The Gold-Headed Cane Award
Sponsor: Dean’s Office
Presentation includes: Framed Medallion
This award recognizes a medical student who shows exemplary interest in and dedication to patient care.
Nomination and Selection Process:
Submit the name of a medical student who embodies the above criteria, and a one- to two-paragraph summary supporting your nomination. Graduating medical students nominate and select the recipient of this award.
History:
The original gold-headed cane had been handed down from physician to physician as early as the 17th century; it was deposited in the early 19th century in the Royal College of Physicians. The cane represents the “appeal to be worthy to serve the suffering, so beautifully that the cane is rescued from obscurity to walk again, a symbol, the outward and visible sign of the attributes of mind and heart of the true physician.”
From the Foreword by William J. Kerr, M.D., to The Gold-Headed Cane by William MacMichael, M.D.
A replica of the early gold-headed cane was designed and donated by the late Dr. Clifford C. Snyder, professor emeritus and associate dean, and the cane is displayed at the Health Sciences Library. The Gold-Headed Cane Award, a long-time tradition at many medical schools, is presented to the senior medical student whom has shown exemplary interest in patient care.
Past Recipients:
2024
Kirsi Anselmi-Stith
2023
Mariah Richins
2022
Sarah Kinsey
2021
Samuel West Wilkinson
2020
Carson J. Mills, M.S.
2019
Jorgen Peter Madsen
2018
Peter Sundwall
2017
Wesley Blaine Godfrey
2016
Gregory Douglas Phillips, Jr.
2015
Adam Eli Bracken
2014
Melissa Velez See
2013
Laura Elizabeth Fink
2012
Jeffrey Michael Norris
2011
Peter Romney Jackson
2010
Andrea Clark Esplin
2009
Mark Corry
2009
Lindsay Wilson
2008
Eric Glissmeyer
2008
Michael Rich
2007
David Gordon Liddle
2006
Marcus Buchanan
2005
Richard Gurgel
2005
Jose Vega
2004
Marion Bishop
2004
Miguel Knochel
2003
Roy Neal Davis
2003
Jeffrey Erickson
2002
Jason Wesley Cash
2002
Lyle Kinikini
2001
Marion Lois Folkemer
2001
Katherine Mary Gesteland
2000
Leslie Rae Pelinka
1999
Trek Lyons
1998
Jennifer Nicole Geary
1997
Jennifer White Boyden
1996
Judy R. Merrill
1995
Catherine Alice Olsen
1994
Peter Val Sundwall, Jr.
1993
Peter Blaine Hathaway
1992
Kandice Leigh Knigge