Rogers, Goldszer Celebrated for Compassion, Leadership

BWH recognized and honored Selwyn Rogers, MD, and Robert Goldszer, MD, MBA, in March for their compassionate leadership and care during the annual Dennis Thomson Leadership Award and Compassionate Care Scholar Ceremony.

Rogers, the division chief of Trauma, Burns and Surgical Critical Care and director of the Center for Surgery and Public Health, received the 2008 Thomson Leadership Award, named in honor of the late Dennis Thomson, vice president of Public Affairs from 1991 to 1998. In a surprise move during the March 26 ceremony, Goldszer, BWH’s associate chief medical officer and director of Primary Care, received the Dennis Thomson Lifetime Achievement Award.

The ceremony also featured keynote speaker John Auerbach, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and the presentation of six compassionate care scholarships to teams of clinicians to pursue projects that enhance compassionate patient care.

Auerbach detailed the four priorities for public health in the state: health care reform, eliminating racial and ethnic disparities, promoting wellness and managing chronic disease. He lauded BWH for its engagement with the community around it.

“A lot of times, hospitals are very insular and operate like little cities,” he said. “There aren’t many that integrate fully within the community, but Brigham and Women’s is one of them.”

In his former role as executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission, Auerbach collaborated with Rogers, recipient of the 2008 leadership award, on a number of violence prevention initiatives.

“I’ve had the privilege to work to improve health care through the Center for Surgery and Public Health,” Rogers said. “It’s an incredible privilege to come to work every day with the opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life.”

At BWH, Rogers is well-known for his compassionate leadership everyday as he cares for patients, leads clinical and research teams, mentors residents and works to reduce disparities in health care on a national level.

“On a day to day, hour by hour basis, Dr. Rogers consistently does the right thing for his patients and his colleagues,” said Mary Pennington, MSN, RN, CCRN, CNRN, critical care program manager in the Center for Nursing Excellence, who was one of two nurses who nominated Rogers for the award. “His vision and belief in the possibility of achieving excellence drives the health care teams he leads to work harder toward those goals.”

Rogers credits his teams in the Center for Surgery and Public Health and the Division of Trauma, Burns and Critical Care. “I’m blessed to come to work to lead people who share my values: integrity, compassion and doing the right thing when no one is watching,” he said.

The team Rogers directs in the Center for Surgery and Public Health attests to his inspirational leadership. “He has an ability to make you feel you are a valuable asset to not only his department, but the hospital as a whole,” said Jill Steinberg, MPH, RN, quality program manager in the center, who also nominated Rogers.

He also remains steadfast in his commitment to providing the highest quality of care to trauma patients at BWH. “Selwyn built the critical care division from the ground up at a time and place when no one was sure it was going to happen,” said Surgeon in-Chief Michael Zinner, MD. “He is an inspirational leader, a thoughtful and compassionate surgeon and a pied piper for young people.”

The lifetime achievement award to Goldszer, who has led the Thomson committee for nine years, came as a complete surprise to nearly everyone in the audience, and especially to Goldszer, who emceed the event. In addition to the surprise of the award itself, members of Goldszer’s family were ushered into front-row seats just prior to the award presentation. His parents, Beatrice and Louis Goldszer, flew from Pittsburgh to Boston for the Thomson event. His wife, Madalyn Mann, and daughter, Sarah, were on hand, too, for this special celebration of Goldszer’s three decades of service to BWH, its patients and clinicians.

“This award recognizes a member of our staff, who, over the course of his career, has made exemplary contributions and has a deep commitment to compassionate leadership,” BWH Chief Medical Officer Andy Whittemore, MD, said in presenting the award to Goldszer, who first came to BWH and HMS in January 1979 as a research and clinical fellow in Renal Medicine. His next 30 years at BWH were marked by his commitment to safe and quality care and his leadership in shepherding quality improvement projects hospital-wide.

“I said no surprises,” said a teary-eyed Goldszer. “I am deeply grateful and thoroughly surprised.”

Goldszer, who also has served as BWH’s director of Specialty Services and vice president for Clinical Services, is leaving in May for Miami’s Mount Sinai Medical Center where he will be chief medical officer and senior vice president of Academic and Research Affairs.

“BWH is the whole package, and there is no place better,” he said. “When I get to Miami, I am going to work to achieve what we have achieved here. There is no place like this.”