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.

2025 Recipient: Tatiana M. Gellein ’10 MD’16

Tatiana Gellein ’10 MD’16 is assistant professor of pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a pediatrician at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center. Dr. Gellein has consistently integrated her deep commitment to equity and social justice into her leadership, administrative, clinical, and academic endeavors. Her passion for improving race relations and social justice ignited in her adolescence and carried over through her time as a PLME student at Brown, where she engaged in multiple programs supporting health equity and social justice.

Today, Dr. Gellein’s efforts have helped reshape the reputation of the UCLA Pediatrics Residency as supportive of a diverse workforce and committed to serving patients and families impacted by social, economic, geographic, and racial inequities. She co-chairs the Pediatric Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (PEDI) Committee at Olive View, and her clinical work is singularly focused on reducing health inequities for children in the child welfare system. Dr. Gellein prioritizes cultivating and sustaining a health care workforce that meets the needs of all people, bridging between direct care and workforce development.

Previous Recipients 

• Nicolette Rodriguez ’11 MD’16 MPH’16
• 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.

2025 Recipient: Brownsyne Tucker Edmonds ’00 MD’05

Brownsyne Tucker Edmonds ’00 MD’05 is a nationally recognized leader in health equity, clinical ethics, and reproductive justice. She currently serves as vice president and chief health equity officer at Indiana University Health. She holds dual faculty appointments as associate professor of obstetrics & gynecology and pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Dr. Tucker Edmonds is deeply committed to advancing equitable care for diverse communities. Her research focuses on how social and cultural influences shape patient-provider communication and medical decision-making, particularly in ethically complex scenarios such as end-of-life decisions for extremely premature infants, and among marginalized populations. As the Indiana State Legislative Chair for the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, she plays a vital role in shaping health policy and championing diversity, equity, and inclusion at both the state and national levels.

Previous Recipients

• Jeffrey F. Hines ’83 MD’86
• 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.

2025 Recipient: Shannon M. Thyne MD’95, P’28

Shannon M. Thyne MD’95, P’28 is director of pediatrics for the LA County Department of Health Services. Throughout her career, Dr. Thyne has focused her clinical care, research, and leadership activities on addressing health care disparities through health access, child development, pediatric asthma, and foster care.

Dr. Thyne earned her medical degree through the Brown-Dartmouth Program before returning to her home state of California to complete her residency and chief residency at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She went on to serve on the UCSF faculty for over 15 years. During her tenure, she helped to establish the Pediatric Leadership for the Underserved (PLUS) Program, a training initiative for future physicians to address health care disparities and eliminate barriers to care. Today, Dr. Thyne maintains active clinical practice and teaching duties at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, one of three acute care hospitals serving children, adults, and families in the LA County DHS. Dr. Thyne has spearheaded California’s ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) Aware Initiative, holding UCLA Medical School’s largest extramural grant to support this work. Dr. Thyne’s impact on the field highlights the emerging academic commitment to advancing equitable access to health care.

Previous Recipients

• Alexandra Morang, MA
• 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.