just thought I'd pass this along!

GWISH ANNOUNCES SPIRITUALITY AND MEDICINE AWARD WINNERS

-$440,000 in Grants to Integrate Spirituality and Health-

WASHINGTON, DC — The George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health (GWish) is pleased to announce the winners of the 2006 GWish Spirituality and Medicine Awards for Curriculum Development for Medical Schools and Primary Care and Psychiatry Residency Programs. Twelve outstanding programs nationwide have been chosen to receive the awards. Four awards of $50,000 each are presented to medical and osteopathic schools, and eight awards of $30,000 each are presented to primary care and psychiatry residency training programs.

This innovative awards program, funded by the John Templeton Foundation, requires schools to implement organizational change, focus on innovations in research and support the integration of spirituality into undergraduate and graduate medical curricula. GWish Founder and Director Christina Puchalski, MD, has worked diligently during the past 15 years to integrate the teaching of spirituality and health into the medical school curriculum. The overall goal of these awards is to encourage the full integration of a more compassionate and humanistic approach to healthcare. Since the inception of the Awards Program, 111 awards have been given, and, currently, more than 100 of the nation’s 144 medical schools have courses in spirituality and medicine, up from three just 10 years ago.

The highly qualified, diverse applicant pool, representing schools of medicine and osteopathy from across the United States, were judged on a series of criteria related to innovation and excellence in curriculum development in the field of spirituality and health by an expert panel composed of physicians and leaders in medical education, many of whom hold appointments as medical school deans.

The three award categories and the awardees in each are as follows:

Spirituality and Medicine Award for Curriculum Development for Medical Schools

4-year/$50,000 award

Established in 1995 by the National Institute of Healthcare Research, this award is given to outstanding medical schools for their innovative and scholarly curricula in spirituality and medicine. This popular award program has been key in broadening medical and osteopathic school curricula to include the critical dimension of spirituality as it relates to compassionate care.

A. T. Still University

Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine

Course Director: Margaret Wilson, DO

State University of New York at Buffalo

School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences

Course Director: David M. Holmes, MD

University of Arizona

College of Medicine

Course Director: Jim Kerwin, MD

Yeshiva University

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Course Directors: Mimi McEvoy, MA, RN, NP, and Susan M. Coupey, MD

Spirituality and Medicine Award for Curriculum Development for Primary Care Residency Training Programs

3-year/$30,000 award

This award is designed to encourage the development of curricula specifically addressing spirituality in family practice and internal medicine.

Somerset Family Medicine

Family Medicine Residency Program

Course Director: Laura Micek-Galinat, MD, MPH

University of Arizona

Department of Family and Community Medicine

Course Director: Colleen Cagno, MD

University of California – San Diego

Department of Family and Preventive Medicine

Course Director: Margaret E. McCahill, MD

University of Wisconsin – Madison

Department of Family Medicine

Course Director: J. Adam Rindfleisch, MD

Spirituality and Medicine Award for Curriculum Development for Psychiatry Residency Training Programs

3-year/$30,000 award

This award is given for curricular innovations in outstanding psychiatric residency training programs that address spirituality and mental health.

Baylor College of Medicine

Menninger Department of Psychiatry

Course Director: Linda B. Andrews, MD

The George Washington University Medical Center

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Course Director: James Griffith, MD

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine

Department of Neuropsychiatry

Course Directors: Thomas F. McGovern, EdD, and Terry McMahon, MD

University of California – Irvine

Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior

Course Directors: Aaron Kheriaty, MD, and Charles Nguyen, MD

The George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health is a University-based organization. GWish is working toward a more compassionate system of healthcare by restoring the heart and humanity of medicine through research, education and policy work focused on bringing increased attention to the spiritual needs of patients, families and healthcare professionals.

GWish was established in May 2001 as a leading organization on educational and clinical issues related to spirituality and health. GWish Founder and Director Christina M. Puchalski, MD, associate professor of Medicine and Health Care Sciences, is changing the face of healthcare through innovative programs for physicians and other members of the multidisciplinary healthcare team, including clergy, chaplains, nurses, social workers and healthcare administrators. Her pioneering work has had a truly major impact on medical and professional education, as well as on clinical programs at local, national and international levels.

The George Washington University Medical Center is an internationally recognized interdisciplinary academic health center that has consistently provided high-quality medical care in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area for 177 years. The Medical Center comprises the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, the 11th oldest medical school in the country; the School of Public Health and Health Services, the only such school in the nation’s capital; GW Hospital, jointly owned and operated by a partnership between The George Washington University and Universal Health Services Inc.; and the GW Medical Faculty Associates, an independent faculty practice plan. For more information on GWUMC, visit www.gwumc.edu.

For more information on GWish, visit www.gwish.org