Seven Westchester-based doctors recently received recognition for their work as medical practitioners at the inaugural Doctors of Distinction award ceremony at The Bristal Assisted Living in White Plains. The awards were presented by Robert Bazell, the multi-award-winning former chief health and science correspondent for NBC News and now adjunct professor of molecular biology at Yale University.
Four judges chose the winners out of nearly 50 nominees to receive six distinctive awards in categories such as research excellence, medical entrepreneur, lifetime achievement, community service, humanitarian and leadership in medical advocacy.
“We have a treasure trove of accomplished medical doctors and professionals in this county,” said Dee DelBello, publisher of the Business Journal”™s parent company Westfair Communications Inc., during the opening remarks of the ceremony.
The awards recognized doctors who have shown dedication to patient care, perseverance despite the odds, a commitment to expand medical bounds and an understanding of modern medicine, said Alan Badey, managing partner at Citrin Cooperman”™s White Plains office.
With emotions stirring, each winner gave a short testimony about their journey into the field of medicine in front of attendees, which included community members, families and friends.
The night began with a speech from the leadership in medical advocacy award recipient Dr. Lawrence L. Faltz, senior vice president for medical affairs and chief medical officer at Phelps Memorial Hospital Center in Sleepy Hollow. As a doctor who oversees patient care activities and other clinical and operational programs, he said one way to implement quality patient care is “getting a seat at the table early in the process” and talking to policy makers about how to better serve patients in a profession where the “big focus is on money.” Faltz is also a clinical professor of medicine at New York Medical College.
Dr. Jason B. Carmel, director of the Motor Recovery Laboratory and Early Brain Injury Recovery Clinic at The Burke Medical Research Institute in White Plains and recipient of the research excellence award, shared his story of growing up with a twin brother who suffered from a spinal cord injury. Carmel said a doctor told his brother there was nothing he could do to help him, which sparked Carmel”™s interest in basic science research. “Imagine a day when a patient comes up to the doctor and asks, ”˜Can you help me?”™ and he can reply, ”˜Yes, we can,”™” he said.
Carmel is researching how motor functions recover after the central nervous system is injured and is exploring activity-based therapies including electrical stimulation and motor training that can help strengthen the spinal cord and brain connection.
Dr. Robert W. Amler is vice president for government affairs and dean for the School of Health Sciences and Practice and the Institute of Public Health at New York Medical College. Amler, the recipient of the medical entrepreneur award, built clinical training facilities for biotechnology, disaster medicine and clinical skills. He also started a biotech incubator for researchers and start-up firms that are developing new drugs, vaccine strains and medical safety devices.
Dr. Avraham Merav, a war veteran who served in Israel, received the lifetime achievement award for innovative surgical procedures.
Merav, a former chief of thoracic surgery at Montefiore Hospital, opened the thoracic center at Phelps Memorial Hospital Center and most recently the Westchester Lung Nodule Center. He has replaced and repaired heart valves and aortas, bypassed coronary arteries and removed lung cancer and other thoracic tumors in thousands of patients.
“There is no greater gratification” than to see a heart come back to life, “take over the heart-lung machine” and then tell the patient”™s family “everything is alright,” Merav said.
Dr. Argyrios Stampas, director of The Burke Rehabilitation Hospital Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Program, was tied for the community service award with Dr. Robert Raniolo, a trauma-trained and board-certified general surgeon who has a private practice in Westchester.
Raniolo said his grandparents, who are immigrants, and parents, who have been an integral part of the Westchester community, raised him to serve others.
“I”™ve been given so much and everybody is there for me,” he said.
Dr. Jeffrey Sherman, member of Westchester Anesthesiologists working at White Plains Hospital, has been on 20 surgical mission trips abroad repairing primarily cleft lip and palates, burn scar contractures and orthopedic deformities. Sherman, who dreamed of becoming a baseball player, realized he enjoyed studying medicine more. He carries the mantra “changing the world”¦ one child at a time” and said he takes joy in helping patients become “socially accepted and have the possibility of finding work and entering into close relationships.” To Sherman that”™s the equivalent of “hitting a home run.”
The Westchester Medical Society along with accounting and consulting firm Citrin Cooperman and the Westchester County Business Journal are the founders of the award.
