2013 Award Recipients
Recognizing Outstanding Achievement in Medicine: The 2013 AMWA Awards
Presidential Recognition Award
Michelle Bachelet, MD
Michelle Bachelet, MD is the first Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, which was established on 2 July 2010 by the United Nations General Assembly. Under Ms. Bachelet’s leadership, UN Women will lead, support and coordinate the work on gender equality and the empowerment of women at global, regional and country levels. Ms. Bachelet most recently served as President of Chile from 2006 to 2010. A long-time champion of women’s rights, she has advocated for gender equality and women’s empowerment throughout her career. One of her major successes as President was her decision to save billions of dollars in revenues to spend on issues such as pension reform, social protection programs for women and children, and research and development, despite the financial crisis. Other initiatives included tripling the number of free early child-care centers for low-income families and the completion of some 3,500 childcare centers around the country. Ms. Bachelet also held ministerial portfolios in the Chilean Government as Minister of Defense and Minister of Health. As Defense Minister, Ms. Bachelet introduced gender policies intended to improve the conditions of women in the military and police forces. As Minister of Health, she implemented health care reform, improving attention to primary care facilities with the aim of ensuring better and faster health care response for families.
Elizabeth Blackwell Medal Award
Kim Templeton, MD is Professor of orthopedic surgery at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City. She has been the orthopedic residency program director for the past several years, while also serving on the Graduate Medical Education executive committee, and is incoming chair of the University of Kansas School of Medicine Promotion and Tenure Committee. She was named a “Top Doc” by Ingram’s magazine and received the Marjorie J. Siddridge leadership award for women in medicine from the University of Kansas in 2012. Dr. Templeton is currently the president of the US Bone and Joint Initiative, a non-profit organization of over 100 organizations. Dr. Templeton serves on the Board of Directors of the American Medical Women’s Association. She is on the executive committee of the Sex and Gender Women’s Health Collaborative (a collaborative effort of the ACWHP, AMWA, and SWHR). Dr. Templeton is an invited founding board member of the Academy of Women’s Health. Dr. Templeton was the first McCann Professor of Women in Medicine and Science. She organized and currently chairs the Women Physicians’ Caucus of the Kansas Medical Society. Dr. Templeton previously served on the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons’ Council for Research, Quality Assessment, and Technology. She is currently president of the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts. She is past-president of the Kansas Orthopaedic Society, the Mid-Central States Orthopaedic Society, the Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society, and the Medical Society of Johnson and Wyandotte Counties.
Bertha Van Hoosen Award
Diana Galindo, MD
Diana J. Galindo MD, FACS, AGSF has served as president of the American Medical Women’s Association in 2007 She is also a practicing Internist Geriatrician and educator at the Cleveland Clinic Florida. She is currently a Fellow of both the American College of Physicians and the American Geriatrics Society. She was also an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Miami School of Medicine. She earned her Medical Degree at the University of the Philippines College of Medicine and received her postgraduate training in Internal Medicine at St. Mary’s Hospital (a major affiliate of Yale University). She earned her Geriatrics Fellowship at the University of Miami where she held a faculty appointment as Associate Professor of Medicine. She is also serving as clinical reviewer for the American Board of Internal Medicine for the Geriatrics Board Exam. She has written many articles and book chapters in Aging and has given lectures about different topics on caring for the elderly in international, national and local settings. The Consumers Research Council of America and The Best Doctors in America have recognized her as one of the top doctors in Geriatrics. Cleveland Clinic Florida has recognized her as Educator of the Year in 2011. She was also recognized as one of the Top 100 Most Influential Filipino Women in the US in 2008 (Innovators and Thought Leaders category) by the Filipina Women’s Network. Her women peers in Cleveland Clinic have recognized her for her work at the local and national level with “Physician of Achievement Award”. She has been consistently chosen as one of the Top Doctors of South Florida in Geriatrics by the Gold Coast Magazine of South Florida. Her passion has always been affordable and good health care for all and empowering all women, especially women in medicine.
She is currently serving as an adviser for the South Florida branch of American Medical Women’s Association and active in the Women’s Professional Staff Association of Cleveland Clinic Florida. Her vision was to to connect the medical students of different medical schools with the practicing physicians in South Florida to work together, learn from each other and support each other and this has become a reality. She has served in various capacities in AMWA throughout the years but has made an impact on its program and has served in national meetings in the past as VP for program. As president of AMWA in 2007, she set Universal Access to Care and Caring for Older Women as her agenda. AMWA organized a national “Conversation about Health Care” with the leading presidential candidates at that time to determine their views on health care and express the member’s views on healthcare issues with them. Dr. Galindo and her partner, Emilio Labrador, lives in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. She enjoys reading (she is a member of her community’s book club), traveling, gardening and has a brown belt in Karate.
Anne C. Carter Student Leadership Award
Neha Deshpande
Neha A. Deshpande is enrolled in the MD program at Harvard Medical School and has been active in promoting women in medicine and women’s health issues since her early undergraduate years. As an undergraduate student at Johns Hopkins University, Neha founded the Women’s Pre-Health Leadership Society (http://jhu.edu/wphls/) to promote the next generation of women in medicine. During her first year of medical school, she served as one of the Co-Presidents of the Harvard AMWA student branch and then as the AMWA National Student Treasurer. Neha was also the 2012 recipient of AMWA Young Woman in Science Award for which she received 1st prize for her first-author research on pregnancy outcomes in kidney and liver transplant recipients. Outside of AMWA, Neha is active in promoting women’s health through both research and volunteerism. She is the Director of Health Education of Pasand, a young non-profit organization that brings menstrual pads for the cost of a penny and reproductive health education to school-aged girls in Southeast Asia (http://www.pasandpads.com/). Neha has a strong passion for clinical research and has written extensively about various women’s health issues including domestic violence prevention, global sex trafficking, surgical obstetrics, obstetric anesthesia, post-transplantation pregnancy management, medical ethics in obstetrics, and humanism in medicine. At Harvard, Neha is President of the Ob/Gyn Interest Group and former director of PHACE, a volunteer program that brings sexual health education to high-risk teens in the Boston Title 1 Public Schools. She hopes to pursue a future career in women’s health. Neha is a Harry S. Truman Scholar, USA TODAY College Academic First-Team winner, Intel Science Talent Search Finalist, and a former intern and science writer for the U.S. Surgeon General. She hopes to continue her involvement with AMWA as the Region 1 Director for this upcoming year.
Camille Mermond Award
Mary Ellen Morrow
Mary Ellen Morrow of West Orange, NJ, was awarded the coveted Camille Mermod Award by the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) at the 98th Anniversary Meeting, “Strategic Success for Women in Medicine,” held at the Palace Hotel in New York City. This award is given to a non-physician who has rendered exceptional service to the association. AMWA is “The Vision and Voice of Women in Medicine since 1915.
Laura E. Morrow, MD, (now deceased) Mary Ellen’s mother, was a Past-President of the organization in 1968-69.
As a photographer, and member, she has been carrying the torch for her Mother, and capturing the spirit of the organization with her photographs at annual meetings and events, as a tribute to her and in support of the positive work being done.
‘As the oldest multi-specilaty organization dedicated to advancing women in medicine and improving women’s health, AMWA functions at the local, national, and international level to provide leadership development, advocacy, education, expertise, mentoring, and strategic alliances. It is dedicated to addressing new challenges and issues as they arise.’
Mary Ellen remains passionate about the possibilities inherent in this talented and caring group of women in medicine. Many of her images, including a Facebook link to images from this recent event, and more information on how you can become a part, are found on the AMWA website www.amwa-doc.org.
You can contact her at maryellen@maryellenmorrow.com and see more of her work at www.maryellenmorrow.com
AMWA Exceptional Mentor Awards
Jason Dragoo, MD
Jason L. Dragoo, MD is a board certified Orthopaedic Surgeon, specializing in Sports Medicine at Stanford University. He serves as a team physician for numerous elite athletic associations including the US Ski Team, US Olympic Committee and Stanford University Athletics. For many years, he has educated a variety of specialists including orthopaedic surgeons, physical therapists, athletic trainers, and coaches on sports medicine concepts and techniques. Dr. Dragoo’s basic science and clinical research has led to new methods of cartilage regeneration using adult stem cells, as well as pioneering new methods of prevention and treatment of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries and stiff and painful joints. In his scientific laboratory, new generations of platelet rich plasma and growth factor treatments for tendon and ligament injury are currently in development.
Judith Amarosa, MD
Judith K Amorosa MD, FACR, Diagnostic Radiologist, Board Certified. Radiology Resident, St. Vincent’s Hospital, NYC. Pediatric Internship, Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center Babies’ Hospital, NYC. Medical School, New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ (now UMDNJ) Current position: Clinical Professor of Radiology, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School/UMDNJ, Vice Chair for Academic Affairs and Faculty Development in the Department of Radiology, Radiology Clerkship Director, and Staff Radiologist RWJUH, SPUH, URG, specialty: Chest Radiology. Accomplishments: Established Diagnostic Radiology Residency Program , Trained over 90 radiologists, Mentored 180 medical students who have gone into Radiology, Principal Investigator at RWJUH/CINJ/URG of multi-center national NLST (National Lung Cancer, Screening Trial), B reader, certified since 1980 (most recently in 2012), RSNA www Education grant recipient 2006-07, Master Educator Guild – selected founding member, President AMSER (Alliance for Medical Student Educators in Radiology) 2005, President AAWR (American Association for Women in Radiology) 2007, Roentgen historian and Fellow in the American College of Radiology (ACR).
Nancy Ascher, MD, PhD
Nancy Ascher MD, PhD, Professor and Chair, is Distinguished Professor in Transplantation and Leon Goldman, MD Distinguished Professor in Surgery at the UCSF Department of Surgery has devoted her career to organ transplantation and transplantation research. She has served on the Presidential Task Force on Organ Transplantation, the Surgeon General’s Task Force on Increasing Donor Organs, and as Chair of the Secretary of Health and Human Services Advisory Committee on Organ Transplantation. She is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and has membership in numerous academic medical societies. Past president of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, she takes an active leadership role in national and international transplantation societies. Her bibliography lists over 350 publications. Dr. Ascher’s undergraduate and medical education was completed at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She completed a general surgery residency and clinical transplantation fellowship at the University of Minnesota. She was recruited to UCSF in 1988 to develop the UCSF Liver Transplantation program and served as Chief of the Division of Transplantation until her appointment as Chair of the Department of Surgery in 1999.
Raghav Govindarajan, MD
Raghar Govindarajan, Research awards – AANEM Best abstract 2011, AANEM Foundation for Research and Education Junior Member Recognition Award 2011, 2012, Muscular Dystrophy Association Best poster 2012, MGFA Newsom Davis travel award 2012, Muscle study group 2012 travel award, American neurological association resident symposium 2010 travel award, and Florida society of neurology 2010 annual meet travel award Grants and Scholarships: Arnold P Gold Foundation research grant Project title: Improving the appeal of bed side clinical medicine among third year medical students through the content from historical section of the Neurology® journal, PALF Action Plan Grant 2012 granted by AAN and AAN Resident Scholarship to the Annual Meeting 2012-2013 Leadership awards: Michener leadership award from Cleveland Clinic Alumni Association 2011 and Resident of the year 2010-2011 awarded by Cleveland Clinic Florida Advocacy/Leadership activities American Academy of Neurology, Nominated for AAN’s Grassroots Alliance Membership, Palatucci Advocacy Leadership Forum 2012, Completed AAN Leadership Course-Leading Others In A Complex World, Leading Self, Neurology on the Hill February 2011, 2013, Invited for BrainPac committee meeting organized in April 2013, Member of Brain- Pac committee 2013-2015, Guest Payment Policy subcommittee 2013-2015 and Member of Practice committee 2013-2015 American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine – Ethics/member disciplinary review committee member, GME committee member and Marketing committee member Florida Society of Neurology – Elected Resident Board member of Florida Society of neurology 2010-2012
Andrea Seratan, MD
Andreea Seritan, M.D., is an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Assistant Dean for Student Wellness at the University of California, Davis, School of Medicine. She completed her psychiatry residency training at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and a geriatric psychiatry fellowship at the University of California, Los Angeles. In her clinical practice, Dr. Seritan combines active interests in psychodynamic psychotherapy and cognitive disorders. Her research focuses on the psychiatric and cognitive aspects of the fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS). Dr. Seritan is the recipient of the Frieda Fromm-Reichmann Award from the American Association of Directors of Psychiatry Residency Training, the Association for Academic Psychiatry Junior Faculty Development Award, the UC Davis Chancellor’s Achievement Award for Diversity and Community, and was recently inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. She is the author or co-author of 36 peer reviewed papers and 9 book chapters and has given numerous national presentations.
Theresa Rohr-Kirchgraber, MD hails from Los Angeles California, one of 8 children, she worked at McDonald’s in her youth and saved money to pay her way through college at California State University, Long Beach with a degree in Chemistry. Glad to put McDonalds behind her, New York City and Weill Cornell University College of Medicine beckoned and she graduated from there in 1988. Her residency in Internal Medicine was in Cleveland, OH where she practiced in a teaching hospital and began her academic career. With some twists and turns, she has remained in academia and has been on faculty at Upstate Medical University, Morehouse College of Medicine, Emory School of Medicine, and now is an Associate Clinical Faculty in Medicine and Pediatrics in the Section of Adolescent Medicine. A board certified Internal and Adolescent Medicine physician, she treats adults and adolescents and emphasizes general medicine, eating disorders, primary care of cancer survivors, management of adolescent obesity, and women’s health. Dr. Rohr-Kirchgraber has been actively involved in teaching and mentoring and has served in many academic roles, from associate program director for a residency to director of education. Her current titles include: Medical Director of the IU National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health at Wishard, Executive Director of the IU National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health, The NPR Sound Medicine Health and Wellness Expert, and Director of Education for the Section of Adolescent Medicine. She writes review questions for the Adolescent Board exams, and writes locally on health and wellness topics.
