January 23, 2003

BIRMINGHAM, AL - Dr. C. Bruce Alexander, director of the medical residency program in pathology at UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) has been named one of 11 winners of the 2003 Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach award.

The award, bestowed by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), honors medical residency program directors who have shown their commitment to graduate medical education through their outstanding work in mentoring and teaching physicians in training and developing and improving residency programs.

The award is named for Parker J. Palmer, Ph.D., a sociologist and educator who wrote The Courage to Teach, a book about the intellectual, emotional and spiritual aspects of teaching.

The ACGME received more than 200 nominations from medical residents, faculty and deans at academic medical centers. From those nominations, the ACGME's executive committee chose 11 program directors to receive the award, which will be presented at the ACGME winter meeting February 11-12 in Chicago.

According to the ACGME Web site, Alexander was lauded by nominators as "an example of a selfless 'servant-teacher.' He is fair, accessible and open-minded. Students respect him for his love of them and his dedication to their welfare."

Alexander, who is professor and vice chair of the department of pathology at UAB, earned his medical degree from the University of Virginia School of Medicine in 1971 and received post-graduate training at Cleveland Metro General Hospital and at Duke University Medial Center. He joined the faculty of UAB in 1979.

The ACGME accredits about 7,800 medical residency programs in 26 medical specialties. Its mission is to improve the quality of health care in the United States by ensuring and improving the quality of graduate medical education for physicians in training.