HCP faculty designate J. Michael McWilliams, MD, was recently honored with two prestigious awards for his research. He received the 2008 Best Published Research Paper of the Year Award from the Society of General Internal Medicine for his work as lead author of the article “Health of Previously Uninsured Adults After Acquiring Medicare Coverage,” which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The award recognizes a paper “which has made a significant contribution to generalist research.”

McWilliams also received the 2008 AcademyHealth Dissertation Award, which honors “an outstanding scientific contribution from a doctoral thesis in health services research.” In presenting the award, AcademyHealth notes, “Judging by the innovative research, this doctoral candidate shows exceptional promise as a health services researcher.” His dissertation is entitled “Effects of Insurance Coverage on Health Services, Outcomes, and Disparities among Adults with Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes.”

McWilliams received his MD degree magna cum laude from Harvard Medical School and is a practicing general internist in the Division of General Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He will receive a PhD in health policy from Harvard University this spring.