Meet the Elite
SHM welcomes new Fellows, Senior Fellows, and Masters in Hospital Medicine.
SHM Converge 2025 got off to an exciting start Wednesday morning by welcoming 171 members to an elite group. SHM outgoing President Flora Kisuule, MD, MPH, SFHM, recognized the newest SHM Fellows and Senior Fellows, along with four new members of SHM’s 2023 Masters in Hospital Medicine program.
Dr. Kisuule honored 167 hospitalists — 97 Fellows and 72 Senior Fellows — as either a Fellow or Senior Fellow in hospital medicine.
“They join the ranks of more than 2,131 other SHM members who have made hospital medicine their career and set themselves apart in our specialty,” she said.
The four new Masters of Hospital Medicine joined an even more elite group, with their additions bringing it to 50 total members. The new Masters are Guilherme B. Barcellos, MD, MHM, Sunil Kripalani, MD, MSc, MHM, Jennifer S. Myers, MD, MHM, and Rachel E. Thompson, MD, MPH, MHM.
Dr. Kisuule said Guilherme B. Barcellos, MD, MHM, has been elected to the program as a pioneer of the hospitalist movement in Brazil and South America, while still making contributions to SHM and hospital medicine in the United States. He is the first hospitalist based outside the U.S. to earn the Masters distinction.
Dr. Barcellos currently practices at Hospital de Clinicas in Porto Alegre, Brazil. He is the founder of the General Hospital Medicine Study and Update Group, the first organized movement to promote hospitalists in Brazil. He also founded the Brazilian Society of Hospital Medicine and the Brazilian Academy of Hospital Medicine.
“His commitment to hospital medicine, his friendly and engaging style of communication, and active leadership both in Brazil and within SHM have led to the specialty’s growth in countries around the globe,” Dr. Kisuule said.
Sunil Kripalani, MD, MSc, MHM, is a professor of medicine and health policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Dr. Kisuule said he was among the first hospitalists to pursue a career in research that focused on care transitions, medication safety, and reducing readmissions. He has published more than 250 peer-reviewed manuscripts and is one of the most highly cited researchers in the field.
Dr. Kripalani has been a member of SHM since 2000 and was a member of the society’s inaugural class of Fellows and Senior Fellows.
“He has also been of immeasurable service to the Journal of Hospital Medicine, serving as assistant editor, deputy editor, and currently as a member of the editorial board,” Dr. Kisuule said.
Jennifer S. Myers, MD, MHM, currently serves as the associate division chief of the Division of Hospital Medicine at Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where she also holds the title of Professor of Clinical Medicine and Executive Director of the Penn Center for Healthcare Improvement and Patient Safety.
“Dr. Myers has distinguished herself as a nationally recognized expert in integrating quality and safety into the framework of academic medical centers,” Dr. Kisuule said. “Her work has been pivotal in establishing higher standards within medical education.”
Dr. Myers has mentored more than 100 individuals in her career and has championed programs to support hospitalist mothers at Penn to promote well-being and community. She also led the development of SHM’s Quality and Safety Education Academy, which has trained more than 700 faculty since its inception in 2012.
Rachel E. Thompson, MD, MPH, MHM, currently serves as the chief medical officer at Core Clinical Partners and is an adjunct professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Dr. Kisuule said Dr. Thompson’s achievements in leadership and clinical care have been invaluable to the hospitalist community — particularly her time as SHM board member and president during the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“During her tenure as president of SHM, and her time on the board, her leadership guided the society as it navigated the post-pandemic world,” Dr. Kisuule said. “She traveled across the country — and around the globe — to meet SHM members to better understand the state of hospital medicine and how SHM could better serve hospitalists.”
