There’s never a bad time to celebrate the doctors, nurses, hospital leaders and other health care workers for their profound dedication to helping people.
That was what the Baltimore Business Journal team figured when we came up with our inaugural Leaders in Health Care Awards late last year. And then (yes, you’ve heard this plenty of times) Covid-19 hit.Since mid-March, those individuals’ work has only grown more critical — and vastly more challenging. Health care workers had to learn how to remain as sterile as possible, some in clinics and hospitals, others working from behind screens rather than at bedsides, while being effective caretakers.
Many have turned to data to determine which populations are suffering the most and how they can reach and educate them about the dangers of contracting the novel coronavirus. Senior care facilities have confronted among the most mortal and horrific of threats, working to keep their highly vulnerable clients safe from a deadly, highly contagious illness.As that work continues amid a looming “second wave” of Covid-19, we’re taking a moment to pause and, as we had planned, to celebrate. We received over 130 nominations for these awards and tackled the difficult task of narrowing our list down to 15 deserving awardees. Here are our picks.
You can learn more about them at our virtual awards celebration on Dec. 3 and in a special print edition due to run Dec. 4.
Health education
Jane M. Kirschling, Dean, University of Maryland School of Nursing
Dr. Letitia Dzirasa, Baltimore City Health Commissioner
Medical cannabis
Dr. Leah Sera, Associate professor and director of the Master of Science in Medical Cannabis Science and Therapeutics program, and Natalie Eddington, Dean, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy
Anthony Darby, CEO, Peninsula Alternative Health
Health care executive (hospital)
Dr. John B. Chessare, President and CEO, Greater Baltimore Medical Center
Health care executive (non-hospital)
Bob Atlas, President and CEO, Maryland Hospital Association
Ricardo Johnson, Vice President of HealthWorx, CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield
Health care innovation
Dr. Jonathan Thierman, Physician executive and president of the medical staff for Northwest Hospital, LifeBridge Health
Allysa Dittmar, President, and Aaron Hsu, CEO, ClearMask
Health care outcomes
Dr. Santiago Alvarez, Fellow in allergy and clinical immunology, Johns Hopkins Medicine
Dr. Seema Shah, Associate medical director, Planned Parenthood of Maryland
Dr. Deepak Prabhakar, Medical director of outpatient services, Sheppard Pratt Health System
Alma Roberts, Senior program manager, Community Benefit, Kaiser Permanente
Senior care
Joseph DeMattos, President, Health Facilities Association of Maryland
Rev. Derrick DeWitt, Director, Maryland Baptist Aged Home