Contact: Richard P. Gulla
781-434-7101
rgulla@mms.org
Waltham – May 1 – Ronald A. Arky, M.D. has been honored by the Massachusetts Medical Society with its 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award, given each year to a member of the Society who has made a lasting contribution to the practice of medicine over a lifetime and who has made significant contributions to the goals of the Society. He will receive the award, one of the society’s most prestigious, May 10 at the Medical Society’s annual meeting in Boston.
In nominating him for the honor, his colleagues said Dr. Arky’s “commitment to the Massachusetts Medical Society and its members is best reflected in his lifelong professional mission, to guide and educate physicians from their early days as medical students to practicing physicians providing the best care possible for their patients. He has devoted his career to providing mentorship and leadership in Massachusetts and throughout the nation. His success and legacy will be measured by the legions of physicians influenced by Dr. Arky with major roles in American medicine.”
A longtime resident of Wellesley who now resides in Boston, Dr. Arky is the Daniel D. Federman Professor of Medicine and Medical Education at Harvard Medical School and is Master of the school’s Francis Weld Peabody Society, which promotes and supports the academic and professional development of medical students. He has also served as a senior physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital for 20 years and is currently acting chief of the hospital’s Diabetes Section.
For more than four decades, Dr. Arky has been an active member of the medical society serving in key positions for the organization. He is a longtime member of the MMS House of Delegates and currently chairs the Committee on Ethics, Grievances, and Professional Standards. For many years he served as a member of the Committee on Administration and Management and also was a member and chairman of the committees on Medical Education and Publications, the last of which oversees the New England Journal of Medicine.
A graduate of Cornell University Medical College, Dr. Arky is board certified in internal medicine with specialty training in endocrinology and diabetes. He was Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge for more than 20 years and was the residency training director in internal medicine at that hospital. He has served as president of the American Diabetes Association and the Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine, is a Master of the American College of Physicians, and has authored more than one hundred professional articles on diabetes and metabolic diseases.
Dr. Arky’s previous honors include the Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teacher Award from the American Association of Medical Colleges in 2009, Distinguished Service Award from the Massachusetts Medical Society in 2002, the Greatest Contribution of Education Award from the Harvard Medical School Class of 2002, and the Award for Health Education from the American Medical Association in 2000.
The Massachusetts Medical Society, with nearly 24,000 physicians and student members, is dedicated to educating and advocating for the patients and physicians of Massachusetts. The Society publishes the New England Journal of Medicine, a leading global medical journal and web site, and Journal Watch alerts and newsletters covering 13 specialties. The Society is also a leader in continuing medical education for health care professionals throughout Massachusetts, conducting a variety of medical education programs for physicians and health care professionals. Founded in 1781, MMS is the oldest continuously operating medical society in the country. For more information please visit www.massmed.org, www.nejm.org, or www.jwatch.org.
