The 2024 ACR Awards of Distinction

Dr. Cannella

Distinguished Fellowship Program Director Award

The Distinguished Fellowship Program Director Award is awarded to a current or former rheumatology program director who has made outstanding contributions in the mentoring and training of future rheumatologists; this year’s recipient is Amy Cannella, MD, MS, RhMSUS, Gerald F. Moore Professor of Medicine in the Division of Rheumatology at University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), Omaha.

Dr. Cannella attended medical school and completed her internal medicine residency at UNMC, and her rheumatology fellowship at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City.

Surrounded by gifted educators, Dr. Cannella credits much of her success as a clinician educator to her entire division’s commitment to medical education. Her overarching philosophy in education is that learning should be fun—with engaging content, varied delivery, purposeful repetition and rigorous assessment. She enjoys teaching at every level of medical education. Establishing the rheumatology fellowship in 2005, she remains the program director to date.

In an effort to recruit clinicians to rheumatology, Dr. Cannella started teaching upstream, and currently directs the clinical and post-graduate rheumatology rotations and multiple preclinical courses in the University of Nebraska College of Medicine. Educational highlights in her portfolio include 36 successful fellow graduates, ultrasound curriculum and live patient encounters, in which she brings patients with rheumatic disease into a small group setting to teach first- and second-year medical students.

Dr. Cannella has been a member of the ACR Committee on Training & Workforce Solutions and chair of the Resident Education Subcommittee, where she worked on the original iterations of Rheum2Learn. She served as a member, section editor and chair of the Continuing Assessment Review Evaluation (CARE) Development Group. Since 2011, she has been a mentor for the Ultrasound School of North American Rheumatologists, and led the development of the ACR mini-curriculum for Ultrasound in Rheumatology. In recognition of her educational contributions, she has been the recipient of numerous teaching awards, including three Golden Apples and the Excellence in Basic Science Teaching and the Innovative Practices in Education awards. Under her leadership, the UNMC fellowship program has received 14 Rheumatology Research Foundation Amgen Fellowship Training Awards.

Dr. Cannella believes educating the next generation of medical professionals is both a team sport and a labor of love. The walls of her office are not covered with diplomas, but rather with pictures of her family, her children’s artwork and patient mementos. It is with profound gratitude that she has the trust of her fellows, help of her colleagues, inspiration of her patients and support of her husband and three children.