John Sergent, M.D.
Sergent elected a Master of American College of Physicians
John Sergent, M.D., professor of Medicine and vice chair for Education in the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has been elected a Master of the American College of Physicians.
The honor was bestowed upon him recently at the group's annual national meeting in San Diego.
Masters comprise a small group (580) of highly distinguished physicians selected from the group's Fellows, who have achieved recognition in medicine by exhibiting preeminence in practice or medical research, holding positions of high honor or making significant contributions to medical science or the art of medicine.
Masters are authorized to use the letters MACP (Master of the American College of Physicians) in connection with their professional activities as long as their membership remains current.
“The department has enormous depth in the quality of its teachers and is proud of their role in making our training programs some of the very best,” said Eric Neilson, M.D., chair of the Department of Medicine. “Among all this excellence, it is particularly fitting to have true masters of the profession recognized at a national level; John Sergent is one of them.”
Sergent, who received both his undergraduate and medical degrees from Vanderbilt, has been on Vanderbilt's faculty since 1975. He rose to early prominence and national leadership in the field of rheumatology. Active in the American College of Rheumatology, he became president in 1992 and helped lead the college through its separation from the Arthritis Foundation.
At Vanderbilt, Sergent was appointed chief of the Division of Rheumatology from 1975-79, was Chief of Medicine at Saint Thomas Hospital from 1988-1995, and was Chief Medical Officer of the Vanderbilt Medical Group from 1995-2003. He was appointed to his current position in 2003.
Besides his accomplished career in the practice of medicine, Sergent has also had a long and distinguished career as an educator and a bedside teacher. He has received numerous teaching awards, including the most recent in 2006, a Vanderbilt University School of Medicine faculty teaching award, for “teaching medical students, residents and/or fellows in the clinical setting.”
He is also the four-time winner of the Brittingham Award for Excellence in Student Teaching from the School of Medicine.
Sergent says he is honored by the MACP designation.
“I consider myself very fortunate to have a career that includes both patient care and teaching and to be associated with such an outstanding institution as Vanderbilt,” he said. “Being recognized by my peers in this way is truly icing on the cake. It's a tremendous honor.”