Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society | Graduation Honors and Awards
Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) is a national Honor Medical Society. Its purpose is to recognize and perpetuate excellence in the medical profession. Its goals are to promote scholarship and research in medical school, to encourage high standards and conduct, and to recognize high attainment in medical science, practice, and related fields. Its motto is: "Worthy to serve the suffering."
The University of Washington has an AOA Chapter which consists of faculty and student members. A faculty councillor is appointed to chair the AOA meetings and provide leadership for the Chapter's activities, which typically include service projects both within the School of Medicine and in the community beyond.
Student members are elected during the last two years of medical school. By national guidelines, a student must be in the top twenty-five percent of the class to be eligible for election. This determination of eligibility involves an assessment of the percent of Honors achieved in the required curriculum. Scholastic excellence is not the only criterion however, for election into AOA. Evidence of personal and professional development as a physician-in-training, integrity, compassion, fairness in dealing with one's colleagues, and capacity for leadership are considered to be of equal significance. Students elected into AOA are those who, in the judgment of the local chapter, have shown promise of becoming leaders in their profession. By national guidelines, the total number of students that can be elected from a class may not exceed sixteen percent (16%) of the number graduating.
The UWSOM AOA Chapter coordinator is Laura Ellis, lbellis@u.washington.edu, (206) 685-7974.
Graduation with Honors and School and Deparment Awards
Graduation with Honors and School award recipients are determined and selected by the Honors and Awards Committee, which is chaired by the Student Affairs Dean. Students are notified of their graduation distinction in early May.
Department awards are determined by the respective departments and students are notified directly.
School awards:
This award, selected by the graduating class, was established by the graduating Class of 1983 with the intent that subsequent classes may honor each year a graduate who has provided inspiration to classmates, staff, and faculty by successfully managing both the academic demands of medical education and continued excellence in other endeavors in her or his life.
The James W. Haviland Award for clinical excellence is presented to the graduating senior who has demonstrated outstanding clinical competence and who holds unusual promise as a leader of medicine in the future.
The Kirby Award is given to the graduating senior who has demonstrated outstanding dedication to her or his studies and clinical work, and has shown compassion for patients that is embodied in the ideal physician.
This award is given in recognition of superior clinical competence, outstanding promise as a teacher in the field of medicine, and demonstration of sensitivity to the needs of both individuals and institutions.
- Virginia Mason Medical Center Award
This award is presented to the graduating medical student who has demonstrated outstanding ability to blend knowledge, judgment, and compassion in the care of patients.
Department awards:
- Association for Academic Surgery Student Research Award
This award is given to a graduating student in recognition of superior accomplishment in biomedical research as a medical student and to commemorate the beginning of a productive career as a surgical scientist.
This prize is awarded to the student who has shown outstanding achievement in anesthesiology. The prize was established in honor of Dr. Bonica with funds provided through the University of Washington Anesthesia Alumni Association by donations from its graduates and from others acquainted with Dr. Bonica and his teaching.
The Codman Award is given to the medical student most likely to make academic contributions to the field of orthopaedic surgery by demonstrating creativity, the ability to write/communicate clearly, the ability to define a question and make a plan for answering it, the ability to read the literature critically, the ability to present effectively to a live audience and professionalism.
This award is presented annually to the senior medical student appearing most clearly to possess those special qualities of warmth, understanding, compassion, and concern for the needs of others as exemplified by, and expressed throughout, the life of Dr. Robert Evans. This award was established by friends and acquaintances to honor Dr. Evans, who was professor of medicine.
- Group Health Student Award
This award was established in 2007 and is given to a graduating senior who has demonstrated innovation in health care delivery and practice and who exemplifies the values of scientific discipline, integrity, pioneering spirit, and stewardship.
- Henry N. Harkins Award for Excellence in Surgery
The purpose of this award is to recognize a medical student who has completed outstanding clinical work on the surgical services and has demonstrated a strong interest in pursuing training in a surgical discipline. Attributes considered for selection include: clinical knowledge, skills, and judgment as well as educational attitude and interpersonal relationships during the clerkship.
This is given to the medical student who best represents the characteristics we value in orthopaedic surgeons: Professionalism, integrity, the ability to communicate effectively, teamwork, clinical skill, technical skill, and life balance.
- Frederic C. Moll Prize in Pediatrics
This prize was established by Mrs. Margaret H. O'Donnell in 1957 in honor of Dr. Frederic C. Moll for a fourth year medical student who has done outstanding work in the field of pediatrics. Mrs. O'Donnell gave this award in token of her esteem for and admiration of Dr. Moll as a physician and teacher. The award winner is selected by the Department of Pediatrics, and the winner's name is inscribed on a plaque.
- Margaret H. O'Donnell Prize in Psychiatry
The purpose of this prize is to recognize and encourage medical students who have done outstanding academic work in the discipline of psychiatry. Among the attributes considered important for selection are clinical skills and judgment, scholarship, and research.
- Theodore J. Phillips Award for Excellence in Family Medicine
This award was established in 1976 by the King County Academy of Family Physicians. It is awarded to the graduating student who best epitomizes the ideals of family practice and for academic excellence.
- Seattle Academy of Internal Medicine Award
This award was first made in 1968. It is given to the student or students who gave the best performance in internal medicine and who shows the greatest promise of becoming an outstanding internist.
- Seattle Gynecological Society Award
This award is presented to a medical student for outstanding research in obstetrics and gynecology.
- Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Excellence in Emergency Medicine Award
This award is given to a graduating senior who has demonstrated excellence in the specialty of emergency medicine.
- Washington Academy of Family Physicians Award/Alfred O. Berg Award for Excellence in Research
This award is presented annually by the Washington Academy of Family Physicians and Department of Family Medicine to a senior medical student in recognition of outstanding research in family medicine.
- Wyoming Medical Society Top Graduate
This award is presented every spring to the top graduating senior from Wyoming.