Exercise is Medicine

The EIM Global Leadership Award recognizes those individuals who have shown outstanding leadership, dedication and passion in the service of Exercise is Medicine®. Award winners include clinicians, exercise scientists and other ACSM professional members who have helped advance EIM’s vision to promote the systemic integration of physical activity within clinical care and connect patients/providers with evidence-based physical activity resources. This award is given annually at the EIM World Congress/American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting.

Below are the individuals who have been recognized since 2017.

2021

Elizabeth A. Joy, M.D., M.P.H., FACSM, FAMSSM
Dr. Joy is the Senior Medical Director for Wellness and Nutrition at Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City, UT. Dr. Joy practices Family Medicine and Sports Medicine at the Salt Lake LiVe Well Center. She is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Utah School of Medicine in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, and in the College of Health Department of Nutrition & Integrative Physiology. Dr. Joy is the Past President of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), and the Female Athlete Triad Coalition. She serves on the Exercise Is Medicine Governance Board for the ACSM, chairs the EIM Clinical Practice Committee, and serves on the Board of Directors for the National Physical Activity Plan Alliance. Her research interests lie in the areas of diabetes prevention, physical activity promotion, and the Female Athlete Triad.

Dr. Joy has been an inspirational thought leader and tireless champion for EIM. Early on, she integrated EIM and the physical activity vital sign (PAVS) into Intermountain Health. She is engaged in research on a pediatric PAVS and is currently evaluating the financial impact of physical inactivity on the Intermountain health system. She is a sought-after speaker and consultant re: EIM. Her list of EIM-related publications and presentations is long. Dr. Joy leads monthly Walk with a Doc walks and is on the board of Playworks, an organization dedicated to encouraging an active and positive play environment for children during recess. She also practices what she preaches being committed to staying physically fit, participating in LiVe Well and Intermountain Healthcare activities and being found at her walking treadmill desk.

Sandra Mahecha, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Mahecha is the Head of the Academic Unit and the Program Director of Physical Activity Promotion at Clínica MEDS, the host institution for EIM Chile and the largest sports medicine provider with eight clinics across the country. Dr. Mahecha also serves as the Program Director for the Post-Graduate Program in Clinical Exercise Physiology and Sports Medicine specialty in the School of Medicine at the Universidad Mayor in Santiago, Chile. Before coming to Santiago, Chile, Sandra spent 20+ years in São Paulo, Brazil working as the Director General of CELAFISCS, a Center of Physical Fitness that brings together health professionals with the purpose of promoting research and disseminating knowledge in the area of sports sciences, and as the Scientific Technical Advisor for the Agita São Paulo program.

Dr. Mahecha is being recognized this year for her extraordinary work as both the Director of the EIM Chile National Center and of the entire EIM Latin America region starting in 2017. As the EIM Chile National Center Director, Dr. Mahecha actively promotes physical activity and the EIM initiative across the country. EIM Chile has conducted multiple training courses and workshops for physicians, nurses and students across all parts of Chile. Dr. Mahecha also actively works with the Chilean Ministry of Health to ensure that physical activity is a part of their national obesity strategy. Currently, Dr. Mahecha and Clínica MEDS are working to establish a non-profit organization that will aid EIM Chile in better reaching underserved individuals in Santiago. As the EIM Latin America Regional Director, Dr. Mahecha has overseen the growth of EIM in Latin America to now include 9 official, active EIM national centers. Under her guidance, the region started meeting quarterly in 2020 to better connect national centers, as well as to form separate working groups to advance research, education and training, and integrating EIM into health settings. Perhaps most prominent among her 2020-21 accomplishments is the expansion of the physical activity training for health care providers from an in-person workshop to an online course. The new online course, launched in the spring of 2020, has the potential to reach health care providers across all of Latin America. In less than a year, the new, asynchronously-offered online course has been completed by more than 500+ health care providers and students from across Latin America.

2020

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and cancellation of EIM’s 2020 World Congress, awards were not given that year.

2019

Anna Plucik- Mrożek, M.D.
Malgorzata (Gosia) Perl
Jennifer Trilk,
Carena Winters, Ph.D., MPH, FACSM, ACSM-CEP, EIM Level III

2018

Chi-Hung Lin, M.D., Ph.D.
Jennifer West, M.S.

2017

Robert Confessore, Ph.D.
Irene Davis, Ph.D., P.T. FACSM, FAPTA, FASB
Marilyn Moffat, P.T., Ph.D.
Phil Page, Ph.D., P.T., ATC, CSCS, FACSM
Brad Roy, Ph.D., FACSM

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Gold level recognition is the highest level of recognition and signifies the implementation of one or several components of the EIM Solution on the University campus, with the potential of extending into the local community. Community partnerships provide real world experience for students, while providing service to the local community.

Gold level campuses must assess physical activity as a vital sign.

A Gold level campus must also be engaged in at least (1) of the following:

* My campus assesses their patients' physical activity as a vital sign?

Yes No

* My campus is creating collaborations between university health care professionals and exercise professionals to provide physical activity prescriptions?

Yes No

* My campus has non-clinical professionals/departments directing students, faculty, and/or staff to the recreation center for health and fitness counseling?

Yes No

* My campus has a computer-based system to track patient participation in physical activity interventions?

Yes No

Other:

Silver level recognition includes activities related to awareness and promotion, and incorporates education for the university’s students, faculty, staff, and health care professionals, as well as those in the surrounding community, on EIM and its mission on campus. Silver campuses are actively engaged in educating others on the EIM solution for both the treatment and prevention of long-term illness and disease. University students are educated on the aims of EIM in health care, potentially certified as EIM health fitness professionals, and guided on how they can play a role in making physical activity an integral part of health care.

Silver level campuses must be engaged in at least (3) of the following: * My campus hosts classes that teach students the fundamentals of EIM on Campus and their potential role in fulfilling the mission of EIM?

Yes No

* My campus trains students to educate campus community members on EIM and the importance of physical activity as medicine?

Yes No

* My campus works with campus health services so that every health care provider discusses physical activity with every patient or client?

Yes No

Other:

Bronze level recognition is the first step in creating the EIM initiative on Campus. These campuses bring attention to the growing need for physical activity and take action in helping to create a healthier, more active campus environment.

Bronze level campuses create awareness of the importance of exercise and regular physical activity for health and promote exercise to students, faculty, staff and the community through engagement in any of the following activities. Bronze level campuses must engage in at least (3) of the following:

* My campus hosts events that promote physical activity?

Yes No

* My campus markets events that encourage all campus members to discuss physical activity with their health care professional?

Yes No

* My campus has created options for exercise that are easily accessible to the campus community?

Yes No

* My campus has completed a Mayoral, Governor, or University President EIM on Campus Month Proclamation?

Yes No

Other:

* Contact Person/Program Director:

* Resource Type (check all that apply):
Clinic or Hospital (inpatient) Community
Clinic or Hospital (outpatient) Home Based
Cancer Exercise Professional Digital/Online
Research Study

* What age groups are included (check all that apply)?
Adult Pediatric

* What cancer types are included in your program?

* What stages of treatment are included (check all that apply)?
Curative    Palliative
During Treatment    Post Treatment
Rehabilitation    Prehabilitation

* Who refers into the program? (How do clients access your program?) (check all that apply)
Client Clinician
Other

* What are the qualifications of the instructors?

* Is there a baseline safety evaluation of the client?

* If yes, performed by whom (check all that apply)?
Instructor Physician
Other

* What is the program duration? (e.g.; 12 weeks, 1 year)

* What is the frequency of sessions per week?

* Are sessions conducted in groups or individualized (check all that apply)?
Group Individualized

* How many years has the program been running?

* How many clients go through your program per year?

* Has your program ever been evaluated or audited?

* Please include a brief description (250 words or less) summarizing the above information:

* Who filled out this form?

* What is your role in the program?

Below are the individuals who have been recognized since 2017.

2021

2020

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and cancellation of EIM’s 2020 World Congress, awards were not given that year.

2019

Anna Plucik- Mrożek, M.D.
Malgorzata (Gosia) Perl
Jennifer Trilk,
Carena Winters, Ph.D., MPH, FACSM, ACSM-CEP, EIM Level III

2018

Chi-Hung Lin, M.D., Ph.D.
Jennifer West, M.S.

2017

Robert Confessore, Ph.D.
Irene Davis, Ph.D., P.T. FACSM, FAPTA, FASB
Marilyn Moffat, P.T., Ph.D.
Phil Page, Ph.D., P.T., ATC, CSCS, FACSM
Brad Roy, Ph.D., FACSM

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Global Leadership Award

2021

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2017