Society of Teachers of Family Medicine

2011 Award Winners

STFM Best Research Paper Award—

Patient Outcomes at 26 Months in the Patient-centered Medical Home National Demonstration Project

Carlos Jaen, MD, PhD; William Miller, MD, MA; Marivel Davila, MPH; Benjamin Crabtree, PhD; Paul Nutting, MD, MSPH; Kurt Stange, MD, PhD; Raymond Palmer, PhD; Robert Wood, DrPH; Elizabeth Stewart, PhD

Ann Fam Med 2010;8(Suppl 1):S57-S67.


Curtis Hames Research Award—Thomas Rosenthal, MD

Thomas Rosenthal, MD, began his career in 1978 as a rural family physician and has gone on to serve as the longest-tenured chair of the State University of New York at Buffalo’s Department of Family Medicine. The transition from country doctor to academic leader was fueled in large part by a passion for research. Dr Rosenthal has presided over development of a 30-plus member Primary Care Research Institute (PCRI) that emphasizes community engagement and has acquired national standing.  His own work, represented in more than 70 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and monographs, spans the range from early papers in chemistry journals through subsequent publications on important primary care issues such as cancer screening and Alzheimer’s disease. He has an ongoing interest in health services research related to rural health issues, health care organization, medical training, and workforce development.

Dr Rosenthal has consistently emphasized service as well as scholarship. He was director of the New York State Area Health Education Center System from its start in 1998 to 2010, and he continues as statewide medical director. He also is a member of the ACGME’s Review Committee for Family Medicine. Other initiatives include founding the Buffalo Family Medicine Residency’s Rural Health Campus in Olean, NY, the second such training model in America. He has served on numerous statewide and national panels including: the NY Rural Health Council, AAMC Task Force on Rural Health Education, NYS AFP Education Committee, the policy board of the National Rural Health Association and the Bioterrorism Task Force of the Medical Society of New York State. He sees patients in his department’s Jefferson Family Medicine Center, which serves a largely poor and minority neighborhood on Buffalo’s East Side.

STFM Advocate Award—Russell Robertson, MD

Russell Robertson, MD, is vice president for medical affairs and dean of the Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University. Previously, he served as professor and as chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Northwestern University and chair of family medicine at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.  He holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Michigan State University and an MD from Wayne State University.  He completed his family medicine residency in Grand Rapids, MI. After residency, he joined  the Medical College of Wisconsin where he had served as interim chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine and as the associate dean for faculty affairs.  

Dr Robertson was one of 17 physicians nationwide appointed to the Council on Graduate Medical Education by the US Secretary of Health and Human Services in 2003.  Now chair of the Council since 2008, he and his fellow members advise Congress and the Department of Health and Human Services on issues related to physician supply and distribution.  

Dr Robertson’s interest in medical education has evolved to an international level.  He was the director for Global Education for Northwestern’s Center for Global Health and looks forward to supporting CMS students with interests in global health.

STFM Innovative Program Award—Integrative Medicine in Residency Online Curriculum

The Integrative Medicine in Residency Online Curriculum is designed to be woven into the conventional training of primary care residents. The 200-hour online competency-based core curriculum fits into the usual residency training without the need of adding an extra year of training such as in the IFM/IMFR. The curriculum is modular and customizable by residency programs and offers a number of multimedia tools, for seamless education and point-of-care use. For the first time, integrative medicine is a required component of graduate medical education at eight residency sites around the nation.

Patricia Lebensohn, MD, is director of the Integrative Medicine in Residency project at the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine and an associate professor of Clinical Family and Community Medicine at the University of Arizona. She completed her medical, psychiatric, and family therapy training in Argentina at the School of Medical Sciences, University of Rosario in 1982. She completed her family medicine residency at St. Joseph’s Health Center in Syracuse, NY, and a fellowship in faculty development and integrative medicine at the University of Arizona. She served as UA Family Medicine Residency Program Director from 1999-2007, and now continues to teach family medicine residents and medical students at the University of Arizona.

STFM Excellence in Education Award—Randall Longenecker, MD


Randall Longenecker, MD, is a clinical professor of family medicine and assistant dean for rural medical education at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, he completed a family medicine residency at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical Center, University of Wisconsin. He has been a family physician in group practice in west central Ohio since 1982, including obstetrical care. His special interests lie in family-oriented perinatal care by family physicians, medical ethics, a reflective practice model of professional education and development, and rural medical education.

Since 1998, Dr Longenecker has been the residency program director of The Ohio State University Rural Program, designing, implementing, and refining an integrated rural training track in family medicine. In 2002, he created the Rural Health Scholars predoctoral program in leadership development for Ohio medical students with an interest in generalist rural practice. He was a founding member and subsequent organizational architect of the Rural Medical Educators group of the National Rural Health Association, continuing in the capacity of membership chair. He has served as chair of the STFM Group on Rural Health and has led theme days on the topics of family-oriented perinatal care and developing reflective practitioners. Since September of 2010, he has been project director for the Rural Training Track Technical Assistance Program, a national consortium of individuals and organizations funded by the federal Office of Rural Health Policy and committed to sustaining RTTs as a strategy in rural medical education.

STFM Recognition Award—Susan McDaniel, PhD

Susan McDaniel, PhD, is the Dr Laurie Sands Distinguished Professor of Families and Health. She is the associate chair of the Department of Family Medicine, and director of the Institute for the Family in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester, where she has been since beginning her career in 1980.  Her special areas of interest are behavioral/mental health in primary care, and family dynamics and genetic conditions. She is a frequent speaker at meetings of both health and mental health professionals. Dr McDaniel is the author of more than 80 journal articles and numerous book chapters, was coeditor with Tom Campbell, MD, of Families, Systems & Health for 12 years, and is now an associate editor of the American Psychologist. She coauthored or coedited Medical Family Therapy, Primary Care Psychology, Family-oriented Primary Care, and nine other books, which have been translated into eight languages.

Dr McDaniel has received many awards, the Donald Bloch MD Award for Outstanding Contributions to Collaborative Care in 2009, the American Psychological Foundation/Cummings PSYCHE Prize in 2007, and the Award for Distinguished Contribution to Education from the Association of Medical School Psychologists in 2004. She was the first psychologist to complete the Bureau of Health Professions Primary Care Policy Fellowship in 1998. A member of many professional organizations, she is on the Board of the American Family Therapy Academy and the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association.

F. Marian Bishop Award—Edward Shahady, MD

Edward Shahady MD, is a family physician who graduated from Wheeling Jesuit University and West Virginia University School of Medicine and is board certified in clinical lipidology. He has contributed more than 170 scientific articles and five books to the medical literature in the areas of diabetes, the metabolic syndrome, group medical visits, sports medicine, musculoskeletal medicine, behavioral science, physician retirement, Patient-centered Medical Home, and the contribution of family medicine to effective health systems. He serves on the editorial boards of Consultant, Pediatric Consultant, and the Journal of Clinical Lipidology. He also served as chair of the Department of Family Medicine at the University of North Carolina from 1976 to 1986. He has been a professor of family medicine at the University of North Carolina and Florida State University. His current academic appointments include clinical professor of family medicine at the University of Miami and University of Florida. Currently, he is semi-retired and serves as medical director of the Florida Academy of Family Physicians Foundation Diabetes Master Clinician Program.

Dr Shahady is a past president of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, the STFM Foundation, and the Florida Academy of Family Physicians Foundation. He is the current president for medicine of the North Florida-South Georgia chapter of the American Diabetes Association, current chair of the diabetes coalition for city of Jacksonville, member of the Mayors Council on Fitness and Governors Diabetes Advisory Committee for Florida.

He is the recipient of multiple awards, including the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Thomas Johnson Award, the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) Recognition award, the Art of Medicine award from the Florida Academy of Family Physicians, the American Association of Medical Colleges Humanitarian Award from Florida State University School of Medicine, and the Innovation in Practice Improvement Award from the AAFP and STFM for his work with the Diabetes Master Clinician Program.