April 11, 2008
AMA Foundation honors physician from Puerto Rico as an outstanding leader in medicine
(Chicago) – Débora Silva, MD, from San Juan, Puerto Rico, has been named a recipient of the American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation’s 2008 Leadership Award. This award provides medical students, residents/fellows, early career physicians and established physicians from around the country with special training to develop their skills as future leaders in organized medicine and community affairs.
The AMA Foundation honored 56 individuals with the award at its annual Excellence in Medicine Awards ceremony on March 31 in Washington DC. Presented in association with the Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative, recipients of the award are recognized for demonstrating outstanding non-clinical leadership skills in advocacy, community service and education.
Débora Silva, MD, is an associate professor in the department of pediatrics and the curriculum office director at the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine. Her interests range from emergency room pediatrics, to curriculum reform, to clinical skills and faculty development. She directed the Clinical Skills Development Office from 2001 to 2005. During those years she implemented clinical skills curriculum reform and the use of standardized patients in different levels of the curriculum. In 2005 she became the curriculum office director and is now involved in the expansion of the faculty development program and the development of a “residents-as-teacher” curriculum.
“Through their committed efforts to advancing health care in their communities, these men and women have shown tremendous potential for joining the next generation of medical leaders,” said Barbara Rockett, MD, president of the AMA Foundation. “Whether the issues are political or social, I am confident that these talented people will provide solid leadership in the interest of improving health care delivery in our country.”
As the philanthropic arm of the American Medical Association, the AMA Foundation is committed to supporting programs in medical education, research and public health. For more information, please visit www.amafoundation.org or call 312-464-4200.
For more information, please contact:
Dina Lindenberg
dina.lindenberg@ama-assn.org
312-464-4193