Anna Person, MD, professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases, is the recipient of the 2024 Clinical Teacher Award from the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA).
The award honors a career involved in teaching clinical infectious diseases to fellows, residents or medical students, and recognizes excellence as a clinician and motivation to teach the next generation. IDSA awards were presented during ID Week, the organization’s annual convention, Oct. 16-19 in Los Angeles.
Person, the award citation reads in part, “has been a champion for empathy and equity in caring for patients, emphasizing the importance of teaching how social determinants of health intersect with infectious diseases. She models for her learners how to compassionately care and advocate for marginalized populations.”
The citation notes that Person created one of the first standardized patient curriculums for infectious diseases fellows, an enduring curriculum that has been published and widely shared.
Person attended medical school at George Washington University and did her residency in internal medicine at Duke University Medical Center. She completed an infectious disease fellowship at Duke in 2010, and subsequently joined the Vanderbilt Division of Infectious Diseases as faculty. Person currently serves as the director of education and faculty development in the Division of Infectious Diseases.
She sits on the board of directors for the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA), is co-chair of the Health Care Access Working group for HIVMA and previously served as the director of interprofessional education at the Southeast AIDS Education and Training Center, where she has helped shape the HIV curriculum for health care professionals and students in nursing, medicine, dentistry, social work and pharmacy in eight Southeast states. Her professional interests include care of transgender persons living with HIV, HIV clinical outcomes in Latin America, and health equity/advocacy.
The School of Medicine has recognized Person with the Candle Award and the William Schaffner Teaching Award. She has been inducted into both the Vanderbilt Academy for Excellence in Education and the Vanderbilt Academy for Excellence in Clinical Medicine.
