The Department of Medicine held its Eighth Annual Beckwith Family Awards ceremony on Tuesday, May 5, 2009. It followed the Beckwith Visiting Professorship Lecture where Robert M. Wachter, M.D., was the guest lecturer presenting "Consequences (Expected and Otherwise) of the Quality and IT Revolutions." Dr. Wachter is Professor of Medicine, Associate Chairman and Chief of the Division of Hospital Medicine, Lynne and Marc Benioff Endowed Chair in Hospital Medicine at the Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco and Chief of the Medical Service at the UCSF Medical Center.

This is the 8th year that the Department of Medicine has given awards to recognize superb teaching by its faculty on behalf of the Beckwith Family Fund. The Beckwith Family Research and Education Fund was established at Brown Medical School through generous gifts to endowment from the Beckwith Family Foundation. It is used to support the education and research mission of the Department of Medicine, with an emphasis on the education and training of medical residents. The recipients are nominated and chosen by students, residents, physicians, program and course directors in the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University Department of Medicine. Each winner was presented with a plaque and a cash prize.

The Eighth Annual Alpert Medical School Department of Medicine Beckwith Family Awards for Outstanding Teaching were awarded to the following faculty members:

Marc Laufgraben, MD, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine
Josiah Rich, MD, Professor of Medicine & Community Health
Peter Karczmar, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine
Angelina Carvalho, MD, Professor of Medicine Emerita
Douglas Shemin, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine
John O'Bell, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine
Elizabeth Toll, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics & Medicine