SACRAMENTO -- Tonya Fancher, an assistant professor of internal medicine and associate program director for the department's residency training program, has been selected as the first recipient of the Putnam Scholars Program, sponsored by the American Academy on Communication in Healthcare. The Putnam grant recognizes excellence in education and research in physician-patient communication. Fancher is being awarded the grant for her proposed project, which focuses on improving interaction and understanding between physicians and patients within the Southeast Asian community of Sacramento County.

"We are excited to name Tonya Fancher as the first recipient of the Putnam Scholarship because her work truly reflects the life and vision of Dr. Samuel Morse Putnam, who recognized early on the critical importance of the patient-physician relationship in both healing and effective health care, " said Norman Jensen, the academy's current president. "I know he would be very impressed by the work Dr. Fancher is doing to address the challenges doctors face when their patients speak a different language and come from a different culture."

The $9,000 Putnam Scholarship will help support an educational program Fancher is developing to teach medical residents how language and culture can shape a patient's expectations and clinical outcomes. She plans to use Sacramento's Asian community as a model for helping young doctors understand the importance of asking about a patient's culture to establish an effective and trusting doctor-patient relationship.

"Dr. Fancher is an exceptional young physician-leader in medical education and health communication," said Richard Kravitz, professor and co-vice chair of research in the Department of Internal Medicine. "The Putnam Scholars award will invigorate her creative work by facilitating interactions with a superb national network of mentors and advisors."

Fancher's work includes plans to educate the local medical community about the predominant cultural beliefs, history and acculturation challenges facing Southeast Asians in the region. According to the most recent census, one in four households in Sacramento County speaks a language other than English. The Asian community accounts for 14 percent of county residents. The focus on good communication with non-English speaking patients also reflects a UC Davis Health System priority of improving both access and quality of care for underserved populations.

UC Davis Health System is an integrated, academic health system encompassing UC Davis School of Medicine, the 613-bed acute-care hospital and clinical services of UC Davis Medical Center, the 800-member physician group known as UC Davis Medical Group, and the proposed Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing.