The ‘Heroes’ Have Been Identified – Judges Score More Than 70 Nominations for Healthcare Awards

A panel of esteemed judges is now finished with its work.

And soon, the region will learn the identities of this region’s first class of Healthcare Heroes.

“It’s a very intriguing class, and one that certainly speaks to the excellent, forward-thinking, community-minded work being undertaken by men and women across this region’s broad healthcare sector,” is all Kate Campiti, associate publisher of BusinessWest and the Healthcare News, would say about the first group of winners at this point.

Much more will be said, of course, in the September issue of HCN and the Sept. 4 issue of BusinessWest, when the magazines will tell the seven winners’ stories and explain why they, and all the other nominees, are worthy of that phrase ‘Healthcare Hero.’

The winners will be honored at the inaugural Healthcare Heroes Awards Gala on Oct. 19 at the Starting Gate banquet facility at GreatHorse in Hampden. Tickets are $85 each, with tables of 10 available. For more information or to order tickets, call (413) 781-8600.

Overall, there were more than 70 nominations across seven categories:

• Patient/Resident/Client Care Provider;
• Innovation in Health/Wellness;
• Community Health;
• Emerging Leader;
• Collaboration in Health/Wellness;
• Health/Wellness Administration/Administrator; and
• Lifetime Achievement.

These nominations were evaluated and scored by three judges:

• Dr. Henry Dorkin, president of the Massachusetts Medical Society. Dorkin is director of the Pulmonary Clinical Research Program, co-director of the Cystic Fibrosis Center, and co-director of the Cystic Fibrosis Therapeutic Development Center, all at Boston Children’s Hospital. He is also the immediate past clinical chief of the Division of Respiratory Diseases (2008-16) and the Cystic Fibrosis Center (2010-15), both at Children’s. A former professor of Pediatrics at the Tufts University School of Medicine, he is currently associate professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, a position he has held since 2002. An MMS member since 1982, Dorkin has served the society in a number of capacities. He was president-elect in 2016-17 and vice president in 2015-16. He has served as chair of the Task Force on EHR Interoperability and Usability as well as a member of the Task Force on Opioid Therapy and Physician Communication.

• Christopher Scott, dean of the School of Health & Patient Simulation at Springfield Technical Community College. Previously, he served as assistant dean for the School of Health & Patient Simulation at STCC and director of Clinical Education and the SIMS Medical Center. Scott played a key role in expanding the facility when he was hired as director in 2010. At the time, the medical center included 18 patient simulators and five rooms and provided 3,000 simulation experiences each year. Today, there are 52 simulators and 12 rooms, or simulation areas, and more than 20,000 simulation experiences. Scott, who holds a master’s degree in health education and curriculum development from Springfield College, is currently completing his doctorate in higher education administration from Northeastern University in Boston.

• Katie Stebbins, formerly the assistant secretary for Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In that role, she co-chaired the governor’s Digital Health Council and led investment efforts into the health-tech ecosystem. After serving in this position for two years, she recently began serving as vice president of Economic Development for the UMass system in Boston. A 20-year veteran of public service and economic development, she has also started three of her own companies.