Congratulations to Paige Armstrong, M.D., chief resident in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS), who was named the 2014 Alpha Omega Alpha (AΩA) Postgraduate Award winner.
Armstrong received the $2,000 award for her project, “The Effect of Self-reported Limited English Proficiency on Patient Care and Satisfaction in the Emergency Department.” She was mentored by Melissa McCarthy, ScD, associate professor of health policy and emergency medicine at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at GW. Armstrong is the second GW awardee for this relatively new grant opportunity from AΩA.
“In the current healthcare climate, it is critical that a national organization also acknowledge the value of providing equal and more comprehensive care to all populations” said Armstrong. “This award has been invaluable in supporting the project and its mission.”
In 2011, the board of directors of AΩA established the Postgraduate Award to encourage and support AΩA residents or fellows from programs or institutions with an active AΩA chapter or association to pursue a project in the spirit of the AΩA mission statement. Project applications were accepted in the categories of:
- Research: Support for clinical investigation, basic laboratory research, epidemiology, or social science/health services research.
- Service: Local or international service work, focusing on underprivileged or immigrant populations or those in the developing world, as well as patient and population education projects.
- Teaching and education: Research, development, or implementation of education academic curricula, with the focus on postgraduate education.
- Leadership: Leadership development.
- Humanism and professionalism: Projects designed to encourage understanding, development, and retention of traits of humanism and professionalism among physicians, directed to physicians in postgraduate training.
This year, nine applicants received awards to support their work.
