Mary G. Barry, M.D., editor of Louisville Medicine, announced the winners of the eighth annual Richard Spear, M.D., Memorial Essay Contest during the Greater Louisville Medical Society Presidents’ Celebration on May 31 in the Muhammad Ali Center. The theme of the physician essay contest was “Medicine and the Unexpected” for the practicing/life category and “Using Technology in Medicine Without Becoming a Robot” for the in-training/medical student category.

Nina Vasavada, M.D., was the winner in the practicing/life category for “The Unexpected in Front of Us.” Vasavada is an assistant clinical professor with the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension in the University of Louisville Department of Medicine. She practices with University of Louisville Physicians-Kidney Disease Program.

There was a tie in the in-training/medical student category. Joseph Bales, M.D., was the first of two winners for his piece, “The Machine in All of Us.” Bales will graduate from his residency in UofL’s Department of Emergency Medicine this month and will practice in College Station, Texas, beginning in July.

Sarah Khayat, a third-year medical student at UofL, was the second winner in the in-training/medical student category for her piece, “Hold the Phone.”

Spear was a respected Louisville general surgeon who also served on the faculty of the UofL School of Medicine. When he died in 2007, he left GLMS a bequest to fund the annual essay contest. Spear wished to support high quality writing about the practice of medicine. The winning essays will be published in Louisville Medicine’s July edition.