Curtis Awarded Mastership in American College of Physicians

She was honored with the distinction, reserved for the top tier of internists in the United States, during Internal Medicine Meeting 2017, ACP’s annual scientific conference March 30 in San Diego.

ACP awarded only 53 masterships nationwide in 2017, including just six in New York State.

“Dr. Curtis’ election as a master of the American College of Physicians is a well-deserved honor and is a testament to her impressive leadership role in academic medicine,” says Michael E. Cain, MD, vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

One of the highest honors that can be granted to internal medicine practitioners, mastership recognizes outstanding and extraordinary career accomplishments. Masters must have made a notable contribution, including but not limited to teaching, outstanding work in clinical medicine (research or practice), contributions to preventive medicine, improvements in the delivery of health care or contributions to medical literature.

According to ACP bylaws, masters are elected “on account of personal character, positions of honor, contributions toward furthering the purposes of the ACP, eminence in practice or in medical research, or other attainments in science or in the art of medicine.” ACP activities are also taken into consideration for all candidates.

Curtis is president and chief executive officer of UBMD Internal Medicine of UBMD Physicians Group, the medical school’s practice plan.

Among the world’s leading clinical cardiac electrophysiologists, her pioneering research has helped transform the evaluation and treatment of heart disease, especially cardiac arrhythmias, worldwide and has significantly advanced knowledge of human cardiac electrophysiology and heart-rhythm abnormalities. She has been a key contributor to guidelines on atrial fibrillation issued by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines.

Curtis is board certified in internal medicine with additional certification in cardiovascular diseases and clinical cardiac electrophysiology. She is widely published with almost 300 peer-reviewed manuscripts, book chapters, abstracts, reviews and editorials as well as a treatise on cardiac pacing.

Earlier this year, Curtis was installed as the president of the Association of University Cardiologists.

Her honors and awards include the Distinguished Fellowship Award from the International Academy of Cardiology, the Distinguished Service Award from the Heart Rhythm Society and the Walter Bleifeld Memorial Award for Distinguished Contribution in Clinical Research in Cardiology from the International Academy of Cardiology.

For over a decade, she has been cited as one of America’s Top Doctors. In 2013, Expertscape named Curtis one of the world’s top 10 experts doing research on implantable defibrillators.

Prior to coming to UB in 2010, Curtis was professor of medicine and director, clinical electrophysiology, at the University of Florida, Gainesville, establishing an internationally recognized cardiac electrophysiology laboratory. She also was director of clinical cardiac electrophysiology, training program director for the cardiovascular disease fellowship, chief of the division of cardiology and director of cardiovascular services at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

Since her arrival in Buffalo, she has contributed to the mission and activities of ACP in many ways, including co-sponsoring a reception for the New York State chapter at the national convention annually and enhancing the experience of resident physicians. She also is a reviewer for Annals of Internal Medicine, the journal published by the ACP.

Curtis earned her medical degree from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. She did her residency at Presbyterian Hospital in New York City and two fellowships at Duke University Medical Center.

The American College of Physicians is the largest medical specialty organization and the second-largest physician group in the United States. ACP members include 148,000 internal medicine physicians (internists), related subspecialists and medical students. Internal medicine physicians are specialists who apply scientific knowledge and clinical expertise to the diagnosis, treatment and compassionate care of adults across the spectrum from health to complex illness.