WASHINGTON (June 4, 2012) — The GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences congratulates Guillermo Sanchez, a student in the Physician Assistant (PA) program; and internal medicine residents Nishaki Mehta Oza, M.D., and Veeral Oza, M.D., for being named New England Journal of Medicine Scholars.
Sanchez and Drs. Oza and Oza were awarded the distinction of “NEJM Scholar,” based on their submission of an award winning essay or video/multimedia response answering the question: “In the last twenty years, the internet and social networking have brought profound changes in how information is communicated. How can we harness this technology to improve health?”
The GW PA student and residents are three of only 153 NEJM Scholars that were named. Submissions for the essay contest came from college students interested in a career in the health professions, medical students, students training in other health professions, or post-graduate students still in training programs. All of the scholars received an invitation to the NEJM 200th anniversary symposium in Boston, MA, on June 22, 2012. Dr. Nishaki Mehta Oza was named a “Gold Scholar” and also received a travel award to attend the symposium.
At the symposium, the scholars will take part in a full-day event that will be held on the campus of the Harvard Medical School that will explore how medicine has interfaced with society to improve people’s lives over the past two centuries. The topics that will be covered at the symposium include: HIV/AIDS, maternal and fetal health, heart disease and cancer – through moderated small panel discussions. There will be experts in the field to discuss how the face of the disease has changed over the past 200 years, health professionals whose endeavors have had an impact on the diseases and – most important – patients whose personal stories will illustrate the suffering the illness causes, the courage needed to face it, and how advances in medical knowledge can change lives.
