Mitch Edwards elected as ACP Fellow
Dr. Mitch Edwards, clinical instructor at VA Puget Sound Health Care System, is the latest GIM faculty member to be elected a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. Fellowship in the ACP is a peer-reviewed and peer-supported credential that recognizes ongoing dedication to the profession of internal medicine, care of patients, and service to communities.
Edwards’ election is in recognition of years of teaching, leadership, scholarly work, and contributions to ACP activities.
Highlights of his work include his time teaching. Edwards taught as a chief resident at the VA Long Beach Healthcare System (affiliated with UC – Irvine), has presented at conferences and journal clubs, and served as a mock residency interviewer. Since 2020, he spends 10–13 weeks per year on the inpatient internal medicine wards service at VAPSHCS as the teaching attending for medical residents and students.
Leadership activities valued by the ACP include Edwards leading several quality improvement projects, receiving the “Patient Safety ‘Good Catch’ Award” from VAPSHCS in 2022, serving on SGIM’s high value care committee since 2020 and VAPSHCS’s emergency management committee since 2022, and completing the VA’s Explorations in Leadership program in 2021. Finally, for scholarly work, he has taken on peer review duties for the Journal of General Internal Medicine since 2021 and published a case report.
On the recent honor, VA Section Head Paul Cornia states, “We were fortunate to recruit Dr. Edwards following his Chief Resident in Quality and Safety year. In addition to being an excellent clinician and dedicated educator, Dr. Edwards is a key member of our section’s quality and process improvement efforts. His election to ACP Fellow is well deserved and I am excited for him.”
How can other physicians become ACP Fellows? To add “FACP” to your credentials, you must
- have at least 3 years’ experience post-residency,
- be an ACP member in good standing for 3 of the past 4 years,
- be board certified in internal medicine or neurology,
- have an active medical license in good standing (if in clinical practice), and
- demonstrate activity in 3 of the 4 pillars of Fellowship.
ACP also offers early career physicians a Guided Fellowship Program option that follows a three-year plan and waives enrollment fees thanks to a grant from the ACP Member Insurance Program.
Additionally, Washington ACP Governor Chris Knight and Idaho ACP Governor Lisa Inouye are happy to answer questions about the organization and the process.