Medical Staff Additions and Accomplishments - December 2009

Timothy M. Buie, MD, pediatric gastroenterologist at MassGeneral Hospital for Children, was honored by the Autism Society of America (ASA) for his exceptional commitment to the autism community. As one of six 2009 National Award Winners, he was named the Professional of the Year.

Claire Cronin, MD, Surgeon, was a recipient of the Young Clinician Award given by the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology (CIMIT) to outstanding doctors who also want to pursue a career in research. The CIMIT-administered award is worth $50,000 and is funded by Johnson & Johnson’s Corporate Office of Science and Technology.

Mark Drapkin, MD, Associate Chief of Infectious Diseases, was selected by the Tufts infectious disease fellows as the Infectious Disease Attending of the Year for 2008-2009. This is the fourth time Dr. Drapkin has been honored.

Kit Farr, MD, Cardiology, was selected for a "Patient Choice" award based on surveys conducted by Mdx Medical Inc. Every month, Mdx Medical Inc. surveys more than 40,000 patients across the U.S. to provide ongoing feedback about their experiences with their doctors. On these surveys, a select few receive uniformly rave reviews across the board and of those that receive rave reviews, only those with near perfect scores have been voted by their patients for the “Patient Choice” award.

Don Goldenberg, MD, chief of the Division of Rheumatology and director of the Arthritis-Fibromyalgia Center, has been recognized as a Master of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), one of the highest honors the College bestows. The designation of Master is conferred to ACR members who have made outstanding contributions to the field of rheumatology through scholarly achievement and/or service to their patients, students and profession.

Alexander Hannenberg, MD, Associate Chair, Anesthesia, was installed as president of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) during the organization’s Annual Meeting in New Orleans.

Michael Jellinek, MD, President, was recognized by the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics for his work in the field of child development. The Richmond-Coleman Award was presented to Dr. Jellinek at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition in October in Washington, D.C. The Richmond-Coleman Award is endowed thanks to matching funds from the Foundation for Child Development in honor of Dr. Julius Richmond, former Surgeon General of the United States and father of the Head Start program. Additional contributions were donated in memoriam for Justin Coleman, son of Section Past Chair William Coleman, MD, FAAP.

Gretchen E. H. Makai, MD, last year’s fellow at MIGS, recently won a prestigious award from IRCAD (Institute for Research into Cancer of the Digestive System) for her research while at NWH. The award will send her to Strasbourg, France for a week to train at IRCAD – Europe's finest laparoscopic training center.

Steven Pestka, MD, was appointed Chief of the Division of Adult Inpatient Medicine (Hospitalist Service). He joined the Medical Staff of Newton-Wellesley in July 2005 as a full-time hospitalist. Dr. Pestka is Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine.

David Slovik, MD, has been appointed Chief of the Division of Endocrinology. Dr. Slovik has been a member of the division since mid-2005 and served as acting chief in 2006 and also since June 16, 2009, after the retirement of Nicolas Abourizk, MD. Dr. Slovik is a world-class authority on metabolic bone disease with an extensive list of research contributions and educational publications.