Anything is possible for these award-winning alums.
From city streets to doctors’ offices and classrooms, this year’s recipients of the Brown Medical Alumni Association Awards represent a range of achievements, which alumni gathered to celebrate during Commencement-Reunion Weekend in May.
Deborah Borne MD’99, MSW, who delivered the Ruth B. Sauber Distinguished Alumni Lectureship, has worked in family and addiction medicine, street medicine, and health planning in San Francisco for nearly 30 years. She created programs and spearheaded research for patients experiencing homelessness and other disenfranchised populations.
Borne says she initially didn’t think the BMAA recognition was real. “Getting this award has been a reflection of who I was before medical school and who I am now,” she said.
As a social worker in the early 1990s, Borne ran an HIV prevention program at Rikers Island in New York City, and realized she wanted to be a “healer.” She says her passion for social justice guided her through medical school.
“Brown taught me that being yourself and creating spaces where people can embrace education and truly make it their own is a privilege. I’ve been so fortunate to do incredible work as a clinician, researcher, and policy worker,” Borne says. “If I could go from being in remedial reading and told I would never graduate high school, to being a public health leader, then anything is possible.”
The Senior Alumni Award for Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion—renamed this year in honor of its inaugural recipient, the late Galen V. Henderson MD’93—went to Jeffrey F. Hines ’83 MD’86, a gynecologic oncologist. He has held multiple leadership roles in DEI throughout his career, and is now interim vice president and chief diversity officer for the University of Connecticut and UConn Health.
Hines says the award is a culmination of a body of work across several decades and his efforts to grow coalitions of people dedicated to promoting inclusivity in medicine.
“That’s what I’m most proud of—to be able to create the next cadre and cohort of people that want to sustain this work,” Hines says. “This recognition represents the work of so many people critically involved in these efforts, and I want to recognize all those who work with me to move these initiatives forward.”
Elyse VyVy Trinh ’11 MD’17 received the Early Achievement Award. She was deeply involved in community organizing during her residency at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara, and she helped found the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Chapter of White Coats for Black Lives. Trinh is now an ob/gyn at the Providence Community Health Centers, a clinical instructor in obstetrics and gynecology at Brown, and co-chair of the board of directors of Refugee Youth Solidarity through Education.
Trinh says she was honored to receive the award, adding that it’s a reflection of Brown’s values. “I’m focused on doing a solid job as a clinician and don’t necessarily pursue the most prestigious opportunities,” Trinh says. “But I’ve been true to my passion throughout my career, and I think it’s cool that Brown appreciates that.”
Trinh says her passion to practice in underserved communities led her to working with vulnerable populations like refugees, and that her activist spirit was encouraged at Brown. Many of the friends she made continue to challenge her to this day, she says.
“I feel like I was part of a cohort of people that take seriously the responsibility to try to make the world a better place,” Trinh says.
The BMAA also honored Alexandra Morang, MA, director of career development, with the W.W. Keen Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to medicine, patient care, or public health. Morang has been an adviser and mentor to medical students for more than 25 years and has received an unprecedented 29 Class Awards.
Nicolette Rodriguez ’11 MD’16 MPH’16 received the Junior Alumni Award for Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. She is an instructor at Harvard Medical School and a gastroenterologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where she is the director of Fellowship Initiatives for Trainees Underrepresented in Medicine.
