Cambridge Health Alliance Physicians Receive Mentoring Awards from Harvard Medical School
Pictured left to right, Rachel Stark, MD, director of the CHA Internal Medicine Residency, and Somerville Campus Primary Care physician Pieter Cohen, MD.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard Medical School’s Office for Diversity Inclusion and Community Partnership selected two Cambridge Health Alliance physicians to receive 2019 Excellence in Mentoring Awards. These honors celebrate faculty who deliver quality mentoring relationships that have an impact on professional development and career advancement in clinical medicine, research and teaching.
Rachel Stark, MD, director of the CHA Internal Medicine Residency and Instructor of medicine at HMS, was named a recipient of the 2019 Young Mentoring Award. The award was established to recognize faculty who are still in the early stages of their career but are devoting time to providing mentoring.
Joan Reede, MD, Dean for Diversity and Community Partnership at HMS, read an excerpt from a student nomination letter at the event. The student said, “Rachel is incredibly thoughtful in shaping her feedback to the learner in front of her. She has been a formative part of my development as a physician. Her high standards, a deep sense of justice, and thoughtful guidance have and will continue to shape the kind of physician I become.”
Somerville Campus Primary Care physician and HMS associate professor of medicine Pieter Cohen, MD, received the A. Clifford Barger Excellence in Mentoring Award. Each year, HMS faculty members, house officers, fellows and students nominate mentors who have provided sponsorship and supported personal and professional development.
Gaurab Basu, MD, MPH, CHA primary care physician, instructor of medicine at HMS and co-course director of the CHA Internal Medicine Social Medicine & Research-Based Health Advocacy course, presented the award to Dr. Cohen. Dr. Reede read the following statement provided by Dr. Basu: “Dr. Pieter Cohen has a well-deserved reputation for being challenging and demanding, but he expertly dials his expectations to precisely what the trainee can accomplish, and then challenges the trainee to be their own personal best. He helped me remain committed to my own practice and career at times of personal stress and near burnout. Every trainee becomes a better doctor by working with him, and many become his lifelong friend and colleague in the process.”