The American Society for Microbiology honors Baligh Yehia

Baligh Yehia, M.D., M.P.P., M.S.H.P., Department of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion (CHERP), has received a 2013 ICAAC Young Investigator Award for his innovative work and leadership in the field of HIV health services and quality research. His teaching and scholarship focus on health outcomes of individuals living with chronic viral diseases and policies that affect those outcomes.

Yehia received his undergraduate and medical degrees with honors from the University of Florida, where he was inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha, the national medical honor society, and the Gold Humanism Honor Society, for his excellence in clinical care, leadership, compassion, and dedication to service. After medical school, he completed an internal medicine residency on the Osler Medical Service at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, followed by a fellowship in infectious diseases at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. During his fellowship, he was award the Robert Austrian Award for his scholastic excellence and leadership. Yehia also holds a Master of Science in Health Policy Research from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master in Public Policy from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. Nominator, Ebbing Lautenbach, University of Pennsylvania, says, Yehia has an exceptional academic background and possesses a unique skill set which blends clinical medicine, health behavior research, and public policy. These tools have allowed him to cross disciplines and pursue innovative ideas.

Through his active research on how health care delivery is organized, he has contributed to the development of policy on healthcare reform, access to medical care, performance measurement, and public health. Kelly Gebo, Johns Hopkins University, goes on to explain, Yehia described the organization of care in HIV clinics to determine areas for improvement; evaluated inpatient utilization to identify modifiable factors for reducing hospitalization rates; and examined antiretroviral medication errors in an effort to prevent adverse drug events and improve patient safety. Yehia's scholastic achievements were recognized by a career development award from the NIH/NIMH to study the relationship between retention in care and clinical HIV outcomes and to identify health system and patient factors influencing retention in care, a special citation for fellows-in-training from the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and was inducted into the University of Florida Hall of Fame.

In addition to being an outstanding researcher, he is also an active volunteer. He currently serves on the Clinical Affairs Committee of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and is a member of the American Medical Association GLBT Advisory Committee. He is past National Chair of the American College of Physicians Council of Associates and past National Chair of the American Medical Association Resident and Fellow Section. He has served on the American Medical Association Council on Medical Education, American College of Physicians Board of Regents, and on the Maryland State Medical Society Board of Trustees. His leadership has been recognized by national, state, and local organizations.

He resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he maintains an active research program and cares for patients at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases; and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.