2025 Monetary Educator of the 12 months Award

We lately requested you to nominate your favourite physician who’s educating colleagues and trainees on monetary issues for The White Coat Investor Monetary Educator of the 12 months Award. Whereas the winner will get a pleasant certificates and CV entry for this, additionally they get a cool $1,000 verify to blow on no matter they need. That is the seventh 12 months we have achieved this award, and previous winners embrace:

When you may be nominated yearly for this award, you may solely win it as soon as. Winners should be practising docs, they usually cannot be monetary advisors, for-profit monetary bloggers, or podcasters.

Largely, these docs are giving formal and casual lectures to friends and trainees, growing curriculums, publishing papers, and operating little private finance ministries to assist physicians and related high-income professionals develop into extra financially literate and disciplined. We need to encourage this conduct, so along with this award, we even supply slides that will help you give shows:

The slides had been all up to date this 12 months. Be at liberty to make use of them, personalize them, and move them round to anybody you suppose may gain advantage from them.

We acquired 85 nominations this 12 months, together with 75 who totally accomplished the appliance with an in depth description of WHY their nominee ought to win. These nominations had been for 20 totally different docs. The nominees included:

• Andrew Pirotte
• Casey Campbell
• Craig Griebel
• Daniel Farkas
• Frank Hwang
• Abhinav Markus
• Dave Berman
• Gayle Galletta
• Gregory Avey
• Josh Day by day
• Karambir Khangoora
• Thomas Liu
• Viraj Desi
• Viraj Modi
• Esteban Davila
• Keegan Tupchong
• Mark Moubarek
• Matthew Lipton
• Naomi Ambalu
• Patrick Pirotte

Congratulations to the entire nominees (a number of of whom have been nominated for a number of years). Thanks for what you’re doing to your colleagues and trainees.

Honorable Mentions

Three docs, particularly, stood out this 12 months—each within the sheer variety of nominations and in what they’ve been doing. We might like to say two of them as honorable mentions (sorry, no prize for that), after which we’ll let you know about this 12 months’s award winner.

Craig Griebel

Craig was nominated 13 occasions this 12 months, and for good motive.

“For many years, Dr. Griebel has been a cornerstone of our residency in lots of areas of training, however his dedication to the well-being and future success of our residents via monetary training goes above and past. Not solely has his spirit of mentorship been a continuing useful resource for our residents, however it has prolonged to medical college students and college, as nicely. Dr. Griebel has constantly demonstrated an unwavering dedication to equipping our residents with the monetary literacy typically neglected in medical coaching. For years, he has voluntarily hosted common monetary training lectures. These classes are thoughtfully ready and expertly delivered conferences that cowl a complete vary of subjects which can be so essential to the success of our residents’ monetary futures. From the fundamentals of saving for retirement, via funding navigating and understanding learn how to receive applicable insurance coverage protection, Dr. Griebel covers all of it in his structured quarterly lecture sequence. He empowers our residents to make knowledgeable selections that may serve them nicely all through their careers and past. Whereas his upcoming retirement within the subsequent two years marks the tip of an period, we consider his enduring legacy, significantly within the realm of economic training, deserves this prestigious recognition.”

Gayle Galletta

As soon as extra, we had a really shut competitors, and all of us on the committee who had been selecting a winner felt this award may have gone to both Gayle or our eventual winner. Gayle had 14 nominations detailing the in depth work she has achieved to advertise monetary literacy, together with:

• Lectures to the UMass EM residency
• Buying WCI books for EM interns
• Discovering WCI Champions in MS1 lessons to distribute the WCI Scholar Information to their friends
• Two-time WCICON speaker
• WCI Scholarship essay decide for seven years operating
• Founding father of the UMass EM Monetary Literacy Curiosity Group
• Speaker at Massachusetts ACEP Assembly
• Speaker at Worcester District Medical Society Medical Scholar Workshop on Funds
• Further lectures to different residency packages

Our Winner, Viraj Modi

Viraj Modi

Viraj was nominated an astounding 34 occasions this 12 months, essentially the most that somebody has ever been nominated for this award and nearly half of the nominations we acquired general. He has clearly had a long-standing formal and casual monetary training program for medical college students, residents, and his colleagues. Nominees cited his formalized and repeated lecture sequence for medical college students transitioning to residency and residents transitioning to attendings.

“As a frontrunner in curriculum growth on the medical college, Dr. Modi has performed a pivotal position in shaping monetary literacy packages for residents and medical college students. His ongoing efforts to bridge the hole between drugs and monetary training make him a very deserving candidate for this award.”

And one other remark:

“On the medical college stage, his ‘Transition to Residency’ and monetary training course for fourth-year medical college students has develop into extremely standard. He additionally dedicates time exterior of his scientific tasks to teach residents and younger attendings on sensible monetary methods.”

Dozens of nominees cited private experiences with Dr. Modi and his affect on them to spice up their very own monetary data and self-discipline. His work has clearly been achieved over a few years and over a large swath of scholars, trainees, and colleagues. When we’ve got 34 nominations, simply selecting the profitable nominator (who will get a free WCI on-line course) isn’t any small job. Nonetheless, we expect the most effective nomination got here from Dr. Matthew Martin.

“It’s with nice enthusiasm that I write in assist of Dr. Viraj Modi, DO, FACP, for the Monetary Educator Award. Dr. Modi serves as an attending doctor within the Division of Normal, Geriatric, and Hospital Drugs on the Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Heart and was lately promoted to Scientific Affiliate Professor of Drugs. An achievement that displays each his scientific excellence and his deep dedication to mentorship and training.

Monetary wellness is an space that always receives little consideration in medical coaching, particularly in the course of the chaotic early days of residency. I can keep in mind vividly how overwhelming it felt on the very begin, even earlier than our first official day on the job! I felt so unprepared to handle the advantages that got here with employment similar to medical health insurance plans, the choices of retirement accounts and plans, in addition to budgeting and making monetary selections with no robust basis. Happily, I had the chance to work with Dr. Modi in each the inpatient and outpatient setting.

Dr. Modi took day trip of his busy schedule to verify in with myself and lots of of my colleagues to ask if we had any questions on our retirement accounts or investing generally. It was clear that he understood how new and intimidating this course of could possibly be for many people. He patiently shared his personal insights, inspired us to start out small, and supplied sensible recommendation on learn how to make investments and diversify safely—to grasp the dangers and optimize progress over time. Dr. Modi aimed not simply to teach, however to encourage us to form our personal paths towards monetary freedom and long-term safety.

What makes Dr. Modi’s mentorship so impactful is that it feels private. He creates an setting the place asking “easy” questions is inspired, and he genuinely needs his trainees to really feel empowered; not simply as physicians, however as financially literate adults ready for the long run. His constant efforts have had a tangible influence on the best way [me] and lots of of my colleagues method private finance, and people classes will stick with us lengthy after coaching.

Dr. Modi exemplifies the spirit of the Monetary Educator Award, and I can consider no yet one more deserving of this recognition. His dedication to monetary training has not solely formed my very own method to private finance, however has additionally fostered a tradition of empowerment and mentorship inside our establishment. I carry his classes with me and really feel impressed to pay it ahead; to share data, encourage openness, and assist others really feel assured of their monetary selections, simply as he did for me.

Sincerely,

Matthew J Martin, DO, MS
PGY3 Inside Drugs Resident
Renaissance College of Drugs at Stony Brook College”

Congratulations to Dr. Modi for being named the 2025 WCI Monetary Educator of the 12 months and to Dr. Martin for nominating him!

What do you suppose? What is going to you do within the subsequent 12 months to assist your colleagues and trainees develop into extra financially literate and disciplined?