La Crosse pediatrician named Physician Citizen of the Year

MADISON —Steven R. Manson, MD, was honored as the Wisconsin Medical Society’s 2015 Physician Citizen of the Year during the Society’s Annual Meeting April 25 in Madison. In addition to his pediatric practice with Gundersen Health System in La Crosse the past 23 years, Dr. Manson has provided medical services to underserved populations in La Crosse, Wisconsin, as well as Native American communities in South Dakota.

Awarded annually, the Physician Citizen of the Year award recognizes physicians who have volunteered their time and talents to improve their communities. It honors recipients for civic, economic and charitable services they provide.

Doctor Manson’s many years of volunteerism and leadership include not only St. Claire Health Mission in La Crosse–a clinic for underinsured or uninsured individuals–but also through the Gundersen Global Partners-Pine Ridge program on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

“Doctor Manson has volunteered literally thousands of hours over the past 20-plus years in his remarkable service and leadership with both St. Claire Health Mission and Gundersen Global Partners,” said Liz Arnold, MPH, who serves as the director for Gundersen Global Partners and nominated Dr. Manson for the award. “He demonstrates true servant leadership in the communities he serves.”

Since June 1993, Dr. Manson has volunteered monthly at St. Claire Health Mission, putting in more than 1,000 hours seeing pediatric patients. That’s in addition to his administrative work— attending quarterly committee meetings, recruiting other physicians in the Coulee Region to volunteer and creating a bimonthly schedule of volunteer physicians—when Dr. Manson became the clinic’s medical director in 2000.

As the medical lead for the Global-Partners Pine Ridge program, Dr. Manson has helped to bring 47 volunteer medical teams to the Pine Ridge Reservation since 2009, where more than 320 volunteers have donated more than 50,000 hours. He also is engaged in ongoing communication with Gundersen’s Pine Ridge partners—the Indian Health Service, Head Start programs on Pine Ridge, reservation schools and the Oglala Tribe Health Administration office—in development of a variety of health care projects, and he and his colleagues have provided physical exams to more than 500 youth at Head Start facilities and reservation schools.

“Thank you very much for this fine honor—thanks to the Society,” said Dr. Manson in accepting the award. “I also want to thank Gundersen (Health System)—a place that supports these types of efforts through many, many venture and will continue to do so in the future.”

With more than 12,500 members dedicated to the best interests of their patients, the Wisconsin Medical Society is the largest association of physicians in the state and a trusted source for health policy leadership since 1841.