ARLINGTON, Va.-- Jan. 18, 2018 -- Dr. Atul Gawande, surgeon, writer, and public health researcher and advocate, will receive Research!America's Isadore Rosenfeld Award for Impact on Public Opinion on March 14 in Washington, D.C. for dramatically raising the profile of health systems research, and promoting evidence-based research to improve health care delivery. Dr. Isadore Rosenfeld, for whom the award is named, is Rossi Distinguished Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Weill Cornell Medical College and a Research!America Emeritus Director. Dr. Rosenfeld, widely recognized as one of the country's preeminent physicians and a renowned advocate for medical and health research, is the distinguished author of several best-selling books and former health editor of PARADE magazine.
"Dr. Gawande epitomizes Dr. Rosenfeld's pioneering work in communicating the value of evidence-based health care to the public through many popular, best-selling books, essays and scientific papers," said Mary Woolley, president and CEO, Research!America. "Dr. Gawande's contributions are greatly admired by the public and have inspired researchers and health care professionals working diligently to save lives and improve the quality of patient care."
Dr. Gawande practices general and endocrine surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and is a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine, publishing influential essays on the science and practice of medicine, from people's individual experiences to the effects of national policy. He is Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Samuel O. Thier Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. He is also Executive Director of Ariadne Labs, a joint center for health systems innovation working to save lives and reduce suffering for people everywhere through simple, scalable solutions that improve the delivery of care. Dr. Gawande is Chairman of the non-profit organization Lifebox, which is bringing the Safe Surgery Checklist, shown to cut post-operative deaths in half, to low-income countries around the world.
"I am thrilled to receive Research!America's Isadore Rosenfeld Award for Impact on Public Opinion," said Dr. Gawande. "Dr. Rosenfeld's writing and advocacy has made a significant impact on public understanding of health and health care that I have hoped to build upon. The next era of advancement in human well-being will only be possible if we pay attention to how illness and healing really work--if we commit to working through the messy reality of how science and people's lives intersect."
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Dr. Gawande has written four New York Times bestsellers: Complications, Better, The Checklist Manifesto, and most recently, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. Dr. Gawande is also the winner of two National Magazine Awards, AcademyHealth's Impact Award for highest research impact on health care, a MacArthur Fellowship, and the Lewis Thomas Award for writing about science.
The 22nd Research!America Advocacy Awards, to be held at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C. on March 14, brings together leaders from government, industry, academia, patient groups, scientific societies, independent research institutes and health advocacy organizations to honor exceptional advocates for research.
Other 2018 Research!America Advocacy Award honorees are the Honorable John Edward Porter, Research!America Chair Emeritus, who will receive the Legacy Award; Dr. Roger I. Glass, director of the Fogarty International Center and associate director for international research at the National Institutes of Health; Shari and Garen Staglin, co-founders, One Mind and founders, Staglin Family Vineyard; Dr. Peter J. Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine where he is also professor of pediatrics and molecular virology and microbiology; and The EveryLife Foundation for Rare Diseases. More honorees to be announced shortly.
For more information about the 2018 Advocacy Awards Dinner, visit http://www.researchamerica.org/advocacy_awards.
About Research!America's Advocacy Awards Dinner
The annual Research!America Advocacy Awards program was established in 1996 by the Board of Directors to honor outstanding advocates for medical, health and scientific research. Recognized individuals and organizations are those whose extraordinary leadership efforts have been effective in advancing our nation's commitment to medical, health and other scientific research. This year the awards event will take place on March 14, 2018, at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit http://www.researchamerica.org/advocacy_awards.
About Research!America
Research!America is the nation's largest nonprofit public education and advocacy alliance working to make research to improve health a higher national priority. Founded in 1989, Research!America is supported by member organizations that represent the voices of 125 million Americans. Visit http://www.researchamerica.org.