Dartmouth Medical School

For Release: March 31, 2005
Contact: DMS Communications (603) 650-1492

Dr. Richard Dow Receives "Courage to Teach" Award

HANOVER, NH -- Richard W. Dow, MD, chair of the department of surgery at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and professor of surgery at Dartmouth Medical School has been selected as a 2005 recipient of the Parker J. Palmer "Courage to Teach" Award, given by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME.)

Considered one of the most prestigious awards in graduate medical education, the award recognizes directors of residency programs who demonstrate their commitment to education through successful mentoring, program development, and program improvement.

Dr. Dow, of Sharon, VT, directed the general surgery residency program for Dartmouth Medical School and DHMC from 1995 to 2004. He was one of 10 award winners chosen by the ACGME from over 8,000 directors of graduate medical education programs nationwide. He and the other recipients received the award during a ceremony at the ACGME's winter board meeting in February. The award recipients will also attend an educational retreat in May at the Fetzer Institute in Kalamazoo, Mich.

"Dr. Dow really embodies the spirit behind this award," said Dr. Thomas Colacchio, president of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic. "He has been a teacher and mentor not only for his students, but for many of his colleagues, as well. He is generous with his time and considerable talents, reflective and thoughtful, and a great example of a physician-teacher."

The award is named after Parker J. Palmer, PhD, a noted sociologist and educator who wrote The Courage to Teach, a book about the spiritual, emotional and intellectual aspects of teaching. Dr. Palmer also developed a teacher education program that has served as a model for teachers of physicians.

The ACGME is a private, non-profit organization that accredits medical residency programs in 27 medical specialties that educate nearly 100,000 medical residents. 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.

"Good patient care depends on the whole doctor showing up, not just the intellect," said David C. Leach, MD, executive director of the ACGME. "These program directors are being celebrated because they have systematically promoted the formation of resident physicians in ways that foster humanism as well as exceptional competence.

-DMS-