Joyce Wipf receives David M. Worthen Award for Excellence in Health Professions Education

The David M. Worthen Awards for Excellence in Health Professions Education are the most prestigious educational awards presented by Veterans Health Administration (VHA). They are named after the late David M. Worthen, MD, former head of Academic Affairs, board-certified ophthalmologist, established academician, surgeon, researcher and inspirational leader of VA’s education mission. 

Dr. Joyce Wipf has received the Career Achievement Award, which recognizes an outstanding health professions trainee education champion whose lifetime contributions have profoundly advanced and had widespread impact on the educational mission of VHA.

Wipf is a professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine and the Section Chief for General Internal Medicine at the VA Puget Sound Healthcare System.

Wipf created the “Resident as Teacher” course in 1992 to prepare second-year medicine residents for their roles as educators and leaders. This one-day day course has been held annually at the University of Washington for the past 28 years and replicated at many other institutions across the country.

She has been nationally recognized for this novel curriculum, receiving the 1996 Society of General Internal Medicine National Award for Innovation in Medical Education. She also led the Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine “Resident as Teacher” task force from 2005 to 2010 and served on the American College of Physicians National Education Committee from 2002 to 2007 and 2015 to 2017.

In addition, in 2011 Wipf spearheaded the creation of Seattle’s VHA Center of Excellence (CoE) in Primary Care (one of five in the nation funded by the Office of Academic Affiliations) in partnership with the University of Washington Schools of Medicine and Nursing.

Under her leadership, the CoE has integrated health professions education by establishing a team-based approach to education and patient care that includes internal medicine residents, advanced practice nursing students and residents, psychology fellows, pharmacy residents and social work interns.

Several of her CoE innovations have had national impact, including the development of a population health panel management curriculum that has been disseminated widely across the nation to both VA-based and university-based sites.

Source: US Department of Veterans Association