Fox receives Dean’s Distinguished Service Award from College of Medicine executive dean
Geri Fox, MD, MHPE, received the Dean’s Distinguished Service Award in recognition of her outstanding leadership and service to the University of Illinois College of Medicine as associate dean for wellness curriculum, as well as her record of excellence as a valued clinician, scholar and educator.
Fox received the award from Mark Rosenblatt, MD, PhD, MBA, MHA, executive dean of the University of Illinois College of Medicine at the May 6 Commencement Ceremony in Chicago.
“I don’t think that I can adequately express how deeply meaningful it is to have my lifetime of service to our wonderful College of Medicine recognized with this award,” says Fox. “It has given me great satisfaction to have been able to be useful in so many different roles on more than one campus.”
A professor emerita of clinical psychiatry, Fox is chair of the UICOMR Department of Psychiatry. Previously, Fox was the director of child and adolescent psychiatry training at the University of Illinois College of Medicine Chicago Institute for Juvenile Research from 1990 until 1999. Most recently, she served as assistant dean for graduate medical education from 1999 to 2017 at the Chicago campus. She was also the director of psychiatry undergraduate medical education at the Chicago campus from 2005 until her transition to her role in Rockford in 2018.
After graduating from the University of Illinois College of Medicine Chicago in 1983, Fox went to Northwestern University for her psychiatry residency. She completed her child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at the University of Illinois College of Medicine Chicago’s Institute for Juvenile Research in 1988. During her fellowship, she joined the College of Medicine Chicago faculty, where she remained a dedicated clinician-educator for 30 years. She is board-certified in both psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry. Fox also received a master’s degree in health professions education from the University of Illinois College of Medicine Chicago in 2004.
Throughout her career, Fox has demonstrated a strong commitment to wellness in academic medicine. Her MHPE thesis, “Work-Family Balance and Academic Advancement in Medical Schools,” was published in Academic Psychiatry. In her graduate medical education role, she regularly conducted internal reviews of UICOM’s more than 50 residency and fellowship programs, instituted audits of the resident work environment, and co-chaired the Resident Work Environment Committee. She was a 2014-15 Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine® Fellow and developed a wellness initiative for the University of Illinois College of Medicine. In April 2017, she received the Maria Devens Memorial Award for Promoting Wellness from the University of Illinois Medical Student Council.