Date:  Oct. 12, 2009

Contacts:  Christine Stencel, Senior Media Relations Officer

Luwam Yeibio, Media Relations Assistant

Office of News and Public Information

202-334-2138; e-mail <news@nas.edu>

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Institute of Medicine Honors Members Don E. Detmer,

Bernard Guyer, Joseph P. Newhouse for Outstanding Service

WASHINGTON -- The Institute of Medicine honored today members Don E. Detmer, Bernard Guyer, and Joseph P. Newhouse for their outstanding service to the institution at the IOM's 39th annual meeting. 

Detmer received the Walsh McDermott Medal, recognizing his distinguished service over an extended period.  For 37 years, Detmer has consistently supported, enhanced, and promoted IOM's mission, especially its efforts to improve health care access and quality.  Early on, Detmer brought a surgeon's energy, pragmatism, and focus on results to shaping IOM studies on health care quality and medical records as an IOM policy fellow from 1972 through 1973.  During that year, he was instrumental in the planning and implementation of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellowship Program at the Institute.  As an IOM member, Detmer has readily accepted visible and challenging roles, such as chairing the committee that produced IOM's influential report on computer-based patient records.  He chairs the IOM Membership Committee and, in that role, leads the implementation and ongoing development of the policies and procedures for election to the IOM.  He also served as a member and then chair of the selection committee for the Cecil Awards given to IOM staff.  Detmer is professor emeritus and professor of medical education in the department of public health sciences at the University of Virginia's School of Medicine. 

Guyer was presented the David Rall Medal, which is given to an IOM member who has demonstrated particularly distinguished leadership as chair of a study committee or other such activity, showing commitment above and beyond the usual responsibilities of the position.  Guyer led two major IOM committees over the past decade: the Committee on Immunization Finances, Policies, and Practices, and the Committee on Poison Prevention and Control.  The latter offered bold recommendations concerning the organization and funding of poison control centers to create a strong and stable system.  Guyer navigated the committee through complex political pressures that threatened to defuse its recommendations, successfully resolving those issues without compromising the scientific integrity of the committee's report.  He serves as chair of the Board on Children, Youth and Families.  Guyer is the Zanvyl Kreiger Professor of Children's Health in the department of population, family, and reproductive health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.    

Newhouse was awarded the Adam Yarmolinsky Medal, which recognizes the contributions of an IOM member from a discipline outside the health and medical sciences.  Newhouse has distinguished himself as a dynamic participant in the IOM and other health-related organizations and as a pre-eminent academic health economist and influential adviser to policymakers and stakeholders for more than four decades.  Newhouse served two terms on IOM's Governing Council, chaired the Committee on Shortening the Time Line for New Cancer Treatments, and served as a member of the Board on Health Care Services and Membership Committee.  His studies and publications have provided new insights into vexing methodological and analytical problems in health care.  Newhouse is the MacArthur Professor of Health Policy and Management in the department of health care policy at the Harvard Medical School.

Nominations for the three membership awards were solicited from IOM members and staff.  The Institute of Medicine is a private, nonprofit organization that provides health policy advice under a congressional charter granted to the National Academy of Sciences.

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[ This news release is available at http://national-academies.org ]