Excellence in patient care and skill in internal medicine and radiology were recognized with the presentation of three annual faculty and student awards at the School of Medicine 2002 convocation Sunday.

The Alwin C. Rambar-James B.D. Mark Award for Excellence in Patient Care was presented to Michael D. Amylon, MD, professor of pediatrics. The award recognizes "compassion in dealing with patients and their families, excellence in providing medical treatment, and effectiveness and pleasantness in interactions with ancillary patient-care staffs."

Professor and chair of pediatrics Harvey J. Cohen, MD, PhD, noted that Amylon "represents what is best in a physician and teacher. He is knowledgeable, compassionate, dedicated and always available to both his patients and his students. Many Stanford students have found in him the role model of the kind of physician they want to be.

"I am honored to have him in our department," said Cohen.

Amylon directs the bone marrow transplant program at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and participates in the adult BMT program at Stanford as well. He received his medical degreee from Stanford in 1976 and completed pediatric residency training and a postdoctoral fellowship in hematology/oncology in 1981, also at Stanford.

His research activities and clinical work focus on pediatric oncology and bone marrow transplantation, diagnosis and treatment of T-cell lymphomas, and improvement of outcomes in transplant patients with complications from acute graft-versus-host disease. Amylon has served on numerous committees at Stanford and regionally and nationally as well including with the Pediatric Oncology Group.

The Rambar-Mark award recipient is chosen by a committee of faculty and community physicians, house staff, students, nursing personnel and patient-relations representatives. It honors the late Alwin C. Rambar, MD, a Chicago-area pediatrician associated with Stanford, and James B.D. Mark, MD, professor of cardiothoracic surgery (emeritus) and son-in-law of Rambar.

The Allen B. Barbour Award for Excellence in Internal Medicine was granted to graduating medical student Sarah Ann Schmidt, MD. The Barbour award, given by the Department of Medicine, recognizes "commitment to continuous self-improvement, meticulous care of patients and concern for the whole person."

Medical school associate dean Elliott S. Wolfe, MD, clinical professor of medicine, noted that Schmidt "has the requisite attributes of the exceptional physician. Her highly evolved clinical sense and judgment are far beyond that expected from a medical student. Her ability to analyze the several complicated issues of a patient in the ICU and develop a plan of action reveals natural talent in medicine."

Schmidt will begin her postgraduate training in internal medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

The award in internal medicine was established in 1994 for the late Allen B. Barbour, MD, a longtime faculty member who served as chief of Stanford's diagnostic clinic and as the medical school's first ombudsperson. He was known for his devotion to patient advocacy and humanistic care.

The Norman Blank, MD, Award was granted to graduating medical students John Kyungjin Lyo, MD, and Patricia Rausch Geraghty, MD. Presented by the Department of Radiology, the Blank award recognizes outstanding performance in radiology or radiology research.

Chair and professor of radiology Gary Glazer, MD, and radiology professor Robert Mindelzun, MD, said department faculty mentors describe Lyo as "a tireless investigator" with "a cheerful and inquisitive outlook" and "an independent, self-starting approach to research problems."

Lyo is currently in Barcelona, Spain, conducting a study under a supported traveling grant. He will continue postgraduate work at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York and at Yale, where he will complete his diagnostic radiology residency. He is the recipient of the Hounsfield Award of the Society of Computed Body Tomography and Magnetic Resonance.

Radiology mentors describe Rausch-Geraghty as one who demonstrates "compassion, intelligence, energy, dedication, a desire to increase learning and a deep interest in the basic fundamentals of disease processes," noted Glazer and Mindelzun. She is the recipient of a stipend from the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and will present her work at the 2002 ISMRM annual meeting in Hawaii. She will begin postgraduate training at St. Mary's Hospital Medical Center in San Francisco and then return to Stanford to complete a residency in diagnostic radiology.

The award in radiology was established in 1999 for the late Norman Blank, MD, a longtime radiology faculty member and director of admissions. He was known for his exceptional clinical skills and medical knowledge and dedication to medicine, students and residents, and the field of radiology.