The 2021 EJI Excellence in Medicine honorees are distinguished professionals who are making a significant impact on their respective healthcare fields. This year’s class of award recipients includes 11 outstanding individuals who have earned the admiration and respect of their peers for the quality of care they provide to their patients, the extraordinary leadership skills they bring to their organizations, the research they perform, the innovations they develop, the students they mentor and the communities they serve. We asked these esteemed healthcare leaders to provide us with some insights into their work and to answer questions we posed that help us get to know them on a professional and personal level. Their answers give us a unique opportunity to better understand the passions, hopes and challenges of these honorable leaders who have made meaningful and lasting contributions to our healthcare community.
Outstanding Scientist Award
David S. Perlin, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President, Hackensack Meridian Health Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI)
Overcoming and preventing life-threatening infections among healthy patients—like those with COVID-19; or patients with compromised immune systems, such as those resulting from cancer, transplantation, burns, premature birth or other serious health conditions—remain major unmet needs in modern medicine. Viruses like SARS-CoV2 provide special challenges, as a new generation of diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines need to be developed in real-time to counter a highly transmissible virulent pathogen.
In recent decades, the emergence of deadly multidrug-resistant “superbugs” has been exacerbated by a diminished pipeline for antibiotics and antifungal agents. Outbreaks of deadly infections occur among the wealthiest and poorest communities and know no boundaries, as infecting microbes often spread within hospitals and the community and rapidly circle the globe. This threat to human health is profound, as it jeopardizes advances in modern medicine creating a major health crisis. According to the World Health Organization, as of the date of this writing, COVID-19 has infected more than 114 million people, resulting in more than 2 million deaths worldwide and more than 500,000 deaths in the U.S. Furthermore, according to a 2019 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) threat report, at least 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections occur in the United States each year, resulting in more than 35,000 deaths.
To overcome these challenges, we need all stakeholders to actively participate. For the past 20 years, I have worked to help overcome deadly infections by developing novel diagnostics and therapeutics and by studying the detailed microbial and host factors that promote their emergence. My group has used this information to refine current therapies and develop novel diagnostic tools to detect such infections, which facilitate more precise and effective patient management. Our SARS-CoV2 PCR assay was one of the first approved (March 2020) under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Emergency Use Authorization for a major healthcare system. Along with clinical partners, we developed a highly successful high-tier convalescent plasma therapy program to treat patients hospitalized with COVID-19. I also lead a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-designated national Center of Excellence in Translational Research consisting of academic and commercial partners working to develop next-generation antiviral agents against SARS-CoV2 and antibiotics to overcome drug resistance. I have supported outbreak studies to better track the transmission of deadly viruses, bacteria and fungi.
To succeed in an age-old battle against microbes, we must improve our ability to detect, at an early-stage, infectious pathogens, employ novel therapeutic strategies and limit emergence of mutant strains resistant to drugs and vaccines. Finally, we need to break the cycle of transmission occurring among hospitals, long-term care facilities and the community.
Key lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic:
- No matter how smart or clever we think we are, we are all mortal, and nature will always present the ultimate challenge to our well-being.
- Disease challenges like COVID-19 require the scientific community to step up, come together as a community to create knowledge and advance solutions, and let scientific truths be the guiding light. Science must be agnostic to politics on both sides of the aisle.
- The lightning-fast development and approval of the COVID-19 vaccines were not a miracle. It reflected an investment in virus basic science and various vaccine technologies over the past decade by government and industry. Without that investment, a COVID-19 vaccine would have been significantly delayed.
- The most important lesson of the past year for me is that respect for each other is the best way to ensure health and safety for all.
Edward J. Ill Physician’s Award®
Marco A. Zarbin, MD, PhD
Alfonse Cinotti, MD/New Jersey Lions Eye Research Professor and Chair, Institute of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
Integration of technology into clinical practice is a particularly important task for physicians in the 21st century. The electronic medical record, for example, provides an enormous amount of information to physicians that should improve the safety (e.g., recognition of drug allergies) and efficacy (e.g., full access to the records of various physicians treating a given patient) of medical care. A patient, however, may feel that their doctor is giving more time and attention to the computer than to them! Therefore, technology presents opportunities and challenges.
Currently, the most important technology entering clinical practice is artificial intelligence (AI). AI is a branch of computer science that simulates our ability to learn, reason and generalize. Given a set of photographs of a patient’s retina, AI programs can predict the development of sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy, predict a patient’s risk of stroke or heart attack, predict a patient’s blood pressure, identify early Alzheimer’s disease and even predict a patient’s age and gender. AI might even be used to direct robotic surgery.
These innovations, however, are unlikely to replace physicians (at least in the near term), because the practice of medicine is not simply a technical exercise: It involves empathy, teamwork and decision-making regarding alternatives that differ in many dimensions, including treatment, side effects, cost and the logistics of receiving a particular therapy. Although AI programs can make diagnoses and/or treatment recommendations, this technology generally does not take context into account (i.e., previous hierarchical knowledge). When AI is deployed properly, the high-value skills of physicians will remain what they always have been: the ability to recognize the needs of a particular patient, the ability to communicate the superior value of a treatment vs. other seemingly similar treatments, the ability to coordinate decisions with family members and the ability to judge the value that a therapy is providing to a patient who has inexorable disease progression despite treatment. Properly deployed, AI and related technologies will be vital components of the healthcare team, but not the leader. This evolution requires that physicians remain vigilant in their responsibility to treat each patient as an individual and to ensure that innovations in medical care continue to serve the needs of patients above all else.
Most rewarding experience:
The renowned trauma surgeon, Ambroise Pare (1510–1590), said, “Je le pansai, Dieu le guerit.” (“I treated him; God cured him.”) Once a surgeon’s career is advanced enough, he or she will have encountered more than one patient whose recovery seems inexplicable, even miraculous. My experience has been no different. Although there have been a number of rewarding experiences involving patients of all ages and occupations, preserving or restoring vision in children may be the most gratifying, because it spares them and their parents the vicissitudes associated with a lifetime of blindness.
Best advice for peers and medical students:
Philip Tumulty, MD, a brilliant physician at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, was admired by everyone for his remarkable skills. Patients were referred to him from throughout the United States. When asked what advice he could give that would enable all of us to achieve this level of excellence, he said, “When you are taking care of a patient, look into their eyes and try to see the eyes of someone you love.”
Peter W. Rodino, Jr. Citizen’s Award®
Trish O’Keefe, PhD, RN
President, Morristown Medical Center, and Vice President, Atlantic Health System
Morristown Medical Center is known not only for its clinical excellence but also for the exceptional patient experience culture we provide to our patients and their families—a hallmark of the medical center.
When I became President of Morristown Medical Center in 2016, the Medical Center was just beginning to be nationally recognized, a long way from our roots as a large community hospital! We were suddenly faced with the challenge of embracing our growing national reputation while maintaining our healing culture and dedication to the positive patient experience our community deserves and expects.
We first established a strong team, composed of physician leaders and leadership from key areas—clinical, operations, education/research and patient experience. It was imperative to keep the patient experience central to our mission while simultaneously working to recruit key medical experts, offer novel clinical trials and invest in our specialties—cardiology, orthopedics, complex surgery, geriatrics, pediatrics, obstetrics and critical care—and working to ensure our high-quality clinical care.
We strengthened our academic commitment and continued to add to our physical footprint with the addition of multiple outpatient specialty buildings, a two-story vertical expansion and a multi-disciplinary building in a neighboring community. The rate of growth was astounding.
Nonetheless, my team and I were committed to a positive patient experience. To promote a culture of high-quality and positive patient outcomes and experiences, administrative leaders partnered with our physician leaders and implemented a program centered on the critical role of the physician in the patient experience. The partnership included paired rounding and encouraged open, candid discussion about ways to enhance our healing environment. Physician and clinical leaders also engaged with residents and medical students, nursing and allied health—reinforcing our culture of a positive patient experience for tomorrow’s physicians and caregivers.
We worked with Atlantic Health System leadership to coin the term Extraordinary Caring to define our patient experience and engage our employees with this new concept. We rewarded team members who went above and beyond, and we shared best practices with our managers. Many stories were recognized internally and via external media, reinforcing our commitment.
Today, our patient experience commitment continues, our feedback and scores sustain positive momentum, and our strong clinical reputation continues to grow. I am proud we continue to be recognized for both important elements of caring.
Favorite quote:
“Only life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” – Albert Einstein
Best advice I received:
Always have the patient at the center of your decision. Be fair and consistent and listen actively. From Ruth O’Keefe, RN, nurse, healthcare administrator and my mom.
What I would change in healthcare if given the chance:
Our mission at Atlantic Health System is to build healthier communities. In that effort, I continue to be inspired by the leadership of our CEO Brian Gragnolati. Our goal is to improve access, affordability and coordination of care. If I could, I would remove the burden of responsibilities shifting to the consumer, eliminate unnecessary administrative regulations and focus on wellness and prevention in a healing environment in all settings and ensure, when needed, complex care is available to all.
Special Award for Innovation
Charles J. Gatt, Jr., MD, & Michael G. Dunn, PhD
Charles J. Gatt, Jr., MD, Orthopaedic surgeon, University Orthopaedic Associates, and Chair, Residency Program Director and Associate Professor, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Throughout my surgical career, two sayings that I have been told and that I, in turn, have told to students and residents are these: “The enemy of good is better,” and “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” There is certainly a place in medicine for this advice. However, if orthopaedic surgery honored these statements to the letter all of the time, we would not have minimally invasive and arthroscopic procedures, outpatient joint replacement and spine surgery and opioid-free surgery, just to name a few. The same holds true for every subspecialty of medicine.
As an undergraduate engineer, I was taught to look at processes and problems analytically. We were taught to take on these challenges with the goal of improving production, efficiency, safety etc. When I entered medical school in 1985, I brought that mind-set to my education. While being overwhelmed by the tremendous volume of facts I had to memorize, I was fascinated by the new technologies that were introduced. I distinctly remember learning about immunology and the fact that specific proteins on cells could be targeted for attachment with medications. Now, that concept is becoming a reality in the battle against cancer. In 1985, hip and knee replacement patients were admitted the evening before surgery and stayed in the hospital for 10 to 14 days. Now, a patient can go to a surgery center in the morning, get a hip replacement and be home for lunch. There have been so many remarkable advances in every field in my 35 years in medicine.
There is no doubt that these advances are the result of creativity and entrepreneurism. The founders of arthroscopy considered it only a diagnostic tool. It took orthopaedic surgeons with creative minds to say we can perform an entire ligament reconstruction through two or three small holes in the knee using this new “diagnostic tool.” It took surgeons, academic health centers and industry, working together, to develop instruments and implants that converted this diagnostic tool into a therapeutic tool. Partnerships like these are what will continue to allow medicine to take what is already very good and make it better for people throughout the world.
Favorite quote:
“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” ~Harry S. Truman
What I would change in healthcare if given the chance:
I would change the current drive for increased documentation, which has taken away from practicing “the art of medicine.”
Key lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic:
I have learned that people’s fears are real to them regardless of whether they are substantiated by science, and these fears should be respected.
Michael G. Dunn, PhD, Professor, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, and Founding Director of the Orthopaedic Research Laboratories at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Dr. Gatt and Dr. Dunn are also co-founders of NovoPedics, Inc.
Every major medical advance, treatment, drug, device or diagnostic method began as a creative spark in an inquisitive mind that questioned the status quo and envisioned a better way. It is tempting to think that there is little room for improvement in the field of medicine today, as sophisticated as we are. However, if that had been the mind-set 100 years ago, penicillin never would have been discovered. Fifty years ago, there were no vaccines for rubella, chicken pox or pneumonia. Only 20 years ago, the human genome had not been fully sequenced. In only the past year, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), there were major advances in HIV vaccines, spinal cord regeneration, early detection methods for various cancers and novel strategies for prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and opioid overdoses. Human ingenuity continues to drive medical innovations that improve our lifespan and quality of life.
So, how do we foster this centuries-old tradition of creativity in medicine? We are an inherently inquisitive species; creativity is natural, but education is also essential to apply creativity to solve real-world medical problems. Thus, educational opportunities must be available and affordable worldwide, at all levels, for children and for adults, from grade school through graduate and professional schools. In addition to requisite science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) training, we need to keep the creative side of the brain engaged by including exposure to the arts, music and theatre as part of the curriculum for scientists, engineers and medical students who are frequently exposed only to equations and facts to memorize. Furthermore, in schoolrooms and in the workplace, the importance of teamwork must be emphasized because synergistic and fruitful interactions often occur when various disciplines collaborate.
In addition to educational directives, another way to foster medical creativity is through increased funding for STEM and biomedical research through federal agencies like the NIH, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Defense (DoD), as well as private philanthropy. Biomedical research funding is essential to advance medical creativity and develop new drugs, therapies, medical devices and diagnostics. In addition to inventing novel medical advances, scientists, engineers and medical professionals can contribute even further by communicating to the public and politicians that robust medical research funding is needed to harness creativity in support of the highest priority of society—the health and welfare of their citizenry.
The greatest challenge I have faced in my career:
Balancing career and personal life can be a challenge, but I learned over time that having a rewarding personal and family life also makes you happier and more productive in your career.
The most rewarding experience of my career:
Hearing about the successful careers of the many students who have trained in my laboratory.
Key lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic:
Cherish everyone every day, and don’t sweat the small stuff.
Outstanding Healthcare Executive Award
John F. Bonamo, MD, MS
Executive Vice President and Chief Medical and Quality Officer, RWJBarnabas Health
Twenty years ago, the Institute of Medicine released the study “To Err Is Human,” which reported that 44,000–98,000 people per year die unnecessarily in hospitals in the United States. In a subsequent report published the following year, “Crossing the Quality Chasm,” the Institute opined on the response to its initial publication, reporting that people in the United States were looking for six important guarantees in healthcare: timeliness, efficiency, effectiveness, equity, patient centeredness and safety. When the American populous was queried, the one thing that resonated was safety.
In the 20 years since the Institute of Medicine reports pulled back the curtain and reinvigorated the debate surrounding quality and safety in healthcare, we have started to learn a new language and to redefine the problems. For at least 10 years after the initial report, healthcare professionals in the United States worked vigorously on quality and started to see improvement in many indicators. However, serious safety events and preventable harm and death rates did not decrease.
Many improvement scientists understood that safety and quality are very different things. For many years, people tried to improve quality, and did, but were perplexed about why their serious safety event rates had not improved at all. In fact, now that transparency has become commonplace, and the index of suspicion has been raised, the new estimates of preventable death in the U.S. are 200,000–400,000 deaths annually.
RWJBarnabas Health has unyielding dedication to quality and in late 2019 received eight Leapfrog A grades and three Leapfrog B grades. RWJBarnabas Health achieved 74 percent A grades, while the state average stands at 44 percent and the national average at 33 percent. These important scores that measure process and outcomes must be maintained while we sharpen our focus on safety.
Improving patient and employee safety must be addressed in a very different and thorough way and be added to the quality efforts in healthcare institutions. The RWJBarnabas Health system has dedicated itself to becoming a high-reliability organization with patient safety as the goal. The system is involved in a relentless pursuit to achieve zero instances of preventable harm.
It has been four years since the onset of the high-reliability journey within the RWJBarnabas Health system. During that time, 34,000 employees have received High Reliability training. All managers, directors, department heads and administrators have had significant High Reliability Leadership Training, and all 7,600 staff physicians have been trained. New employees are trained in high-reliability methods during orientation, and all physicians and advanced practice professionals who have joined our medical staffs also receive High Reliability Training as part of their medical staff orientation.
In 2017, the system conducted a significant number of diagnostics to understand the nature of serious safety events, and how to categorize them and assure interrater reliability between and among our facilities. During 2018, we trained all of our employees; our physicians were trained during 2018 and at the beginning of 2019. In 2019, we designated 850 Safety Coaches throughout all units, clinical and non-clinical, in each of our institutions. They use positive reinforcement techniques to enhance habit formation in the use of our safety tools, striving to help the staff on their journey to establish and sustain a high-reliability culture. Never did we realize how directly these learnings would apply to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
We have also created a Fair and Just Culture for all employee infractions. Every one of our facilities has Patient Family Advisory Councils (PFACs). At every institution, we address all caregivers through Second Victim Work, Practitioner Resilience and Schwartz Rounds. We have also instructed 4,000 staff members on workplace violence and prevention. We continue to engage our workforce and create an unparalleled experience for our patients.
The system has earmarked our journey as “Safety Together,” but it actually extends beyond patient safety to high reliability in all of the work that we do. Much like the nuclear power industry and commercial aviation, we now know how to decrease preventable harm and loss of life. In tandem with our pursuit of quality and the success we have achieved, we are starting to see decreased serious safety events in all of our facilities as we march toward our goal of zero preventable harm. Our staff has coalesced around this important work. They all have come to know they cannot do it alone—it is hard and takes a long time, yet there is nothing more important.
The greatest challenge I faced in my career:
During my tenure as President and CEO at Saint Barnabas Medical Center, I worked with my senior leadership team to create a closed model intensive care unit (ICU) staffed by board-certified intensive care physicians. This created remarkable unrest within the physician community involved with the ICU. Over an 18-month process, we remained steadfast in our resolve to move forward, as this was the right thing to do for our patients in the ICU. Several years later, the New Jersey Hospital Association highlighted the care delivered in the SBMC ICU as the model to which all hospitals in the state should aspire. The lesson learned was do the right thing for the right reason, despite how difficult it is.
Best advice for peers and future healthcare professionals:
We should never forget we are in the most honorable profession in the world. We work with people at their most vulnerable. They trust themselves to us, and we owe them our best.
Outstanding Medical Educator Award
Linda Boyd, DO
Former Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Family Medicine, Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine
During the next generation, the practice of medicine will change dramatically. Machine learning will assist in developing diagnoses and treatment plans, resulting in greater accuracy and effectiveness of patient care. Assistive devices and mobile apps will enable and empower patients to take a greater role in their own disease management and preventive care. Additionally, population health tracking of big data, including utilization data, will instruct health systems to deploy a wide variety of healthcare team members, such as health coaches, visiting nurses and nutritionists, to more directly assist patients in the community to manage their diseases. There will be continued growth in telehealth, which will help to reduce the burden of maldistribution of physicians in the U.S. and enable homebound and remote patients to access medical advice from home.
What does this mean for training doctors for the future practice of medicine? Computers will never take away the role of a doctor. Although machines will assist in decision-making, there needs to be a doctor to consider the many variables in a patient’s care that might require override of the “ideal” treatment plan. This will require doctors who are trained to be culturally competent and to listen to their patients. A doctor will always need to communicate the diagnosis and plan to patients and families, and be skilled in teaching and motivating them to engage in caring for themselves. This requires selecting doctors who have excellent interpersonal skills and training them in patient-education strategies and motivational interviewing techniques.
Physicians are no longer the head of the hierarchy of medicine. Medicine has become a team sport. Therefore, learning to work well together with other healthcare professionals is essential in meeting the needs of an individual patient, as well as the population of patients in a local area. Physicians of the future need to be selected for humility, as well as for their ability and willingness to work with others for the good of patients. Training in interprofessional care is essential for future doctors.
What I would change in healthcare if given the chance:
I would make medical school free with a service requirement. I would remove the burden of being an electronic medical record (EMR) scribe from doctors and return them to doing doctoring work. I would establish a single payor system for healthcare with all citizens covered.
Best advice for my peers:
Continue to teach, because it keeps you on your toes and up to date. Always remember that we do this work for the patients, not for the income. Medicine is service work, and patients should always be at the center of what we do.
Best advice for medical students:
Choose a specialty you love, because you’ll be doing it a long time. Always remember why you wanted to be a doctor. It will help to reflect on that when you have long, hard days.
Key lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic:
Life is short and unpredictable, so in addition to working hard, make sure to take time to enjoy life, take care of yourself and surround yourself with friends and family you love.
Verice M. Mason Community Service Leader Award
Eric G. Jahn, MD, on behalf of the Eric B. Chandler Health Center
Senior Associate Dean for Community Health, Associate Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health, and Division Chief of Community Health, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
There exist many visions of the role of community health. Coming from an academic-based perspective, the definition that has resonated with me was best articulated in an article by Goodman, Bunnell, and Posner: “Community health is a multi-sector and multi-disciplinary collaborative enterprise that uses public health science, evidence-based strategies, and other approaches to engage and work with communities, in a culturally appropriate manner, to optimize the health and quality of life of all persons who live, work, or are otherwise active in a defined community or communities … [A]t their core they are explicitly focused on the intersection of the community’s needs, the community’s understanding of and priorities for health, and the best methods for documenting the evidence garnered from practice in the community, as well as the evidence from the science of community health.” 1
Many might view community health as initiatives that seek to improve access to care by those most in need. This was my vision early in my career and focused my work at Chandler Health Center. Quickly, it became clear to me that more was needed, that my patients’ health was being dictated in part by the environment in which they lived. This concept is recognized by many, and evidence of the association between social determinates and an individual’s health is becoming more widely accepted. The ability to modify the impact of environmental and social factors on the health of an individual represents one of the biggest challenges to community health. How do we, as health practitioners, effectively partner with others to alleviate this impact?
The positive news is that in our communities there are willing partners who are committed to mitigating the effects of these social determinates. They include faith- and community-based organizations, health professionals, educators and others. Our challenge is to effectively link individual patients to these resources and work to expand the capability and capacity of our partners to improve the well-being of the communities we serve.
The most rewarding experience of my career:
Taking part in the growth and evolution of the Eric B. Chandler Health Center. During my 27 years of involvement with the Center, it has grown from a small community health center facing numerous challenges into a high-performing organization that is recognized nationally by HRSA as delivering high-quality medical care.
The greatest challenge I faced in my career:
Working in a resource-constrained environment has forced me to evaluate and understand the true health impact of committed resources. It has also driven me to collaborate with others who have similar goals in improving the overall health of our communities.
Best advice I received:
“When you are unsure of what path to take, do what is in the best interest of your patients and community.” ~Dr. Denise Rodgers, Vice Chancellor for Interprofessional Programs at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences
Special Award for Innovation
Joseph V. DiTrolio, MD
Urologist and Clinical Professor, Department of Surgery–Division of Urology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
Entrepreneurism is the end of a long and trying course of events for which success is still not a guarantee. Even at this point, all the stars of financing, marketing and manufacturing must come into line. Not every skill set is in one person’s brain, and so we need to develop trust in and dependency on those who have the skills we lack. But let’s go back in time and see what gets us to the point of innovation. It is all about connections and making something work in a situation where it was never initially intended to work.
Just like a flower, one needs fertile soil, water, sunlight and nurturing. So how does it happen in our lives? It starts in early youth, when exposure to many lifetime experiences help to form our thoughts on how things are made, how they work and how they are presented to the public. This stimulates our inner senses of adventure, wonderment and dreaming. Dreaming is critical, because as we fantasize, we see how our life can be changed. How we can help ourselves or people in general. Our thoughts must be open and receptive to other people’s genius. When we see an obstacle, we look for a solution. Building on what we know works and going back through the stages of development to see where we went off the tracks. With an extensive library of lifetime experiences to tap into, I have the ability to see what worked in one application and apply it to a totally different problem. This ability may come from working on toy trains as a child, working on a gocart as a young teenager, working on a car as college student, watching a movie or working with my father in a factory that was capable of manufacturing anything. It takes a positive attitude, to quote President Roosevelt: “The difficult we do immediately. The impossible takes a little longer.”
As a physician, seeing the limitations of lens-oriented endoscopes, I looked for a better solution. With experience in fiber optics, I was able to show a different way, which was a stepping stone to today where chip technology is at a point of developing disposable endoscopes. I designed a series of affordable disposable endoscopes, which solves the problems of cleaning, storing, repairing and sterilizing. I would be remiss in not mentioning Stanley Bergen, MD, who as President of UMDNJ supported every one of my wild ideas 35 years ago and was able to see my vision. He was not the only one, but it would be impossible to name every person, some of whom were present only for a fleeting moment. So there really isn’t one moment, one person or one thing that has made me who I am today. Who I am is built on a lifetime of being exposed to great people and great things and being open-minded and willing to listen. Thinking out of the box every day. Being able to tap into 50+ years of trial-and-error to make the connections that change people’s lives. Each stage opens more doors than I could ever have thought possible when I started down the road to tackling medical problems.
We all possess that spark. It takes a little time, a little work and a lot of perseverance to arrive at the entrepreneurial moment. Then the real work begins as we try to convince other people of our vision and solution.
The greatest challenge I faced in my career:
My father died while I was in my first year of medical school, and although I had no financial worries, I had to take over family affairs while continuing my medical education. This forced me to learn how to prioritize problems and solve them sequentially.
Best advice I received:
“Continue to move forward while everyone else is dealing with yesterday’s problems, you are moving on to tomorrow’s successes.” ~Joseph DiTrolio, Jr.
How to foster innovation and creativity in the healthcare community:
If you are too busy working, you don’t have time to think; and if you don’t have time to think, you can’t solve problems. There has to be time to process the information so that it can evolve into a more efficient system.
Outstanding Scientist Award
Vivian Bellofatto, PhD
Professor and Interim Chair, Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
In today’s world, healthcare is best accomplished as a team effort. This is the goal of national organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the many public-private associations, such as the American Heart Association and the Tourette Association of America. These wonderful and important organizations focus on addressing the needs of patients and their families, as well as raising awareness of diseases, disorders and the best approaches to overall wellness.
Additionally, a broad-based healthcare team must include members of groups with diverse expertise. Ideally, team members include physicians, physician assistants, nurses, support groups, social workers, community service leaders and medical insurance companies.
As biomedical researchers, healthcare providers and educators at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, we are an important part of the ideal broad-based healthcare team with unique opportunities to encourage all those who cross our path to contribute to their own health in meaningful ways. As we are educators of medical students, residents and biomedical graduate research fellows, our opportunities are exponential in conveying to all members of the community the importance of active participation in every aspect of personal health. Our students communicate with their families, patients in clinics, junior scientists at professional symposia and their own healthcare providers to nourish the ever-growing system that supports not only each person’s well-being but also the well-being of others.
As current Chair of the Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, I see first-hand that our faculty, staff and students rely on their creativity and dedication to ensure their contributions are invaluable components of healthcare teams. In summary, a team-based approach to healthcare assures the highest level of healthcare and community wellness.
Most rewarding experience of my career:
Our discovery of the very first RNA transcription factor in disease-causing trypanosome parasites. This discovery set the stage for our understanding how these parasites have survived and caused disease since ancient times on Earth.
What I would change in healthcare if given the chance:
I would ensure that all professionals have at least a rudimentary understanding of biomedicine and the wonderfulness of nature. Too many lawyers and businesspeople invest too little effort in developing a basic appreciation of biology and healthcare.
Key lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic:
I have learned that intelligent, educated people have a very limited understanding of the important differences between bacteria and viruses. I now recognize that it is not boring at all to simply watch the moon rise or set, play a board game with family or plan what I will cook for dinner. I now know that excellent scientific articles are available to the public just by reading The Economist. I have learned that encouragement to my staff and faculty in biomedical science goes a long way, and that one never tires of hearing “good job.” I have seen that all our hard work on RNA biology, cell surface receptors, nucleic acid enzymology, lipid-based delivery systems and serious investments in all type of biological research is truly a key asset to humanity in unfathomable ways.
Outstanding Healthcare Executive Award
Steven K. Libutti, MD
Director, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey; Senior Vice President, Oncology Services, RWJBarnabas Health; and Vice Chancellor, Cancer Programs, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences
Even with continued advances in science and technology, managing today’s cancer care and looking ahead to the future of oncology treatments and research remain a challenge, especially as we face COVID-19.
With oversight of oncology clinical programs and oncology research at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, RWJBarnabas Health and Rutgers University, I not only keep our state in mind but also remember that our work reverberates beyond our borders.
We strive to understand and manage COVID-19’s impact on cancer care and research. Through collaborating and leveraging our infrastructure and expertise as New Jersey’s only National Cancer Institute–designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, we conducted a clinical trial in the early days of the pandemic examining a potential COVID-19 treatment. We also conducted surface testing in our radiation oncology and hematology oncology clinics for the virus—results from which added to our collective knowledge about the virus.
We also press on with addressing the regular business of cancer. Rutgers Cancer Institute has a responsibility to develop impactful science that will translate into novel treatments for patients. We continue to accomplish this with our NCI research consortium partner Princeton University, along with other collaborators.
We implemented and continue to expand our telemedicine program, our oncology nurse navigator program and our oncology access center (844-CANCERNJ), allowing doctors and patients to have a single point of contact to reach our specialists throughout the state. It is this level of personalized care for which healthcare leaders continually strive.
Improving approaches to cancer prevention is also key. ScreenNJ, a statewide initiative conceived of and supported by Rutgers Cancer Institute, is focused on screenings and education for lung and colorectal cancers and is an example of an expanding program already making a positive impact in our communities. We aim to further engage with our communities through our new cancer pavilion. Construction will begin soon on this facility, which will be the state’s first free-standing cancer hospital that will house research, clinical and other key areas.
Through a unified team approach, we have implemented a research mechanism and care-delivery model that uniquely addresses today’s cancer burden in our state and lays the groundwork to meet and exceed our cancer care needs in this time of COVID-19 and beyond.
Favorite quote:
“Believe you can and you are halfway there.” ~Theodore Roosevelt
The greatest challenge I faced in my career:
Changing culture. It requires an understanding that leadership is not the exercise of positional power but rather, the creation, communication and execution of a vision.
Best advice I received:
“Every cancer patient deserves an optimistic oncologist.” ~Steven A. Rosenberg, MD, PhD
Best advice for peers and medical students:
Treat every patient like they are your mom.
