BWH, BWPO Honor Physicians, Scientists

Fifty years ago, Manuel Guillermo Herrera-Acena, MD, graduated from Harvard Medical School and began his training in Endrocrinology at BWH. During his career, he has cared for thousands of patients, founded BWH’s Spanish Clinic and inspired hundreds of medical school students, interns and residents to care for patients in rural, Latin American settings.

With five decades of service and commitment to the hospital’s mission of research, education and patient care, Herrera-Acena topped the list of honorees during BWH’s annual Physician Recognition Dinner and Medical Staff Service Awards, sponsored by the Brigham and Women’s Physicians’ Council and the BWPO.

“You bring great honor to all of us,” Martin Samuels, MD, chair of Neurology, said to Herrera-Acena during the Nov. 3 gala at the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel. Samuels, a 30-year honoree, and Herrera-Acena are among the 27 physicians and scientists recognized this year for 30 or more years of service to BWH. An additional 231 medical staff received Service Awards for five to 25 years of service.

BWH President Gary Gottlieb, MD, MBA, thanked the service award honorees for their continued commitment to the hospital’s mission of clinical care, education and research. “You have made BWH among the most special places with your commitment to taking care of the sickest and neediest patients, leading the way with amazing new discovery and taking it to the bedside to ease pain and cure illness,” he said.

The BWPO also recognized five physicians and scientists with awards.

“All the nominees and this year’s recipients truly live the most ideal vision of what the Brigham is all about,” said Allen Smith, MD, MS, BWPO president. “Whenever physicians who are just starting out ask about being extraordinary, we should all point to our recognition award recipients.”

This year, there are two recipients of the James S. Winshall Leadership Award, Phillip M. Devlin, MD, of Radiation Oncology, and Hugh L. Flanagan, MD, of Anesthesia.

Flanagan, director of BWH Operating Rooms, has held several leadership posts in Anesthesia and BWH’s Surgical Intensive Care Service, and he has made tremendous contributions to systems and quality, ultimately improving patient care in many ways. As director of the operating room, Flanagan has been a leading participant on many interdisciplinary task forces resulting in many dramatic technical and system-wide improvements. His work with Infectious Diseases to create an electronic reminder system for antibiotic dosing has reduced infection and been emulated in other institutions.

As the director of Brachytherapy for BWH, DFCI and Children’s Hospital Boston, Devlin has grown this service line to a world class service where patients receive directed radioactivity to organs affected by cancer. He helped design a dedicated brachytherapy facility at BWH, assembled a talented and committed team and established a nationally-renowned fellowship program that has trained brachytherapy experts now leading service lines at their own institutions.

Richard Zane, MD, vice chair of Emergency Medicine, received the Clinical Collaboration Award. Zane was the driving force behind newly-implemented hospital-wide guidelines for admission of patients from the ED to subspecialty service lines, and his efforts have been instrumental in facilitating the admission of BWH ED patients to Faulkner Hospital. In addition, Zane’s commitment, expertise and leadership continue to be pivotal to BWH’s disaster and emergency management preparedness, making the hospital a regional leader and national model.

This year’s Clinical Community Service Award went to Heidi Behforouz, MD, founder and executive director of BWH’s Prevention and Access to Care and Treatment (PACT) program. She pioneers this program which fosters educational and clinical outreach to Boston’s sickest and most isolated AIDS patients. Public health officials from Miami and New York City have turned to Behforouz to help them establish similar programs there, and this past year marked her first international efforts as she is bringing PACT’s outreach and treatment approaches to Peru.

Christopher Thompson, MD, MSc, received this year’s Clinical Innovation Award, which goes to a physician scientist who improves care delivery through the development and promotion of innovative clinical practice. Thompson focuses his interest in advanced endoscopy as it applies to post surgical complications, bariatric endoscopy, reflux and pancreatic disease. He leads an active animal lab nationally-renowned for device development and industry partnering. He is leading many innovative projects entering clinical trials with the potential to change medical practice.

50 Years

Manuel Guillermo Herrera-Acena, MD, Medicine

45 Years

Robert George Dluhy, MD, Medicine

40 Years

Robert H. Rubin, MD, Medicine
David Michael Dawson, MD, Neurology
Eleanora Galvanek, MD, Pathology

35 years

Eugene Braunwald, MD, Medicine
H. Franklin Bunn, MD, Medicine
Dennis J. Selkoe, MD, Neurology
Ross Stuart Berkowitz, MD, OB/Gyn

30 Years

Hugh L. Flanagan, Jr., MD, Aneshtesiology
Joseph Harry Antin, MD, Anesthesiology
Elliott Marshall Antman, MD, Medicine
Daniel David Federman, MD, Medicine
Dennis L. Kasper, MD, Medicine
Matthew Heng Liang, MD, Medicine
Lee Marshall Nadler, MD, Medicine
Richard Platt, MD, Medicine
Madeline M. Roth, MD, Medicine
Roy Mark Rubin, MD, Medicine
Beverly Woo, MD, Medicine
Martin Samuels, MD, Neurology
Barbara Opray, MD, Newborn Medicine
David Acker, MD, OB/Gyn
Stephen Dewitt Baer, MD, OB/Byn
Ruth Ellen Tuomala, MD, OB/Gyn
John Raymond Peteet, MD, Psychiarty
Jerome Paul Richie, MD, Surgery