The CWRU School of Medicine has been awarded the 2003 Paul R. Wright Award in Medical Education for its exceptional focus on activism in medicine and for the integration of advocacy skills training into the medical education curriculum.

The American Medical Student Association's (AMSA) selection committee said it was particularly impressed with the variety and depth of opportunities to learn about advocacy through course work at CWRU.

Medical students Kyl Dinsio, Chris McCoy, Connie Liu and Alexander Tsai submitted the winning nomination. The application is posted on the Web at http://cwrusom.com/csr/links.aspx (click on link to AMSA PRW Application).

"I could not be more delighted that the medical students of Case Western Reserve nominated the school for the 2003 Paul R. Wright Award or more pleased that AMSA recognized our students' commitment to the interface between medicine and the larger society," said Ralph I. Horwitz, incoming dean of the School of Medicine. "Case Western Reserve has a student body that cares deeply about the care of the individual patient and the health of the public, about the individual practice of medicine and the civic responsibility of the profession of medicine. We look forward to continuing our efforts to prepare our students for leadership roles in American medicine."

AMSA established the Paul R. Wright Excellence in Medical Education Award in 1992 to recognize annually a medical school, nominated and chosen by the nation's medical students, whose exemplary achievements in medical education best foster the development of socially responsive physicians. Each year, the area of concentration changes to reflect a different dimension of medical education. The award encourages medical students to take an active part in recognizing their schools for exemplifying certain ideals in medical education.

The award will be presented at AMSA's 53rd Annual National Convention on March 22 in Washington, D.C. CWRU medical students are invited to share in the presentation. CWRU's AMSA chapter has received $2,500 to support student travel to AMSA's convention for the purpose of showcasing the school's program.

AMSA, with a half-century history of medical student activism, is the oldest and largest independent association of physicians-in-training in the United States