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• Filed under: Cover Story, Features, SHM

Special Recognition

From: The eWire, 04.15.09

by Jason Carris

Jeff Dichter, MD, admits he’s not the typical 21st-century hospitalist. He isn’t in his 30s anymore and he isn’t practicing HM full time anymore. He is, however, one of the original 300 SHM members. And after 10 years as a hospitalist, building an HM program of his own, and serving five years on SHM’s Board of Directors, Dr. Dichter is among more than 500 hospitalists in the inaugural Fellow in Hospital Medicine (FHM) class (Download the complete list as a PDF). The designation is for physicians who have devoted their career to HM and whose personal and professional activities embody both the mission and goals of SHM and the medical profession.

“The society and the profession have grown beyond my wildest expectations,” says Dr. Dichter, former SHM president and medical director of cardiovascular intensive care at Regions Hospital in Saint Paul, Minn. “I am thrilled, and continue to be thrilled, at the growth. For me, personally, I am greatly honored.”

Jenn Myers, MD, agrees the honor is especially gratifying. Dr. Myers chose a hospitalist career in 2002 after finishing her residency at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. Now an assistant professor of clinical medicine and patient safety officer at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, she says the FHM designation is both “important and exciting.”

“I think I have a focused practice in HM that is different from most of my general IM colleagues,” she says. “It’s good to have that practice recognized on a national level. … It’s also good to be part of anything inaugural.”

The first class will be inducted at HM09 next month in Chicago. Selection criteria included a minimum of five years as a practicing hospitalist, no history of professional disciplinary action, and letters of recommendation from SHM peers.