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2018 UIP Clinical Awards

Date: Monday, October 15, 2018

The 2018 University of Iowa Physicians (UIP) Clinical Awards recipients have been named. The awards were established seven years ago to recognize clinical excellence among UIP members. Individuals are nominated by fellow UI Physician members and evaluated by the UIP Clinical Awards Committee.

The awards are bestowed annually within six categories:

The Innovations in Clinical Care Award is presented to the individual or team for integration of an innovative new program or process that improves patient service. This year’s recipient is the prostate biopsy team, which includes Chad Tracy, MD, and Paul Gelhaus, MD, from the Department of Urology, and Catherine Metz, MD, and Maheen Rajput, MD, from the Department of Radiology. The team acquired the first fusion biopsy machine for prostate biopsy for the state of Iowa and local region. Since implementation in 2017, the team has done more than 200 biopsies on patients from Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Missouri.

The Excellence in Quality Award is given to the individual or team to recognize outstanding quality of care provided to patients. This year’s winner is Irena Gribovskaja-Rupp, MD, from the Department of Surgery. She has been a champion and leader of the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) program for colorectal surgery at University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics. Her enthusiasm and leadership with the ERAS program over the last few years has led to a demonstrable change in the way colorectal patients are cared for at the hospital, and has contributed to the improvements in outcomes that we are seeing.

The Excellence in Our Workplace Award is granted to a medical director who demonstrates leadership and innovation that improves the practice life and satisfaction of providers in clinical care. The 2018 winner is Phillip Horwitz, MD, Internal Medicine. He has consistently provided exceptional leadership in the Heart and Vascular Center especially in the cardiac procedures labs. Through his dedication, the Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) program has grown from a few TAVRs a month to 30 TAVRs a month being performed by a well-run multidisciplinary team.

The Patient Satisfaction and Service Excellence Award is presented to a person or team to recognize outstanding patient satisfaction. This year’s winner is Kelly Skelly, MD, Family Medicine. She personifies patient satisfaction and service excellence. She consistently leads the department in patient satisfaction scores. Her Press Ganey scores are exemplary and her patients’ comments detail her compassion and commitment to their health and well-being.

The Best Consulting Provider Award is given to an individual to recognize their exemplary consulting or specialized services to the inpatient and ambulatory patients at UI Health Care. The 2018 recipient is Jonathan Simmons, DO, from Anesthesia. He was a key consultant in the creation of the Special Isolation Unit (SIU) and serves as its medical director. The SIU was designed to care for extremely infectious patients (e.g., those with Ebola virus infection) who require the highest possible level of medical care and isolation.

The Clinician of the Year Award is awarded to a clinician who best represents those aspects of a truly great patient service provider. This year’s winner is Nancy Williams, MD, from the Department of Psychiatry. As medical director of the Integrated Multidisciplinary Program of Assertive Community Treatment (IMPACT) program, Williams leads a highly skilled team that cares for a subset of individuals living in the community who have had frequent or prolonged hospitalizations, or experienced homelessness or incarceration by virtue of their mental illness.

The Clinical Awards were established in 2011 to honor clinical excellence among members of the UIP. Nominations are accepted annually from any UI Physician member or participant and evaluated by the UIP Clinical Awards Committee. Names of the top two candidates in each category are then forwarded to the UIP Executive Committee for secret-ballot vote, followed by recommendation to the UIP Board.

Learn more about the UIP Clinical Awards.