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Aponte-Hughes ’11 awarded Social Work Case Management Fellowship

The American Case Management Association (ACMA) announces that recent graduate Laura Aponte-Hughes, MSW ’11, is the 2011 Social Work Case Management Fellow. Aponte-Hughes completed her MSW internship in the social work medicine department at the Department of Veteran Affairs VA Medical Center in Durham.

The Fellowship is a nine-month hospital-based program governed and bestowed by ACMA in partnership with the New York University Silver School of Social Work, NYU Langone Medical Center and the USC School of Social Work.

The program offers a premier educational experience for social work professionals desiring to expand their understanding of hospital social work and case management practice and includes hospital case management training, project work, multi-hospital exposure, research, professional membership in ACMA, a national conference speaking opportunity and a case management model comparative study.

“I feel very humbled and honored to be selected as the Fellow for this coming year,” says Aponte-Hughes. “I look forward to this enriching experience.”

The 2011 Fellowship will be conducted at NYU Langone Medical Center under the direction of Brenda Ohta, Ph.D., MSW, MSG, CPHQ, Senior Director of Care Management.

“I am very pleased with the selection of Ms. Aponte-Hughes as the second ACMA Fellow, and I look forward to working with her,” says Dr. Ohta. “The Fellowship program continues to advance the practice of social work in hospital case management, while providing MSW graduates with an opportunity for career advancement and enhanced job marketability.

The Fellow will receive a stipend of $50,000 as her compensation during the Fellowship. The Fellowship also includes additional training and site visits at select medical centers. These opportunities allow the Fellow to gain additional exposure, learn from a variety of case management leaders and experienced social work faculty members, and evaluate multiple case management models. Travel expenses related to site visits and conference attendance required by the Fellowship will be paid by ACMA.

In 2010, ACMA created the Social Work Fellowship program to further promote social work in the hospital/clinical setting and raise awareness regarding social work’s key role in hospital case management. The 2010 Fellowship was conducted in partnership with the University of Southern California School of Social Work and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Calif.