At the 20th HSR&D National Meeting acting Under Secretary for Health, Francis Murphy, MD, presented the Under Secretary's Award for Outstanding Achievement in Health Services Research to Stephan D. Fihn, MD, MPH. Dr. Fihn is the Director of the highly successful Northwest VA HSR&D Center for Outcomes Research in Older Adults, and he is the Head of the University of Washington's Division of General Internal Medicine. Dr. Fihn is also the Research Coordinator for the Ischemic Heart Disease (IHD) QUERI group that works to improve the care and outcomes of veterans with IHD. Dr. Fihn's other research interests focus on the clinical epidemiology for common outpatient problems (e.g., urinary tract infections and chronic anticoagulation), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, as well as methods to improve the delivery of health services for these problems. In addition, Dr. Fihn leads the Seattle VA's HSR Fellowship Program and has mentored numerous VA fellows and Career Development Awardees, many who have developed into prominent VA health services researchers.
In his inspiring acceptance speech, Dr. Fihn expressed his thanks to many colleagues over the years. "HSR is truly a collaborative endeavor, and none of us can accomplish much of anything without the dedicated cooperation of others. Thus, from my perspective, this award truly represents the efforts of many people."