The 2019 ACR Award Winners & Distinguished Fellows

Distinguished Fellowship Program Director Award

For her outstanding contributions to the mentoring and training of future rheumatologists, Marcy B. Bolster, MD, associate professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, has received the Distinguished Fellowship Program Director Award.

“This is a lifetime achievement award for me,” says Dr. Bolster, director of the Rheumatology Fellowship Training Program in the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology at Massachusetts General Hospital. “I feel proud and privileged to participate in training rheumatology fellows and to have an influence on their training.”

Dr. Bolster has devoted her career to training rheumatology fellows, internal medicine residents and medical students. She helped train more than 50 rheumatology fellows. She is also active in the Women in Medicine Trainees Council, Department of Medicine Education Council and the Graduate Medical Education Committee at Massachusetts General Hospital. As Harvard Medical School faculty, she participates in undergraduate medical education and has helped redesign the curriculum for first-year students in the immunity, defense and disease block.

Dr. Bolster obtained her medical degree in 1988 from Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, N.C. Three years later, she finished her residency in internal medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Va.

Then she completed her rheumatology fellowship at the Medical University of South Carolina in 1993, where she joined the faculty, served as director of the Rheumatology Fellowship Training Program from 1999–2012 and was appointed director of the Center for Osteoporosis and Bone Health from 2009–12. In 2012, she joined the faculty at Harvard Medical School and started her new role as director of the Rheumatology Fellowship Training Program at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Since 1992, she has made significant contributions to the ACR. She helped develop Rheum2Learn, online internal medicine resident education modules in rheumatology; chaired the Committee on Rheumatology Training and Workforce Issues, contributing to the 2015 Workforce Study; and co-chaired the update of the organization’s Rheumatology Fellowship Core Curriculum. She also contributed to the Core Curriculum Outline for nurse practitioners and physician assistants entering rheumatology practice.

Dr. Bolster has recently held leadership roles with the American Board of Internal Medicine. Besides serving on its Rheumatology Board from 2009–14, she also chaired its Rheumatology Exam Committee from 2014–18 and now chairs the organization’s Rheumatology Specialty Board.

As a recent recipient of a Rheumatology Research Foundation Clinician Scholar Educator Award, she is devoted to the training and assessment of trainees in rheumatology and committed to addressing the gaps in the rheumatology workforce.

“My involvement in fellow education is one of the most rewarding parts of my job and gives me incredible fulfillment and satisfaction,” says Dr. Bolster.