December 21, 2007

SIU School of Medicine Faculty Receive National Honors

Dr. Regina A. Kovach, associate professor of internal medicine at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, received the Ruth-Marie E. Fincher, M.D. Service Award at the Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine (CDIM) national meeting in Pennsylvania in October.

The CDIM is the national organization representing teachers of internal medicine to medical students.  The award has been presented since 1998 and is given to a CDIM member who has contributed greatly to the association.  Kovach was nominated by her internal medicine colleagues for her “outstanding and ongoing service to the CDIM.”

Kovach was named to the SIU faculty in 1991.  She earned her medical degree from SIU School of Medicine (1976) and her bachelor's from SIU Carbondale (1968).  She is board certified by the American Boards of Internal Medicine and of Emergency Medicine.

Dr. Cynthia G. Thomas, assistant professor of family and community medicine at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, was honored as one of 42 national finalists for the 2007 Humanism in Medicine Award at the annual meeting of the Association of American Medical Colleges.  The award was presented in November in Washington, D.C.

Presented through support of the Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative, the award singles out faculty physicians who are positive and caring role models whom students can emulate as they advance the ideals of humanism in medicine.

Thomas was nominated by SIU medical students who said that as a family practitioner, she is “a teacher and clinician who treats her patients with the utmost respect and dignity and is a good role model.  She has inspired numerous students to go into family medicine and also to be committed to the underserved population.  She also is very active in the community.”
Thomas joined the SIU faculty in 1998.  She completed a one-year faculty development fellowship at the University of California San Diego (2001).

Thomas earned her medical degree at SIU and completed her family practice residency at SIU’s Springfield program (1991, 1994).  She earned her bachelor’s at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1987).

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