Awards

Griffin P. Rodgers
Dr. Griffin P. Rodgers is Director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) at the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Rodgers is internationally renowned for his pioneering work in sickle cell disease (SCD). His hydroxyurea research led to the first FDA-approved treatment for SCD, significantly reducing painful crises, hospitalizations, and patient mortality. This work continues to have a global impact, particularly in resource-limited settings, such as sub-Saharan Africa, where hydroxyurea has been proven to be safe and effective. Beyond his contributions to hydroxyurea therapy, Dr. Rodgers has advanced the field through his innovative stem cell transplant regimen, which has reversed SCD in many patients. Dr. Rodgers’ leadership as Director of NIDDK, managing a $2.5 billion budget and overseeing a staff of more than 700, is instrumental in advancing the treatment and prevention of chronic diseases affecting millions worldwide. The NIDDK has expanded its research portfolio and addressed disparities in health care for underserved populations. Dr. Rodgers has demonstrated a commitment to mentoring the next generation of physician-scientists and promoting diversity within the biomedical workforce. He has contributed to ACP’s mission of fostering excellence in medical care and education, serving on the ACP Awards Committee and the Hematology Subspecialty MKSAP Committee. Dr. Rodgers has received prestigious awards, including election to the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and receipt of the Scroll of Merit Award from the National Medical Association.  

Sue S. Bornstein
Sue S. Bornstein, MD, MACP, FRCP, is past Chair of the Board of Regents of the American College of Physicians and the current Chair of the ACP delegation to the AMA. She was recently named Chair of the ACP Executive Vice President Search Committee. Dr. Bornstein is a long-standing leader in internal medicine in Texas and currently serves as the Executive Director of the Texas Medical Home Initiative and is coleader of the Texas Primary Care Consortium. She is a graduate of the Texas Tech School of Medicine, and she completed her residency at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. Dr. Bornstein has served on numerous committees of the College and organized medicine in Texas. She is the recipient of numerous awards for service from state and national organizations. 

Paul L. Kimmel
Dr. Paul Kimmel is a senior nephrologist and clinical investigator whose career has spanned over 4 decades of impactful, patient-focused science. Currently serving at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, he previously held faculty positions at the University of Pennsylvania and George Washington University, where he directed a laboratory focused on renal physiology, mineral metabolism, and immune regulation in dialysis patients. Dr. Kimmel’s early work on HIV-associated nephropathy helped define the pathogenesis and treatment of this condition, with seminal papers published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), Kidney International, and the American Journal of Kidney Diseases. He later pioneered the concept of the AKI-to-CKD transition, a now widely accepted model in nephrology, and led foundational reviews in NEJM and Kidney International. As an NIH project scientist, he was part of a team that was instrumental in identifying the APOL1 risk variants in African Americans and continues to guide studies, such as the APOLLO transplant study and the Kidney Precision Medicine Project. He has received the Belding H. Scribner Award from the American Society of Nephrology, NIH Director Awards, and Mastership in the American College of Physicians. He is also the author of The Body’s Keepers (Mayo Clinic Pres; 2023), a book about the history of kidney failure and its social context. His mentorship has launched numerous academic careers, reinforcing his lasting legacy in both science and education. 

DC Central Kitchen
DC Central Kitchen is a pioneering nonprofit and social enterprise based in Washington, DC, dedicated to combating hunger and poverty through the transformative power of food. Since its founding in 1989, the organization has redefined traditional charity by combining nutritious meal distribution with job training, workforce development, and community health initiatives. At the heart of DC Central Kitchen’s mission is its acclaimed culinary job training program, which equips adults facing high barriers to employment—including those recovering from incarceration, homelessness, and addiction—with the skills needed to secure living-wage jobs in the food service industry. To date, the program has graduated more than 2,400 individuals. DC Central Kitchen prepares and delivers millions of balanced, scratch-cooked meals each year to schools, shelters, and social service agencies, while promoting food justice through programs like Healthy Corners, which brings fresh produce to neighborhoods with limited grocery access. Its Healthy School Food program serves breakfast, lunch, and supper in more than 30 schools in DC, supporting childhood nutrition and long-term health. The organization views hunger as a symptom of poverty and poor health, not an isolated issue. Its work addresses the broader social determinants of health—ensuring that nutritious, dignified food and economic opportunity are accessible to all. Widely recognized for its innovative model, DC Central Kitchen has received multiple national honors and continues to inspire systemic change in food access and health equity across the country.

Jose M. Muniz
Dr. Jose Muniz earned his medical degree at the University of Havana, Cuba, and moved to the United States to complete internal medicine residency at NYU Nassau Hospital. He then moved to Florida and started clinical practice at Hollywood Medical Center, becoming Medical Director and Chair of the Board of Directors. He was recruited by Cleveland Clinic Florida in 1996 as Medical Director, with expertise in maritime and international medicine. He became Founding Program Director for internal medicine residency and Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine. He has served as Emeritus Program Director for years and leads daily resident teaching rounds and core didactics. Dr. Muniz established the yearly Cleveland Clinic Intensive Internal Medicine Board Review course in 2010, which became a highly successful review course attracting national and international attendees and is currently based in Cleveland Clinic Ohio, where he remains a primary facilitator. In addition to GME teaching, Dr. Muniz is an avid medical student educator. He is a core educator for the FIU Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, where he teaches preclinical classes and clinical clerkship didactics in multiple specialties and facilitates small group tutoring and mentoring. He also has been an educator for FAU Schmidt College of Medicine and inspires students and faculty to pursue academic careers. Dr. Muniz received Mastership in the American College of Physicians in 2013 and continues to support multiple physicians who seek promotion to Fellow. He also facilitates high-level CME reviews for ACP Florida meetings. He is passionate about medicine, and one of his primary goals is to stimulate excitement in the field.  

Kenneth P. Steinberg  
Kenneth P. Steinberg is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He currently serves as Vice Chair of Education in the Department of Medicine and previously directed the Internal Medicine Residency Program from 2007 to 2024. Dr. Steinberg earned his BA in biology from Colgate University and his MD from New York Medical College. He completed his residency and chief residency at Boston University Medical Center and fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Washington. A nationally recognized leader in critical care and medical education, Dr. Steinberg held key roles in the NIH/NHLBI ARDS Clinical Trials Network, including major studies on corticosteroids and ketoconazole in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). He has authored more than 60 peer-reviewed publications and contributed to numerous book chapters on acute lung injury, critical care, and medical education. His research has advanced understanding of ARDS pathophysiology, treatment, and long-term outcomes. Dr. Steinberg has received multiple honors, including the Dr. Paul B. Beeson Award for teaching excellence and Presidential Citations from the Society of Critical Care Medicine. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and American College of Chest Physicians and has served on editorial boards and national committees shaping critical care and residency education. Dr. Steinberg has been a member of his Chapter Council for more than 10 years and continues to help coordinate outreach to residency programs in the Chapter.

Jeffrey R. Strich
Jeffrey Strich graduated from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, followed by training in internal medicine (Georgetown University Hospital) and dual fellowships in infectious disease (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) and critical care medicine (NIH Clinical Center). He practices critical care medicine at the NIH Clinical Center and also at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. Dr. Strich began his academic career focusing on antimicrobial use and misuse and antimicrobial resistance. He published widely cited studies using large database analyses to determine the impact that highly drug-resistant gram-negative bacilli have on the utilization of novel antibiotics. When the COVID-19 pandemic occurred, Dr. Strich shifted focus and became the lead site investigator for pivotal trials assessing immunomodulation for patients with COVID-19. He became interested in why immunomodulators are effective, and he built a basic and translational team that allowed him to quickly develop new insights into the role of innate immunity and in particular the role of neutrophils on organ damage due to SARS-CoV-2. These insights have led to his current work focused on the role of neutrophils in bacterial sepsis where he uses a series of approaches, including human clinical trials, nonhuman primate models, and in vitro mechanistic work to study sepsis therapeutics and pathogenesis.

Bhavin Adhyaru      
Bhavin Adhyaru is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Emory University and an attending physician at Grady Memorial Hospital. He teaches learners at all levels and has focused his career on evidence-based medicine and quality improvement and patient safety, lecturing on these topics at the institutional, regional, and national levels and serving as Medical Director for Clinical Informatics at Grady. His teaching philosophy centers on developing reflective, evidence-based, and systems-aware physicians prepared to lead in dynamic health care environments. Dr. Adhyaru has been consistently recognized as an outstanding educator. He twice was recognized for receiving perfect inpatient teaching evaluations, was named Best Inpatient Attending four times, and received the highest residency program teaching awards three times.  At the medical school level, he was one of only six recipients of the annual SOM Dean’s Teaching Award in 2014, was elected to the SOM Academy of Medical Educators, and has held the coveted position of Society Advisor in the SOM since 2019. Dr. Adhyaru has been an active member of the American College of Physicians since 2010 and currently serves on the national Early Career Physicians committee. He was President of Early Career Physicians for the Georgia Chapter of ACP, where he also serves on the Education and Planning Committee and the Governor’s Advisory Council. At the regional ACP level, he won the J. Willis Hurst Outstanding Bedside Teacher Award and the Mark Silverman Award for demonstrating excellence in teaching and serving as an inspiration for young physicians.  

Vincent F. Capaldi II    
Vincent F. Capaldi, II, ScM, MD, FACP, is Professor and Chair of Psychiatry at Uniformed Services University. He also holds the position of senior medical scientist at the Center for Military Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, and Program Director for the combined internal medicine and psychiatry residency program at the National Capital Consortium. Dr. Capaldi’s research focuses on sleep, particularly its intersection with PTSD, TBI, and poststroke depression, as well as psychopharmacology, drug development, and biomarkers of mental illness. His work is supported by significant funding, including a $30.9 million grant for the SAFEGUARD program and a $6.3 million grant for research on resilience to sleep loss. Past roles include Director of the Center for Military Psychiatry and Neuroscience and Director of the Behavioral Biology Branch at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. He has also served as theater behavioral health consultant in Baghdad, Iraq, and officer in charge of the Warrior Restoration Center in Afghanistan. Dr. Capaldi is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. His honors and awards include the Army ACP COL William Crosby Superiority in Research Award, the Major General Harold J. “Harry” Greene Award for Acquisition Writing, and the Army Surgeon General Physician Recognition Award. He is also a member of Alpha Omega Alpha, the medical honor society. Dr. Capaldi has mentored numerous trainees and physicians as coauthors on abstracts presented at Tri-Service and national ACP meetings for nearly a decade.

Nayan K. Kothari  
Nayan K. Kothari, MD, MACP, FRCP (Edin), served as Chair of the Department of Medicine at St. Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick from 1996 to 2023. He also served as the Program Director of St. Peter’s Internal Medicine Residency Program from 1986 to 2023. Dr. Kothari was instrumental in establishing the St. Peter’s Simulation Center for Interprofessional Learning in 2016. The Simulation Center promotes the development of a multidisciplinary approach to patient care. Within the Center, medical residents, medical students, nurses, and other health care personnel participate in supervised, hands-on training in practices and procedures, maintenance of certifications, and in dealing with complex and newly introduced protocols that can save lives. Training is conducted in real time and with simulated patients. As Governor of the New Jersey ACP Chapter (2020–2024), Dr. Kothari revitalized and expanded educational efforts beyond the annual scientific meeting. He introduced a POCUS course for residents, initiated a virtual annual subspecialty update for attendings and residents, and established enhanced career planning and mentoring conferences for medical students and residents across the Chapter. Dr. Kothari has received numerous teaching awards from the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Drexel University College of Medicine, the Edward J. Ill Outstanding Medical Education Award from the Excellence in Medicine Foundation, and the Academic Award from the Middlesex County Medical Society. In 2023, his international contributions were recognized with the Presidential Medal for Medical Education from the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, a distinction rarely awarded to U.S.-based educators.

Eliza L. Chin      
Dr. Eliza Chin, MD, MPH, MACP, is a distinguished physician leader, educator, and advocate for women in medicine. She earned her BA with highest honors in biochemistry from UC Berkeley, her MD from Harvard Medical School, and her MPH from Columbia University. Dr. Chin completed her internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and is Board-certified in internal medicine. A practicing internal medicine physician and former faculty member at Columbia and UCSF, Dr. Chin has held leadership roles in clinical care, medical education, and professional advocacy. Since 2012, she has served as Executive Director of the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA), where she has launched initiatives in medical humanities, physician reentry, sex and gender health education, and global women’s health. Under her leadership, AMWA has gained international recognition and partnered on major national summits addressing curricular reform, human trafficking, and women’s health equity. Dr. Chin was awarded Mastership in the American College of Physicians, is a Fellow of AMWA, and is treasurer of the Medical Women’s International Association. She has cofounded multiple exhibitions highlighting the history and impact of women physicians, including Faces of AMWA and Women Physicians in World War I. A sought-after speaker, she has presented at global forums including side events at the United Nations, World Health Assembly, and numerous academic institutions. She is the editor of This Side of Doctoring: Reflections from Women in Medicine and is a contributor to scholarly work on gender equity and women’s health in medical education.

Kerri Palamara 
Kerri Palamara, MD, MACP, is the Gill and Allan Gray Family Endowed Chair in Internal Medicine and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is a primary care general internal medicine physician at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), where she completed her primary care internal medicine residency after earning her medical degree at New York Medical College. Dr. Palamara’s academic career began in residency program leadership as an Associate Program Director and Primary Care Program Director at MGH. Her passion for physician well-being and professional development led her to direct the Department of Medicine’s Center for Professional Well-being and co-lead the MGH Workplace Well-being Collaborative. She now serves as the Department of Medicine’s Assistant Medical Director of Well-being at Mass General Brigham (MGB) and co-leads the MGB ELEVATE Physician Leadership Program, advancing well-being–centered leadership development across the health system. A national leader in physician coaching, Dr. Palamara directs the American College of Physicians’ (ACP) Physician Peer Coach Training Program and designs coaching curricula and offerings for ACP members. She also created and directs the MGH Physician Coaching Program, recognized with Harvard Medical School’s Culture of Excellence in Mentoring Award and highlighted by the AAMC as a model program for reducing resident burnout. This program has now expanded to more than 40 residency and fellowship programs nationwide. Dr. Palamara frequently delivers faculty development workshops on clinician well-being, coaching, and leadership; serves on the board of CHARM (Collaborative for Healing and Renewal in Medicine), and co-leads CHARM’s GME Well-being Leaders CME Course and Coaching Network. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Palamara played a key role in MGH’s response, codirecting its first respiratory illness clinic and serving as co-Medical Director of the Boston Hope field hospital. Her contributions to medical education and physician well-being have been recognized with numerous teaching awards from MGH, Harvard Medical School, Mass General Brigham, the Society of General Internal Medicine, and ACP, where she has been honored with Mastership.

Althea M. Aquart-Stewart 
Dr. Althea Aquart-Stewart attended Wolmer’s Girls School. She completed her BSc in chemistry and biochemistry at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona. She went on to attain her MBBS, class of 1987, and her DM (internal medicine) in 1996. She did her fellowship training in pulmonology with critical care at the University of Toronto between 1999 and 2001. At Island Medical offices, she offers consultations in internal medicine and pulmonology. Other services offered include bronchoscopy and biopsy and pulmonary function testing and interpretation. Dr. Aquart-Stewart is a consultant physician and pulmonologist at the University Hospital of the West Indies. She is an Associate Lecturer in the Department of Medicine, UWI. She is passionate about teaching and mentoring students and maintaining the delivery of quality patient care, despite limited resources. She has served on numerous committees in the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences and Research and was instrumental in establishing a critical care unit on the medical floor. Dr. Aquart-Stewart is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and member of the American College of Chest Physicians. She is the President of the Association of Consultant Physicians of Jamaica and the principal investigator in the international BOLD (Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease) Project.