About the Holt Leadership Award for Residents and Fellows-in-Training
The Holt Leadership Award is awarded annually to the Resident or Fellow-in-Training who best exemplifies the attributes of a young leader: honesty, integrity, fairness, advocacy, and enthusiasm. The Award recognizes exemplary efforts on behalf of the Section for Residents and Fellows-in-Training of the AAO-HNS/F for the promotion of the missions and goals of the association.
Nominees are brought forward annually from the SRF. The award, a check for $500 and a medal, is presented at the annual SRF General Assembly and the awardee is announced during the Annual Meeting Opening Ceremony.
2024 Holt Leadership Award Recipient
This year’s recipient of the AAO-HNS Holt Leadership Award for Residents and Fellows-in-Training is Pauline Huynh, MD, who is completing her residency training at Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center. She received her bachelor’s degree in health and humanity at University of Southern California and her medical degree at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She plans to pursue fellowship training in laryngology.
In addition to serving in leadership positions within her state and county medical associations, Dr. Huynh is the Section for Residents and Fellows-in-Training (SRF) representative on the AAO-HNS Board of Governors as well as chair of the American Medical Association (AMA) Resident & Fellow Section. In this role she directs and guides national priorities for the organization’s 70,000 trainee members. Her priorities this past year have focused on trainee protections, and she has engaged with state and national leaders in medical education on the impact of residency program closures.
As a fourth-year medical student during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Huynh interned with MedChi, The Maryland State Medical Society. During that time, her work on a COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan directly led to a request to the Maryland Department of Health calling for vaccines to be distributed at physician private practices, which was approved by the governor of Maryland in March 2021.
Also in 2021, while serving as the AMA Medical Student Section (MSS) delegate, she engaged in a national advocacy effort within the AMA to address the issue of racism in medicine. Dr. Huynh’s work spurred national conversations on the improper use of race as a proxy in clinical care algorithms. Her other advocacy efforts have highlighted concerns regarding the presence of pharmaceutical advertising in electronic health records, firearm safety, and mandated reporting laws.
Previous Awardees:
- 2023: Shannon D. Fayson, MD
- 2022: Hayley L. Born, MD
- 2021: Carla V. Valenzuela, MD, MSCI
- 2020: Aurora G. Vincent, MD
- 2019: Claire M. Lawlor, MD
- 2018: Peter M. Vila, MD
- 2017: David S. Cohen, MD
- 2016: John M. Carter, MD
- 2015: Nikhila P. Raol, MD, MPH
- 2014: Jayme R. Dowdall, MD
- 2013: Mark E. Zafereo, Jr., MD
- 2012: Jeffrey C. Liu, MD
- 2011: Vasu Divi, MD
- 2010: Lily Love, MD
- 2009: Spencer C. Payne, MD
- 2008: Jacob D. Steiger, MD
- 2007: Monica Tadros, MD
- 2006: Angela M. Powell, MD and Mark E. Boston, MD
- 2005: Adam T. Ross, MD
- 2004: Paul L. Leong, MD
- 2003: Liana Puscas, MD and Robert Puchalski, MD
- 2002: F. Christopher Holsinger, MD
