Brown Medical Alumni Association Awards

This award recognizes medical alumni (within 15 years of graduation) for outstanding service to the Medical School, their local community, or for a scientific or academic achievement. 

2025 Recipient: Grace Farris ’04 MD’08

Grace Farris ’04 MD’08 is a hospitalist and core faculty member of the Internal Medicine Residency program at the University of Texas at Austin, Dell Seton Medical Center, and Seton Medical Center. Dr. Farris served as chief of the Division of Hospital Medicine at Mount Sinai West Hospital and associate professor of medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York before joining Dell Med.

In addition to her career as a physician, Dr. Farris is a talented cartoonist who has contributed comics and graphic narratives to several publications and medical journals. She combines her extensive education and experience as a physician to offer a unique perspective on health care through visual storytelling. Dr. Farris is the author of the Annals of Internal Medicine’s monthly graphic medicine column “Dr. Mom,” as well as the book “Mom Milestones: The TRUE Story of the First Seven Years.” Her unique ability to transform the everyday complexities of medicine into relatable and engaging comics has garnered her an audience of fellow mothers, patients, and physicians around the world.

Previous Recipients

• Elyse VyVy Trinh ’11 MD’17
• Sarah E. Wakeman ’05 MD’09
• Steven Rougas MD’09 RES’13
• Peter Lee ’94 MD’05 PhD’15
• Barrett W. Bready ’99 MD ’03
• Andrea A. (Anderson) Byrd ’96 MD’00
• Stephen W. Gilheeney ’95 MMS’97 MD’99
• Leslie B. Gordon SCM’91 MD/PhD’98
• Rajiv Kumar ’05 MD’11
• Neel T. Shah ’04 MD’09
• Judy Jang ’03 MD’07

This award, first presented in 2021, recognizes medical alumni (within 10 years of graduation) who have demonstrated leadership in diversity, equity, and inclusion activities that have led to improving awareness and engagement related to diversity in medicine and/or health equity.

2024 Recipient: Nicolette Rodriguez ’11 MD’16 MPH’16

Nicolette Rodriguez ’11 MD’16 MPH’16 is a gastroenterologist and instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and at Brigham and Women's Hospital/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where she serves as director of Fellowship Initiatives for Trainees Underrepresented in Medicine. In her work in early cancer detection and prevention, Dr. Rodriguez has been at the forefront of advocacy and research in bridging gaps in equity across historically marginalized populations and has received numerous awards and grants since finishing her fellowship training. As a first-generation Latina, and someone who lost a parent to cancer, she has dedicated her career to ensuring that historically marginalized patients receive equitable access to care.

Dr. Rodriguez’s work provides insights into barriers and facilitators to cancer prevention and genetics care, and it amplifies the voices of historically marginalized communities. She also provides education on addressing gaps in care for colorectal and pancreatic cancers. Her research has been recognized with multiple awards and grants from foundations such as the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, Stand Up to Cancer, and her current institution.

Previous Recipients 

• Jennifer W. Tsai ’14 MD’19
• Marshala Lee MD’11
• Michael Danielewicz ’14 MD’18

This award honors alumni who have excelled in their careers, making significant contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion locally, regionally, nationally, or internationally. In 2024, the award was renamed in memory of Galen V. Henderson MD’93. As the inaugural recipient of this award in 2021, Dr. Henderson embodied a spirit of inclusivity that broke barriers and advanced a critical national and international conversation.

2024 Recipient: Jeffrey F. Hines ’83 MD’86

Jeffrey F. Hines ’83 MD’86, a gynecologic oncologist, has held multiple leadership roles in diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout his career, and most recently as interim vice president and chief diversity officer for the University of Connecticut and UConn Health. In 2022, he was named the inaugural chief diversity officer for the University of Connecticut Health Center. Dr. Hines also serves as the chair of the diversity, inclusion, and health equity committee for the Society of Gynecologic Oncology and sits on its board of directors.

Dr. Hines has successfully developed strategies and implemented programs with health systems, educational institutions, and non-profit organizations locally and nationally to meet their diversity, equity, and inclusion goals. He is a visionary and results-oriented thought leader with a proven track record of driving and integrating results into all components of organizations.

As he shared in “Doctoring While Black,” published in Medicine@Brown, “Fundamentally, there must be acknowledgment that race and ethnicity are not risk factors for health inequity and disparity. The risk factor is racism. It is necessary to address racial equity if we hope to make meaningful change to health equity.”

Previous Recipients

• Agueda Hernandez ’92 MD’96, P’25 MD’29
• Galen Henderson MD’93
• Augustus A. White, III MD PhD ’57 DMS’97 hon., P’98

Named for William Williams Keen—Class of 1859 and one of Brown’s most distinguished and well-known alumni in the medical profession—this award recognizes outstanding contributions (lifetime or a single achievement) to medicine, encompassing research, education, leadership, or extraordinary contributions to patient care or public health.

2024 Recipient: Alexandra Morang, MA

Alexandra Morang, MA, is director of career development at The Warren Alpert Medical School, where she has been an advisor and mentor to medical students for over 25 years. She has been a stalwart of the medical school, having spent 20 years as the director of student affairs before taking on her current role.

Morang has been a source of immense support for students and a major contributor to the success of the medical school’s residency match program. Her work has affected the lives of countless physicians through her dedication to helping them realize their potential. She is the recipient of an unprecedented 29 Class Awards.

Through her lifetime of dedication to future physicians, one of her most important contributions is her individualized approach to each student. Many alumni view her as a model for their own lives as educators and advisors and her impact stretches beyond Brown and Providence.

Previous Recipients

• Jack A. Elias, M.D.
• Mercedes Domenech, MD, PhD
• Adrian F. Gardner ’98 MD’03
• Levi C. Adams ADE’75 hon.
• Eli Y. Adashi ADE’06 hon.
• Stanley M. Aronson ADE’71 hon. DMS’07 hon., P’83 MD’87
• Frederick W. Barnes, Jr.
• John T. Barrett ’39, P’67, P’74, GP’03
• Elisha Bartlett 1826
• Irving A. Beck ’32
• Richard W. Besdine ADE’02 hon.
• Mark S. Blumenkranz ’72 MMSc’76 MD’75, P’05, P’08
• Judi D. Braman
• Brown Physicians, Inc.
• Hermon Bumpus 1912
• Alexander M. Burgess 1906, P’33
• Kenneth G. Burton 1927
• Anthony A. Caldamone ’72 MD’75 MMS’75
• Harold G. Calder 1902, P’36
• Charles C.J. Carpenter
• Charles V. Chapin 1876
• Marlene Cutitar ’83 MD’86 RES’92
• Ernest M. Daland 1912
• Ronald A. DeLellis ’62
• Richard H. Dollase ’62, P’86, GP’18
• Michael G. Ehrlich
• Allan D. Erickson
• John R. Evrard ADE’74, P’71
• Edward R. Feller PMD’03
• Edwin N. Forman ’56, P’92
• Marshall N. Fulton 1920
• Pierre M. Galletti ADE’68 hon.
• Milton Hamolsky ADE’64 hon.
• Arthur I. Holleb ’41
• W.W. Keen 1859
• Pardon R. Kenney ’72 MD’75 MMS’75 RES’80
• David C. Lewis ’57, P’84, P’87
• Governor Gina M. Raimondo
• Charles J. McDonald
• James McIlwain
• William Oh ADE’75 hon.
• Peter J. Panton ’79 MD’82, PMD’15, PMD’21
• Robert G. Petersdorf ’48
• Walter C. Quevedo, Jr. PhD’56
• Henry T. Randall
• Stephen R. Smith ADE’81 hon., P’01 MD’06
• Walter R. Thayer, Jr. ADE’66 hon.
• Sanford W. Udis ’41, P’72 MAT’73, P’75
• George W. Waterman 1915
• J. Walter Wilson 1918, PhD 1921, P’44
• Edward J. Wing ADE’99 hon.
• Julianne Y. Ip ’75 MD’78 RES’81, P’18

This award recognizes a member of the Brown community for long-term, dedicated, and meritorious service to the Medical School. It honors those whose devotion to the mission, beliefs, and aspirations of the Medical School have improved the lives of its students, faculty, alumni, and patients.

Previous Recipients

• George A. Bray, Jr., MD’53
• Levi C. Adams ADE’75 hon.
• Stephen R. Ehrlich ’55 and Mary Ann Ehrlich
• Artemis A.W. Joukowsky ’55 LLD’85 hon.
• Herbert M. Kaplan LHD’11 hon.
• Marie J. Langlois ’64 LLD’92 hon.
• Samuel M. Mencoff ’78 and Ann S. Mencoff P’11, P’15
• Ruth J. Simmons LHD ’12 hon.