Building Trust Essay Contest

In 2022, the ABIM Foundation launched the Building Trust Essay Contest to explore the diverse activities or projects that medical students are engaged in that build trust with their schools, faculty, peers, patients, and communities.

Building on the success of its first two years, the 2024 Building Trust Essay Contest expanded its scope to welcome submissions from students across all health professions, including nursing, medicine, pharmacy, physical therapy, and others. This expansion maintains the contest’s foundational commitment to exploring and celebrating initiatives rooted in trust.

2024 Winners

Kaveri Curlin, University of California, Irvine School of Medicine
Ella Eisinger, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Claudia Rivera Barbeito, University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine
Margaret Sorg, University of Kentucky College of Medicine

Honorable Mentions

Melodyanne Cheng, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Nitya Devisetti, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Shannon Fang, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Meilynn Shi, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Judges

Margaret Flinter, APRN, PhD, FAAN, FAANP, Senior Vice President and Clinical Director of the Moses Weitzman Health System and its Community Health Center, Inc.; member of the ABIM Foundation’s Board of Trustees

Erica Johnson, MD, FACP, Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Disease at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center; Associate Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Medical Education for the Johns Hopkins Department of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland; member of the American Board of Internal Medicine’s Board of Directors and Chair of the American Board of Internal Medicine’s Infectious Disease Board
Jackie Judd, former reporter for ABC News, CBS News, NPR, and the PBS NewsHour; Secretary-Treasurer of the ABIM Foundation’s Board of Trustees; member of the Board of Directors of the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation
Elina Kurkurina, MPH, medical student at the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University; winner of the 2023 Building Trust Essay Contest
Bruce A. Leff, MD, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Center for Transformative Geriatric Research at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; member of the ABIM Foundation’s Board of Trustees
Furman S. McDonald, MD, MPH, Senior Vice President for Academic and Medical Affairs at the American Board of Internal Medicine; Adjunct Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science and the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania
Shannon Scielzo, PhD, Associate Professor and the Associate Director of Education in Internal Medicine, and Evaluation and Assessment Analyst for Graduate Medical Education at the University of Texas Southwest Medical Center; member of the American Board of Internal Medicine’s Rheumatology Board
Daniel Wolfson, MHSA, former Executive Vice President and COO of the ABIM Foundation

2023 Essay Contest

Winners

Molly Fessler, University of Michigan Medical School
Isra Hasnain, The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine
Ian Jaffe, NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Meher Kalkat, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Elina Kurkurina, Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University
Christopher Montgomery, UCSF School of Medicine

Judges

Maria L. Belalcazar, MD, Vice Chair for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at the University of Texas Medical Branch
Marianne M. Green, MD, FACP, Vice Dean for Education, Raymond H. Curry MD Professor of Medical Education, and Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine
Lorna A. Lynn, MD, Vice President of Medical Education Research at the American Board of Internal Medicine
Furman S. McDonald, MD, MPH, Senior Vice President for Academic and Medical Affairs at the American Board of Internal Medicine
David Reuben, MD, Director, Multicampus Program in Geriatrics Medicine and Gerontology and Chief, Division of Geriatrics at UCLA
Annelise Silva, AMSA National President-elect, medical student at Wright State Boonshoft School of Medicine
Rohini Siva, AMSA National President, 4th year medical student at Eastern Virginia Medical School
Daniel Wolfson, MHSA, Executive Vice President and COO of the ABIM Foundation

2022 Essay Contest

Winners

Teva Brender, Oregon Health & Sciences University
Howard Chang, THe Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Sunil Joshi, Oregon Health & Sciences University
Meher Kalkat, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

Honorable Mentions

Clarice Douille, Creighton University School of Medicine
Veenadhari Kollipara, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine
Paul Lewis, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Armaan Ahmen Rowther, PhD, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Suman Vadlamani, UT Southwestern Medical School
Nicholas Wilson, Morehouse School of Medicine

Judges

Andres Diaz, Editor of AMSA’s The New Physician, MD/PhD student at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson
Marianne M. Green, MD, FACP, Vice Dean for Education, Raymond H. Curry MD Professor of Medical Education, and Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine
Shan Jin, AMSA Academy Chair, a third-year medical student at the NYIT College Of Osteopathic Medicine
Furman S. McDonald, MD, MPH, Senior Vice President for Academic and Medical Affairs at the American Board of Internal Medicine
David Reuben, MD, Director, Multicampus Program in Geriatrics Medicine and Gerontology and Chief, Division of Geriatrics at UCL
Michael Walls, DO, MPH, AMSA National President, graduate of Touro University California

Building Trust Essay Contest