received a monetary award in recognition of their achievement.

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Founded in 1947, the AAFP represents more than 93,000 physicians and medical students nationwide. It is the only medical society devoted solely to primary care.

Nearly one in four of all office visits are made to family physicians. That is 215 million office visits each year – nearly 48 million more than the next medical specialty. Today, family physicians provide the majority of care for America’s underserved and rural populations.

In the increasingly fragmented world of health care where many medical specialties limit their practice to a particular organ, disease, age or sex, family physicians are dedicated to treating the whole person across the full spectrum of ages. Family medicine’s cornerstone is an ongoing, personal patient-physician relationship focused on integrated care.

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