Alexis Thurmond MD, Class of 2019, receives UVA’s 2019 Annette McDermott Award

The 2019 Annette McDermott Award was presented by the School of Medicine to graduating student Alexis M. Thurmond MD, Class of 2019 in acknowledgement of her sensitivity to and compassionate care of patients and families during times of serious and life-limiting illness. As a fourth-year student especially, Alexis did impressive work in the Geriatrics Clerkship, in palliative medicine, and on an independent medical humanities project that explored women’s emotional, psychological, and spiritual responses to cancer, as portrayed in literature, film, and visual arts. Alexis is training in internal medicine at Georgetown University’s MedStar Hospital in Washington DC. The McDermott Award remembers the late Annette McDermott MD, who completed her internal medicine residency at UVA and enjoyed a private internal medicine primary care practice in Waynesboro VA for several years before she died an early death from metastatic cancer. Her parents established this award several years ago through UVA’s Medical Alumni Association. Each year, it is presented to a graduating student who demonstrates particular dedication to serving patients, possibly in the practice of primary care.