Anna Fitzgerald Receives Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award

Anna Fitzgerald, MD, has been chosen the recipient of the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award. This award, supported by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, is presented to faculty who best demonstrate the foundation’s ideals of outstanding compassion in the delivery of care, respect for patients, their families and health-care colleagues, as well as clinical excellence.

An instructor of psychiatry, Fitzgerald also is medical director of the Psychiatric Emergency Services at Boston Medical Center (BMC) and medical director of BMC’s Boston and Cambridge/Somerville Community Crisis Stabilization programs.  She has been a psychiatry attending physician at BMC since 1996. A 1992 graduate of BUSM, she received her training at the former Boston City Hospital, now BMC, and at Boston University Affiliated Hospitals Program.

 One of her colleagues who previously was her resident wrote: “She is the most compassionate person I know with her patients, residents/medical students and staff. With the many students on all levels who rotate through the emergency room, Dr. Fitzgerald is quick to introduce herself, show compassion for their needs and interests and will chime in with encouragement and gentle and constructive feedback when needed. She also has a vast breadth of clinical experience to share. She is quick to think of others first, and treats patients and coworkers alike with remarkable respect.”

Another said, “Anna is not only a role model for students, residents and colleagues, but for all of us, in her ability to be able to place herself in other’s shoes and empathize with them. A lot of people talk about being culturally sensitive and being respectful, but Anna embodies these ideals.”