Baltimore, MD, September 24, 1998 - The Pew Health Professions Commission, led by former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, today honored leaders of the nation's health care system who have made outstanding contributions to the field of primary care.

Fitzhugh Mullan, MD, former director of the U.S. Health Resources Services Administration's Bureau of Health Professions, presented the prestigious 1998 Primary Care Achievement Awards at the Primary Care Education for the 21st Century: Lessons from National Initiatives meeting, held in Baltimore. The Primary Care Achievement Awards are the only awards that recognize the country's leading primary care providers, researchers and educators. The Commission established the awards program five years ago to recognize the often-unheralded innovations and achievements that primary care has spawned to our system of care.

The Primary Care Awards program is funded by a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts and administered by the Center for the Health Professions at the University of California, San Francisco. Each award carries with it a $5,000 prize.

"Primary care is the cornerstone of our health care system, and its practitioners are increasingly responsible for meeting people's health needs," Mitchell said. "Too little commendation is accorded primary care leaders because primary care, by design, isn't glamorous or revolutionary. But it is absolutely indispensable to the well-being of every one of us."

The recipients of the 1998 Primary Care Achievement Awards are:

Education Category

Joel Alpert, MD, of the Boston University School of Medicine
University of New Mexico School of Medicine Primary Care Curriculum

Patient Care Category

John W. Runyan Jr., MD ,of Memphis, Tennessee

Research Category

Bernard Ewigman, MD, MSPH of the University of Missouri-Columbia
Pediatric Research in Office Settings (PROS)

Honorable mentions for the 1998 awards are:

Education Category

Dr. Jack Colwill of the University of Missouri-Columbia, who was one of the first educators to emphasize interdisciplinary training and clinical work with patients.

The Interdisciplinary Generalism Curriculum Executive Committee, which is a collaboration of 20 primary care organizations that aims to increase the number of medical students choosing careers in the field.

Patient Care Category

Drs. Richard Gibbs and Patricia Hellman Gibbs, who gave up their private practice five years ago to create the San Francisco Free Clinic, which offers free health care to several thousand uninsured patients each year.

The Center for the Health Professions at the University of California, San Francisco is a national center committed to changing the health care workforce. The Center assists health care professionals, health professions schools, care delivery organizations and public policy makers in responding to the challenges of educating and managing a health care workforce capable of improving the health and well being of people and their communities.

The Pew Health Professions Commission, a program of the Center, works to assist policy makers and education institutions produce health care professionals who meet the changing needs of the American health care system.

The Pew Charitable Trustssupport non-profit activities in the areas of culture, education, the environment, health and human services, public policy and religion. Based in Philadelphia, the Trusts make strategic investments that encourage and support citizen participation in addressing critical issues and effecting social change. In 1997, with more that $4.5 billion in assets, the Trusts awarded $181 million to 320 non-profit organizations.

Dr. Joel J. Alpert, president-elect of the American Academy of Pediatrics, has been an internationally recognized leader of primary health care and its education for over three decades – ever since he co-authored the seminal report The Education of Physicians for Primary Care. He helped shape a residency program that was an early model for training students in primary care at Boston University School of Medicine, where he is a professor of pediatrics and public health.

The University of New Mexico School of Medicine initiated its world-renowned Primary Care Curriculum long before any other medical school adopted a problem-based, student-centered approach to teaching primary care. The Primary Care Curriculum was created in 1979 to better serve the needs of the state's diverse population, particularly the vast and sparsely populated rural areas. Over the years, it has grown from an experimental program to the foundation of the present innovative medical curriculum at the university.

Dr. John Runyan Jr., dismayed by the quality of care provided to the underserved in Memphis, created a system of neighborhood health clinics that made primary care accessible and affordable. This clinic system was one of the first reorganizations of health care delivery that demonstrated a reduction in morbidity and mortality in the population. Dedicated to improving primary care, Dr. Runyan also founded the department of family medicine at the University of Tennessee, Memphis.

Dr. Bernard Ewigman of the University of Missouri-Columbia is one of the rising stars in the field of primary care research, and his career as a researcher, educator and practicing physician has emphasized translating groundbreaking research into effective care for underserved populations. He has proven to be an invaluable consultant and mentor to university research departments and individual researchers across the country, and has chaired numerous research committees of primary care professional organizations.

The Pediatric Research in Office Settings (PROS) network, which consists of over 1,400 practitioners, is making a crucial difference in the health care of children by producing studies of primary care as it is delivered in pediatric practices. Studies released by PROS – which have included analyses of preschool vision screening, of management of febrile infants, and of the management of children with psychosocial problems – are affecting national policy about pediatric primary care.