GREATER MIAMI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ANNOUNCES
FINALISTS FOR HEALTH CARE HEROES® AWARDS
MIAMI, FL, April 27, 2010 -- The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce’s Healthcare & Bioscience Committee is proud to announce the finalists for its 13th annual Health Care Heroes® Awards. The awards program honors individuals, institutions, professionals, students, volunteers and programs who through their individual or collective actions have made an extraordinary impact in the South Florida
health care community.
Among the awards to be presented is the AXA Advisors Lifetime Achievement Award to W. Jarrard Goodwin, M.D., F.A.C.S., Director of the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer, Sylvester Professor for the Department of Otolaryngology, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center/University of Miami Health System.
Health Care Heroes® categories and finalists are:
§ Health Care Professionals: Colonel
Brodes H. Hartley, Jr., President & CEO, Community Health of South Florida, Inc.; Athena C. Pefkarou, M.D., Associate Director, Division of Hematology-Oncology, Miami Children’s Hospital; and Director, UOTS Camp; and Eckhard R. Podack, M.D., Ph.D., Sylvester Distinguished Professor of Medicine; Chairman, Department of Microbiology
and Immunology, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami Leonard Miller School of Medicine
§ Nurses: Margaret
“Peggy” Gaines, R.N., B.S.N., Health Coordinator, HIPPY (Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters); Annette R. Gibson, MSN, MEd, RN, Professor, School of Nursing, Miami Dade College; and Robin P. Varas, M.S.N., A.R.N.P.-B.C., Clinical Nurse Specialist/ARNP, University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Burn Center, Ryder Trauma Center, Jackson
Health System
§ Individuals of Merit: Constance
Collins Margulies, Founder and President , The Sundari Foundation, Inc.; Tom Powers, MBA, MHA, FACHE, Command Pilot and Board of Directors, Angel Flight Southeast; and Dr. Herbert A. Wertheim, CEO, Brain Power, Inc.
§ Institutions/Programs: Health
Foundation of South Florida; Miami-Dade County Health Department; and Neurological Rehabilitation Program, HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital of Miami;
§ Bio-Medical: Anuradha
Godavarty, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University; Norma Sue Kenyon, Ph.D., Martin Kleiman Professor of Surgery, Microbiology, Immunology and Biomedical Engineering; and Director, Wallace H. Coulter Center for Translational Research; Co-Director, Executive Research Council, Diabetes Research Institute, University
of Miami Health System/Miller School of Medicine; and Peter E. Murray, B.Sc. (Hons), Ph.D., Postgraduate Research Administrator & Associate Professor, College of Dental Medicine, Nova Southeastern University
§ Youth Volunteers:Samantha
DePriest-Capparelli, Student, Coral Reef Senior High School; Payton Liberto, Student, Gator Run Elementary School; Milagros Llanes, Student, Miami Springs Senior High School; and Sai Oicata, Student, Miami Lakes Educational Center
The 2010 Health Care Heroes® Awards luncheon will be held on Thursday, May 20 at Jungle Island, 1111 Parrot Jungle Trail, Treetop Ballroom. Registration available online at MiamiChamber.com.
The Health Care Heroes® Awards are made possible by: founding sponsor -- AXA Advisors, LLC; award presenting sponsors -- AvMed Health Plans, Baptist Health South Florida, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, Hogan & Hartson LLP, Mercy Hospital; silver sponsors -- Jackson Memorial Foundation, Quest Diagnostics, University of Miami Health System; and bronze sponsors – Advocare Health Alliance, CareCore
National, South Florida Hospital News and Healthcare Report.
For information, contact Tania Valenzuela at 305-577-5491 or tvalenzuela@miamichamer.com.
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About the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce
The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce is an association of businesses and professions representing more than 400,000 employees, organized to create economic progress in Miami-Dade County. To carry out its mission, the Chamber serves as the voice of business enterprise and involves the private sector in community leadership. For more than a century, the Chamber has been widely recognized and respected for its extraordinary record of economic
development and community improvement. The Greater Miami Chamber is an activist chamber. Its program of work is organized in five areas: Advocacy, Domestic Business Development, International Business Development, Leadership Programs and Marketing & Member Services. The Chamber holds the license to the Miami Free Trade Zone, Inc. and is nationally recognized as one of the Top 10 Executive Speaking Forums in America.