The Foundation Recognizes Six Internal Medicine Residents and Fellows at Its 39th Annual Knowlton Incentive for Excellence Awards

The Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital recognized six Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine internal medicine residents and fellows at its 39th annual Knowlton Incentive for Excellence Awards dinner on Oct. 30.

The award recognizes resident physicians who have demonstrated the ability to balance exceptional, compassionate care with outstanding leadership and skill in internal medicine. More than 200 residents and fellows have been recognized since the Knowlton Incentive for Excellence Awards began. 

The Class of 2023 Knowlton Incentive for Excellence Awardees (pictured, left to right) are:

• Joshua Siner, MD
• Walter Schiffer, MD
• Intelly Shang-Zhi Lee, MD, PhD
• Erin Dyer, MD
• Morgan Schoer, MD
• Rigo De Jesus Pizarro, MD

In 1984, Charles J. Cella established the Knowlton Incentive for Excellence Fund at the Foundation to honor his physician and friend, Dr. Norman Knowlton Jr., for his compassionate caregiving and to promote excellence among internal medicine residents and fellows at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

The Knowlton Fund launched the annual awards and supports resident and fellow education at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine with the goal of helping to train, recognize, and nurture the best and most compassionate internal medicine physicians in St. Louis.

Cella died in 2018, but his endowed fund continues to support resident and fellow education and the annual awards. Dr. Knowlton died in 2012.

"Recipients of the Knowlton Award provide exceptional patient care and carry on the kind and generous legacies of Charles Cella and Dr. Knowlton," says John Lynch, MD, Barnes-Jewish Hospital president and a 1992 Knowlton awardee. "Honorees embody the Knowlton Spirit, which is care delivered with compassion. And today, I'm happy to report that the Knowlton spirit is alive and well at Barnes-Jewish Hospital."

Knowlton Incentive for Excellence Awardees are selected by a committee that includes Cella's son, John Cella; Norman Knowlton III, MD, son of the award's namesake; Dr. Lynch; Katie Henderson, MD, vice president and chief medical officer at Barnes-Jewish; and Andrew Kates, MD, a 1997 awardee and director of the Clinical Fellowship Program for the Cardiovascular Division of the John T. Milliken Department of Internal Medicine. The committee is led by Victoria Fraser, MD, Adolphus Busch Professor of Medicine and chair of the John T. Milliken Department of Medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. Steven Cheng is the current program director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital.