Celebrating Physicians and Scientists
VIDEO
Long before "medical home" was a buzz word in primary care, Manuel
Guillermo Herrera-Acena, MD, was already putting the model into practice in the
Spanish Clinic that he founded in 1971.
"We pride ourselves today in primary care by being
innovators in the work we're doing," said Joseph Frolkis, MD, vice chair for
Primary Care. "Dr. Hererra created a true multidisciplinary, team-based
culturally- and linguistically-congruent medical home in 1971. That's when he
founded the BWH Spanish Clinic to overcome what he felt were barriers to
equitable care for the Latino population of greater Boston. From the outset,
the clinic offered primary care, psychiatry, social services, nutrition,
preventive medicine, and, what in our lingo today would be called, shared
medical appointments."
That same year, Herrera-Acena established a fourth-year
elective at Harvard Medical School that includes an intensive one-month course
in conversational and medical Spanish and an introduction to Latin-American
culture that is linked to a two-month rotation in several South American
countries.
"There, students work alongside local physicians to care for
patients and learn about barriers to care," said Frolkis. "About 1,000 students
so far have participated in these electives, some of whom are now on the
faculty of our hospital."
Herrera-Acena was lauded for his many contributions to BWH,
the BWPO and the field of medicine during this spring's Physician Recognition
Dinner. He topped the list of physicians honored for years of service with his
55 years.
"What's extraordinary about this man is not just the length
of his service, but its richness, originality, integrity, and ultimately, its
humanity," said Frolkis, who presented the award to Herrera-Acena.
Manuel Guillermo Herrera-Acena is recognized for 55 years of service with a framed photograph presented by Joseph Frolkis.
In addition to Herrera-Acena, many physicians were
celebrated for years of service, including Robert Dluhy, MD, of Medicine, for
50 years. Those celebrating 45 years included Medicine's Philip Goldsmith, MD,
Robert Handin, MD, David Rosenthal, MD, Peter Schur, MD; Neurology's David
Dawson, MD; Obstetrics & Gynecology's Raymond Reilly, MBBCH, BAO; and
Pathology's Eleonora Galvanek, MD. View
a complete list of Service Award recipients in the program .
In addition to Service Awards, seven physicians received
BWPO recognition awards for outstanding contributions.
"These recipients were selected by the BWPO Physician
Recognition Awards Committee from a truly remarkable pool of nominations
submitted by their physician colleagues," said Jessica Dudley, MD, chief
medical officer for the BWPO.
Read more about the recipients through excerpts of their
nominations below.
Clinical
Collaboration Award: James Kirshenbaum, MD, Department of Medicine
Kirshenbaum has many leadership roles that are critical to the smooth
functioning of BWH. His current role as director of the Inpatient Cardiovascular
Service has highlighted his nimble vocabulary and administrative skills. He
embodies clinical collaboration between divisions, departments and between
clinical services and the hospital. With the opening of the Shapiro Center, the
importance of his current role cannot be over-emphasized. For BWH to function
smoothly there has to be an ongoing interaction between the Department of
Medicine, Admitting and Cardiology Services in Shapiro. Kirshenbaum has
unfailingly stepped up to the plate when his services were needed. This
includes outside-the-box roles of accepting non-cardiology patients to Shapiro,
a willingness to admit and attend to medical patients, and essentially doing
whatever it takes for BWH to function smoothly when the demands and capacity
are high.
Clinical Innovation
Award: Antonio Gargiulo, MD, and Serene Srouji, MD, Obstetrics & Gynecology
Dr. Gargiulo and Dr. Srouji jointly developed the
Reproductive Robotic Program at BWH, an innovative program that has the
potential to radically change the way minimally invasive surgery in gynecology
is performed. The two have become nationally and internationally recognized
experts in robotic myomectomy and together have treated more than 600 patients
since 2007. They developed the first hybrid laparoscopic robotic myomectomy in
2007. That same year, they also performed New England's first robotic fallopian
tubal reanastomosis and the first robotic debulking of stage IV endometriosis.
Clinical Innovation Award: Stuart Pollack, MD, Department of Medicine
Pollack has been actively engaged in care redesign and
clinical innovation for almost a decade. He combines a deep understanding of
the principles of primary care innovation with an "on the ground" knowledge of
how to implement these changes in the real world. At BWH, he instituted a
number of successful changes in the Foxboro practice to facilitate its
transition toward a medical home. As the medical director for BWH's Advanced
Primary Care Associates at South Huntington, Pollack has been able to utilize his
passion for clinical innovation, his experience and his detailed knowledge of
practice process to provide critical leadership as the hospital builds a
patient-centered medical home from the ground up.
Clinical Community Service: David Walton, MD, MPH, Department of
Medicine
In the 15 years that Walton has worked with Partners In
Health, he has become a leading expert in community-based care of AIDS,
tuberculosis and non-communicable disease, and a master implementer in health
care delivery and health systems strengthening. Most recently, Walton led the
development of Hopital Universitaire de Mirebalais (HUM), the first
state-of-the-art public teaching and referral hospital in Haiti. In addition to
leading the construction process, Walton has been instrumental in the creation
of the hospital's operational structure as the chief operating officer. Amid
his management and operational responsibilities, he remained first and foremost
a teacher. His mentorship of medical residents will be critical to training the
next cadre of global health physician-leaders.
James S. Winshall,
MD, Leadership Award: Kirk Daffner, MD, FAAN, Department of Neurology
Daffner is the founder and chief of the Division of
Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology and the first director of the Center for
Brain/Mind Medicine at BWH. He is widely regarded as a prominent leader in
cognitive and behavioral neurology, whose innovative approach to the field has
advanced the delivery of care, the development of clinical research and the
training of the next generation of clinician-scientists and scholars. Through
the Center for Brain/Mind Medicine, Daffner has created a collaborative
environment that promotes open communication and deep respect among clinicians
and researchers and a team that provides optimal care for extremely challenging
patients.
Patient and
Family-Centered Care Award: Assia Valovska, MD, Department of Anesthesiology
Valovska is a key member of the Pain Management Center team.
With expertise in pelvic pain, she frequently sees women with pelvic pain who
have already been seen by a variety of specialists in gynecology, urology and
gastroenterology. Their lives are disrupted by their pain, and they often
suffer from depression and anxiety. Valovska shows care and concern for these
women, and her treatment plans instill hope in them. Some of these women were
unable to have normal sexual activity due to pain, and after treatment by
Valovska, many have gone on to have full-term pregnancies and deliver healthy
babies. Her greatest joy is seeing the newborns when these patients come for
follow-up care.