Anand has been named a recipient of the Students and Trainees Advocating for Resource Stewardship (STARS) Faculty Excellence Award from Costs of Care, a national nonprofit organization that strives to provide better healthcare at a lower cost.

Quinnipiac medical students Elina Kurkurina, Alex Mass, Kathleen Mulligan and Brendan Rooney nominated Anand for the award. The STARS program encourages students to lead change to advance healthcare value within their own medical schools by providing them with support and resources. More than 50 academic centers have been involved in this initiative, which started in 2015. Quinnipiac became the first institution in Connecticut to join the program in 2018.

“Dr. Anand trusted, advocated for and encouraged us to pursue our value-based care interests,” said the medical students. “Medical school curricula are highly regimented and lecture hours are a finite and coveted resource. Dr. Anand advocated for two hours of dedicated classroom time for us to introduce our peers to value-based medicine through a student-led lecture and scenario-based workshop. Most importantly, he trusted us to design and present a session that would be meaningful and engaging to first-year medical students. Dr. Anand’s support and belief in our ability to lead an academic session as first-year medical students provided us with a strong sense of purpose and the confidence to champion an issue important to us as future physicians.” 

Anand explained his gratitude and the vital role students play in the advancement of education.

“I’m grateful to our students for nominating me and delighted to receive this award on behalf of all the STARS faculty mentors," he said. "It’s really our students who inspire us to strive for excellence. I am filled with hope that together, we can make a difference in our education and healthcare systems.”

Dr. Phil Boiselle, dean of the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine expressed how proud the medical community is of Anand's accomplishments.

"The Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine community is extremely proud of Dr. Rahul Anand for his recognition as a recipient of the STARS Faculty Excellence Award. Our medical school has been fortunate to participate in the STARS program since 2018, and we support its mission of advancing healthcare value through grassroots, student-led initiatives. Student mentoring by accomplished educators such as Dr. Anand is critical to the success of this vital program.”

STARS students at Quinnipiac have co-created learning modules, founded interest groups and pursued scholarly projects which have been presented at various national forums. Dr. Ilene Rosenberg, associate professor of medical sciences, and Dr. Howard A. Selinger, chair of family medicine, also serve as STARS faculty mentors.

Anand will receive the award at the sixth annual Architecture of High Value Health Care Conference in Baltimore, October 12-14.

A member of the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine faculty since 2018, Anand’s teaching focuses on microbiology and infectious diseases. He also directs an award-winning elective curriculum on leadership and teamwork for medical students.

Anand trained in Delhi, India, where he completed medical school at Delhi University and a residency at one of the highest volume tertiary care centers in India, which had a high number of tropical disease cases.

He moved to the United States in 2004 and completed his medical residency at Temple University, followed by an infectious diseases fellowship at Thomas Jefferson University. He also completed a Master of Science in clinical investigation focusing on implementation science and quality improvement, and an MBA (healthcare track) at the Isenberg School of Management, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.