The Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine’s APM Council will award Vanderbilt’s Nancy Brown, MD, the 2018 Robert H. Williams, MD, Distinguished Chair of Medicine Award during the APM Winter Meeting, March 18-21 in San Antonio.
The association’s highest honor, the Williams Award recognizes a physician who has demonstrated outstanding leadership as the chair of a department of internal medicine at a medical school.
Brown, Hugh Jackson Morgan Professor and chair of the Department of Medicine, is described by her nominator as “a highly committed leader who is able to balance and advance a diverse portfolio of priorities. She has overseen the recruitment of seven new division chiefs during her tenure, including four women.
“She is a highly effective listener and communicator who clearly articulates her goals to division leaders and to faculty. She is an advocate for diversity in all forms, and a champion for healthcare and the academic enterprise. We are proud and honored to work with her, and are excited for the future of the Vanderbilt Department of Medicine under her leadership.”
In selecting a recipient, the APM council gives predominant attention to progress made by the candidate in the administration of a department of internal medicine. Overall contributions to academic internal medicine made by the candidate in the areas of education, research and patient care are considered as well.
Brown was the first woman to be named chair of the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt, a position she’s held since 2010.
She began her medical residency at Vanderbilt in 1986 and was the 1991-92 Hugh J. Morgan Chief Medical Resident. In the ’90s, with the late Tom Hazinski, MD, she developed and led Vanderbilt’s Master of Science in Clinical Investigation program; in 2006 she was named associate dean for physician scientist development; and in 2009 she became chief of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology.
Prior Vanderbilt recipients of the Williams Award include Grant Liddle, MD, and Eric Neilson, MD.
