Professor of surgery Allen Silbergleit, M.D., Ph.D., was among residency program directors recently awarded the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education’s (ACGME) 2007 Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award.

The award is named after Parker J. Palmer, Ph.D., a sociologist and educator who wrote “The Courage to Teach,” a book of reflections on the intellectual, emotional, and spiritual aspects of teaching. Each year the ACGME chooses recipients from among numerous nominees submitted to the council. The award honors program directors for their exemplary teaching of residents and leadership of innovative and effective residency programs.

“For a person who believes that the greatest calling in life is teaching and who believes in his work with every fiber of his being, the Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award might as well be the Nobel Prize,” said Dr. Silbergleit. “What could be more important than the advancement of civilization by the young men and women we imbue with the spirit of humanism and inquiry?”

Winners were honored at a dinner during the ACGME’s winter Board of Directors meeting.