The Key Contact Award program recognizes those members who have made exceptional contributions to advance the College's public policy agenda. Key Contacts communicate as constituents with their members of Congress on issues of importance to internists and their patients and to medical students. The College has nearly 6,000 Key Contacts who partner with ACP's Washington office.
The award recipient is chosen based on the quality and quantity of responses to ACP's congressional legislative alerts, writing editorials and letters to the editor, meeting with his or her members of Congress, expanding chapter federal advocacy efforts, recruiting Key Contacts, and organizing Leadership Day visits and other meetings with legislators.
The Key Contact of the Year Award is presented at the College's annual Leadership Day Awards dinner held in Washington, District of Columbia. In addition, the recipient is recognized at the following year's Convocation.
Staff in the ACP Washington office selects the Key Contact Award recipient. Nominations may be submitted by chapters or members; contact Jolynne Flores, Supervisor, Grassroots Advocacy & PAC, at jflores@acponline.org. The deadline is March 15. Nominees must be a registered ACP Key Contact who has actively participated in federal advocacy during the past year.
Recipients
1999 Richard W. Honsinger Jr., Los Alamos, New Mexico
2000 Frederick E. Turton, Sarasota, Florida
2001 Mahendr S. Kochar, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
2002 Serafino Garella, Polson, Montana
2003 Dawn E. Clancy, Johns Island, South Carolina
2004 Richard L. Neubauer, Anchorage, Alaska
2005 Jeevan Paul, Minneapolis, Minnesota
2006 Murli Manohar, Canton, Ohio
2007 Robert M. McLean, New Haven, Connecticut
2008 Jacqueline W. Fincher, Thompson, Georgia
2009 Jay L. Larson, Clancy, Montana
2010 P. Preston Reynolds, Charlottesville, Virginia
2011 To be named May 2011