USF medical student Courtney Bovee

(Chicago, IL) – Courtney E. Bovee, a student at University of South Florida College of Medicine, has received the American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation’s 2010 Leadership Award. This award provides medical students, residents or fellows and early career physicians from across the country with special training to develop their skills as future leaders in organized medicine and community affairs.

The AMA Foundation honored 30 individuals with the award at its annual Excellence in Medicine Awards ceremony on March 1, 2010 in Washington D.C. Presented in association with Pfizer Inc, recipients of the award are recognized for demonstrating outstanding non-clinical leadership skills in advocacy, community service and education. Bovee was one of only 20 medical students in the nation, and the only one in Florida, to receive a leadership award.

Bovee is a third-year medical student at USF. She is the student leader of the USF Business and Entrepreneurship Scholarly Concentration program, the Medical Student Section (MSS) liaison to the Florida Medial Association (FMA) Board of Governors, a member of the AMA-MSS Council of Medical Economics, a past member of the FMA Council of Medical Economics and the former vice-chair of the USF AMA chapter. She earned an undergraduate degree in business from the University of Florida and many of her extracurricular interests are related to the areas of business and finance. One of Bovee’s professional goals is to integrate her business background and her medical skills to assist the medical profession in providing innovative, high quality and cost-effective medical care.

“At this critical time in our nation’s health system reform efforts, encouraging leadership in the medical profession is more important than ever,” said Richard Hovland, president of the AMA Foundation. “I am confident that these exceptional individuals will provide a strong voice in the medical community to improve health care delivery in the United States.”

The AMA Foundation, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt foundation, is the philanthropic arm of the American Medical Association and is committed to improving the health of Americans through support of quality programs in public health and medical education. Some of the AMA Foundation’s current programs include grant programs for free clinics and healthy lifestyles projects, medical student scholarships and health literacy initiatives. Visit www.amafoundation.org to learn more.