Song Receives SGIM Outstanding Junior Investigator of the Year Award

Lauren Jett
Zirui Song

Assistant professor of health care policy and medicine Zirui Song, MD, PhD, has received the Society of General Internal Medicine 2020 Outstanding Junior Investigator of the Year Award.

The Outstanding Junior Investigator of the Year Award is given to provide national recognition to junior investigators for their early career achievements and overall body of work that has made a national impact on generalist research.

In an acceptance statement, Song thanked his mentors, teachers, colleagues, and classmates.

“I thank the health care providers and staff at my clinic and hospital, whose devotion to our patients grounds me in shared purpose and meaning,” Song said, “Working alongside them is a profound privilege, and has shaped the way I think about health policy.”

Song also thanked the staff of HCP and MGH, “I thank my many colleagues in IT, finance, and administration at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital who make our collective work possible. They are the unsung heroes who give us data access, manage grants, and keep the lights on. They are the backbone behind an IRB approval or a data use agreement. A seemingly ordinary day seems ordinary because they are extraordinary, and my gratitude goes out to them.”

Song’s research focuses on payment policies that address the growth of health care spending and the quality of care, prices of care in the Medicare and commercially insured populations, and issues surrounding Medicare Advantage and employer efforts to control health care costs.

Song joins department of health care policy colleagues J. Michael McWilliams, MD, PhD (2014), Nancy L. Keating, MD, MPH (2005), and Bruce Landon, MD, MBA (2004) as a recipient of this award.

The Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) is a medical society of primary care and internal medicine physicians and trainees. The society’s 3,000 members teach medical students, residents, and fellows how to care for patients, while also conducting research that improves primary care, preventative measures, and medical treatments for patients. SGIM strives to be a professional home for innovators and scholars in academic general internal medicine.