Service to patients. Passion and drive. Excellence, integrity, and humanism. Those and many other qualities were cited by admiring presenters as University of Colorado School of Medicine faculty were honored July 29 at the school’s Distinguished Clinician and Distinguished Faculty Professionalism Awards ceremony.
Ten honorees – nominated by leaders and peers – received their awards at a banquet at the Benson Hotel on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus.
In his opening remarks, CU School of Medicine Dean John H. Sampson, MD, PhD, MHSc, MBA, said faculty members often are recognized for their research and academic work, making the ceremony’s focus on other aspects of the academic-medicine mission – clinical work and professionalism – “really extraordinary.” He also noted that the distinguished clinician awards were going to advanced practice providers (APPs) as well as physicians.
“At a time in our country and throughout the world where there are so many challenges and so many distractions for our attention, to maintain a focus on humanism and respect and empathy, I think, is a testament to the dedication” of the honorees, Sampson said, adding: “To think that I get a chance to work with colleagues like this is absolutely a dream come true to me.”
Dean John H. Sampson, MD, PhD, MHSc, MBA, addresses honorees and presenters at the 2024 CU School of Medicine Distinguished Clinician and Faculty Professionalism Awards at the Benson Hotel. Photo by Justin LeVett for the CU School of Medicine.
Vikas Patel, MD, executive vice chair of orthopedic surgery, was one of the evening’s presenters. “I feel very lucky, not only to be presenting, but also just to be here tonight because it reminds me of the passion and breadth we have here,” he said.
The School of Medicine’s Distinguished Clinician Award – first presented in 2023 – recognizes exceptional physicians and APPs who promote a patient-centered culture.
Recipients are recognized for demonstrating mastery in an area of clinical medicine, with a dedication to providing excellent and compassionate patient care with exceptional outcomes and patient satisfaction scores. They often share their clinical knowledge and skills with others, demonstrating a high standard of professionalism and personal integrity, and showing a humanistic approach to patient care and to interactions with colleagues.
The Distinguished Faculty Professionalism Award was established in 2007. The award recognizes faculty members who consistently demonstrate exemplary professional behaviors, including being courteous, respectful, empathic, and altruistic, providing service to the community, demonstrating dedication to lifelong learning, and who contribute to the teaching, service, and administrative activities of their department and the CU School of Medicine.
One of the honorees, surgery professor Frederick (Fritz) Karrer, MD, said that all those being recognized depended on help and support from many others. “If you see a turtle on a fence post, you know he didn’t get there by himself. All of us here who received awards are turtles on a fence post, and we got there with a lot of help from a lot of people,” he said. “This award didn’t come just to me. It came to everybody who helped me get on that fence post.”
Honorees at the 2024 CU School of Medicine Distinguished Clinician and Faculty Professionalism Awards ceremony. Top row, from left: Emily Michelle Benton, PhD, NP; Angela Falco, MS/MPH, FNP; Michelle Lalinde, MSN, FNP-BC; Cheryl Meguid, DNP, MBA; Huong (Mindy) Lam, MD. Bottom row, from left: Nancy Madinger, MD; Jason Stoneback, MD; Kim Weigers, MD; Frederick (Fritz) Karrer, MD; Wells Messersmith, MD.
Here are the recipients of the 2024 Distinguished Clinician and Distinguished Faculty Professionalism awards:
2024 Distinguished Clinician Award Honorees
Advance Practice Providers
Emily Michelle Benton, PhD, NP – Benton is an assistant professor in the CU Department of Medicine’s Division of Cardiology. She started with the inpatient Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Service in 2010 and has been the service’s lead advanced practice provider for the past eight years. She is a universally recognized leader across the institution and is a sought-after preceptor for nurse practitioner and physician assistant students.
Nominator: Colleen McIlvennan, PhD, DNP, associate professor, CU Department of Medicine. Remarks: “Patients and families love Dr. Benton. We have received so many positive accolades from patients and families who have interacted with Dr. Benton. On an inpatient service that frequently deals with death and dying, Dr. Benton has a special touch when interacting with patients.”
Angela Falco, MS/MPH, FNP – Falco was a nurse practitioner for 22 years, 14 of which have been with the CU School of Medicine. She served as a senior instructor in the CU Department of Medicine’s Division of Hematology and was its director of advanced practice providers from 2017 to 2020. She is known for delivering highly specialized, expert-level care to her patients with compassion, empathy, and professionalism.
Nominator: Heather Knowles, PhD, PA-C, MS, assistant professor, Department of Medicine. Remarks: “Angie values every member of the team. She goes out of her way to recognize her colleagues and nurses for a job well done. She cares very deeply about the morale of the team and brings laughter and positivity to the workroom. All in all, Angie motivates and supports the people around her to bring their very best to clinical practice, which has lifted our entire program.”
Michelle Lalinde, MSN, FNP-BC – Lalinde is an instructor in the CU Department of Psychiatry. She provides community medical care and substance use disorder management from the department’s Addiction Research and Treatment Services (ARTS) adult outpatient clinics. Lalinde exhibits a deep commitment to patient-centered care.
Nominator: Tyler Coyle, MD, assistant professor, Department of Psychiatry. Remarks by Nichole Meyers, LCSW: “Michelle’s commitment to caring for patients with addictions has made her an invaluable part of our team at ARTS. She routinely goes above and beyond to support a high-need, under-resourced patient population – and she does so with a smile.”
Cheryl Meguid, DNP, MBA – Meguid is a professor of clinical practice in the CU Department of Surgery and has held a faculty appointment in the CU School of Medicine since 2012. She has been instrumental in developing the Pancreas and Biliary Multidisciplinary Clinic. Additionally, she has built out and currently oversees more than 10 other cancer-specialty multidisciplinary clinics, involving multiple departments across many disciplines.
Nominator: Richard Schulick, MD, MBA, professor and chair, Department of Surgery, and director, CU Cancer Center. Remarks: “Cheryl is the very first advanced practice provider who has reached the rank of full professor in any department, and we’re very proud that you did it with us in the Department of Surgery. The other thing about Cheryl is that when my patients come back to see me post-op in clinic, they walk right by me, and they give Cheryl this great big hug and they thank her profusely.”
Left: Honoree Cheryl Meguid, DNP, MBA, with CU School of Medicine Dean John H. Sampson, MD, PhD, MHSc, MBA. Right: Honoree Huong (Mindy) Lam, MD, with presenter Mark Earnest, MD. Photo by Justin LeVett for the CU School of Medicine.
Physicians
Huong (Mindy) Lam, MD – Lam is an associate professor of clinical practice in the CU Department of Medicine’s Division of General Internal Medicine. She has served as a faculty member at the CU School of Medicine since 2012 and is recognized as being able to navigate the space between evidence-based medicine and patient-centered care, providing excellent care in a way that is individualized for each patient.
Nominator: Mark Earnest, MD, professor and chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine. Remarks: “Our practices have benefited tremendously from Dr. Lam’s wisdom and her creativity. Her ideas have led to improvements in so many of our processes and approaches to care. When she speaks, everyone listens, because it is always worth their while. She is unfailingly kind, gentle, generous, and humble.”
Nancy Madinger, MD – Madinger is a professor in the CU Department of Medicine’s Division of Infectious Diseases. She joined the faculty in 1988 as an infectious diseases fellow. She has held multiple leadership positions in the division. She is a clinical expert in managing patients with advanced HIV and infections in the immune-compromised host. For more than 36 years, Madinger has held a sustained clinical presence as an infectious diseases physician and continues to provide exceptional outcomes with high patient satisfaction.
Nominator: Eddie Stenehjem, MD, MSC, visiting professor and interim chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases. Remarks: “Dr. Madinger is the go-to clinician in the ID division when things get tough. All our ID faculty members, regardless of academic rank, use Dr. Madinger as their master clinician resource which they call upon when they have questions.”
Jason Stoneback, MD – Stoneback is an associate professor in the CU Department of Orthopedics. Over the past decade he has created an interdisciplinary limb reconstruction team, including more than 10 specialties, collaborating weekly on cases using best practices to provide an individualized treatment plan for patients.
Nominator: Evalina Burger, MD, professor and chair, Department of Orthopedics. Remarks by Vikas Patel, MD: “In the end, what makes Jason a great clinician is the humanity that shows not just in the work he does every day with his colleagues but with each patient he takes care of. His patients are his friends and have become our friends and they come from across the country to see him.”
Kim Weigers, MD – Weigers is an associate professor of clinical practice in the CU Department of Anesthesiology. For more than 30 years, he has served as a pediatric anesthesiologist at the CU School of Medicine, embodying the highest standards of professionalism, dedication, and clinical excellence throughout his career.
Nominator: Sarah Milliken-Glabe, MD, senior instructor, Department of Anesthesiology. Remarks: “I’ve had the privilege to witness firsthand his compassionate patient care, his empathy, his calmness in every emergency, his superb technical skills, his enthusiastic passion for teaching, his integrity, his effortless ability to be an encourager, and his wisdom earned by years of experience.”
Richard Schulick, MD, MBA, chair of the CU Department of Surgery and director of the CU Cancer Center, speaks at the 2024 CU School of Medicine Distinguished Clinician and Faculty Professionalism Awards ceremony on July 29, 2024. Schulick presented two of the awards at the event. Photo by Justin LeVett for the CU School of Medicine.
2024 Distinguished Faculty Professionalism Honorees
Frederick (Fritz) Karrer, MD – Karrer is a professor of surgery in the CU Department of Surgery’s Division of Pediatric Surgery. He has contributed significantly to the CU School of Medicine and affiliated institutions through service on more than 75 committees. Honored with the Edward J. Bartle Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award, Distinguished Alumni Award, and the James E. Strain Award, he exemplifies professionalism through excellence, integrity, and humanism.
Nominator: Robert McIntyre, MD, professor and chief of the Department of Surgery’s Division of GI, Trauma, and Endocrine Surgery. Remarks: “Dr. Karrer’s professionalism has been exhibited by embodying principles of integrity, humanism, and ethics. I can think of no better example of his lifelong principle of service to other others than that he volunteered for the Army Reserves in 2002, after the 9/11 tragedy, at the age of 48. He has served nine deployments. In all his work, he demonstrates respect, integrity, accountability, and thorough dedication to the CU School of Medicine's mission and principles.”
Wells Messersmith, MD – Messersmith is a professor of medicine, chief of the CU Department of Medicine’s Division of Medical Oncology, associate director of clinical services for the CU Cancer Center, and chief medical officer of oncology services at UCHealth. He is highly regarded for his exceptional teaching, mentorship, and leadership abilities. His professionalism and excellence were recognized with his selection as program director for the American Society of Clinical Oncology Leadership Development Program in 2022-23.
Nominator: Richard Schulick, MD, MBA, professor and chair, Department of Surgery, and director, CU Cancer Center. Remarks, quoting a faculty comment about Messersmith: “In my 12-plus years interacting with Dr. Messersmith, I have never seen him treat any patient, colleague, or staff member with anything other than kindness, compassion, and care. He is the most positive person I have ever worked with. And even in the face of overwhelming barriers, he is able to work through the issues and get things done. He is a very inspiring teacher.”
Photo at top: Honorees pose with Dean John H. Sampson, MD, PhD, MHSc, MBA (left) at the 2024 CU School of Medicine Distinguished Clinician and Faculty Professionalism Awards ceremony on July 29, 2024. Photo by Justin LeVett for the CU School of Medicine.
