SHM presented its 2005 national awards of excellence to four hospitalists whose work and research have contributed significantly to hospital medicine and to the betterment of hospital care across America. The award winners, who were recognized at the SHM annual meeting in Chicago, included:
- Sunil Kripalani, MD, MSc, assistant professor, Division of General Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, and attending physician and assistant director for research, Hospitalist Program, Grady Memorial Hospital, both in Atlanta, GA– recipient of Young Investigator Award.
- Shaun Frost, MD, FACP, assistant professor of Medicine, University of Minnesota Medical School, and hospitalist, HealthPartners Medical Group and Clinics, Regions Hospital, St Paul, MN– recipient of Clinical Excellence Award.
- Joseph Ming Wah Li, MD, hospitalist and director of the Hospital Medicine section, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA– recipient of Outstanding Service in Hospital Medicine Award.
- Jeff Wiese, MD, associate professor of medicine, associate chairman of medicine, director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program, Tulane University Health Sciences Center, and chief of medicine, Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans and Charity Hospital, New Orleans, LA– recipient of Excellence in Teaching Award.
Dr. Kripalani has established himself as one of the leading investigators in the field of patient literacy and its impact on health outcomes. He has been the recipient of more than $1 million in grant funding, including a prestigious K23 Patient Oriented Research Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to examine the relationship between health literacy and medication adherence after hospital discharge. He is currently the principal investigator on a randomized trial of two low literacy interventions designed to improve medication adherence among patients with coronary heart disease, funded by the American Heart Association. In addition, through a Pfizer Health Literacy Scholar Award, he has established a training program to improve physician communication with low literacy patients.
Dr. Kripalani has authored over 20 scientific and educational publications, including articles in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Journal of General Internal Medicine, and American Journal of Preventive Medicine. He serves as a reviewer for several prominent medical journals and has reviewed grants for the NIH. Dr. Kripalani has lectured at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Georgia Hospital Association, SHM, and Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM), where he coordinates the health literacy interest group. He is also serving as an associate editor of the upcoming book, Hospital Medicine Secrets, and coeditor of an upcoming special issue on health literacy for the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
In addition to these activities, Dr. Kripalani has proven himself a dedicated champion of SHM, contributing substantial time to research efforts at SHM, including the SHM Research Committee, Continuity of Care Task Force, Abstract Committee, Advisory Board Young Hospitalists Section, and the research section of SHM’s The Hospitalist publication.
After graduating summa cum laude from Rice University in 1993 with a BA in Psychology, Dr. Kripalani received an MD with honors from Baylor College of Medicine in 1997. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Emory University in Atlanta in 2000, where he also completed one of the nation’s first Hospital Medicine Fellowships, including a Master of Science in Clinical Research.
Dr. Frost has dedicated himself to the advancement of clinical knowledge through clinical teaching and scientific publication. He is a member of the Regions Hospital Palliative Care Service and Patient Safety Committee, was a lead participant in a “Lean” implementation team on inpatient testing results, and was selected as the leafter of Regions Hospital “Best Care, Best Experience” work team on provider support. He is also currently participating in the development and implementation of inpatient “Prepared Practice Teams,” a model of multidisciplinary rounding to enhance communication among physicians, nurses, case managers, social workers, and pharmacists.