Five Medical College of Wisconsin faculty members named healthcare heroes
Milwaukee, Dec. 19, 2017 – The Health Care Heroes awards, presented annually by BizTimes Milwaukee, honor the accomplishments of people and organizations making a positive impact on health in the area. This year, five faculty members of the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) were honored:
- Johnny Hong, MD, FACS, professor of surgery and Mark B. Adams Chair in Surgery at MCW and program director of both Solid Organ Transplant and Pediatric Liver Transplant at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, in the Advancements in Health Care category for performing a life-saving liver transplant on a baby just months old. It was an innovative technique that had never been done on a patient so young, but Dr. Hong and his team at Children’s were confident the procedure would work;
- Christina Wichman, DO, FAPM, professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at MCW, in the Behavioral Health category for her leading role in launching the Periscope Project, a free resource for health care providers treating pregnant and postpartum women struggling with mental health or substance use disorders, filling a critical need in Wisconsin for specialty psychiatrists;
- Zeno Franco, PhD, professor of community engagement at MCW, in the Community Service category for his work with DryHootch iPeer, a social and technology support program for veteran mental health, and the treatment of PTSD in the community;
- Kenneth Lee, MD, professor of physical medicine at MCW and Chief of the Spinal Cord Injury Division at the Zablocki VA Medical Center, in the Physician category for his work with veterans and their rehabilitation needs, including adaptive sports;
- John Densmore, MD, professor of surgery at MCW and pediatric surgery specialist at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, in the Advancements in Health Care category as part of a larger team from Children’s for performing ground-breaking procedures to save the life of a Wisconsin baby born without a trachea.
“On behalf of everyone at MCW, I am extremely proud of these five faculty members whose exceptional work advances health for all people in our community,” said Joseph E. Kerschner, MD, MCW Dean of the School of Medicine, Provost and Executive Vice President. “Each uses his or her unique skills and passions to make a positive difference, and they are so deserving of this prestigious Health Care Heroes award.”
The 2017 Health Care Heroes were chosen by a panel of judges, including Heidi Mayer, executive director of the Lutheran Home Foundation; Phyllis King, associate vice chancellor of academic affairs for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Karen Ordinans, executive director of the Children’s Health Alliance of Wisconsin and BizTimes staff. The winners were featured in the BizTimes’ Dec. 18, 2017 issue.
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About the Medical College of Wisconsin
With a history dating back to 1893, The Medical College of Wisconsin is dedicated to leadership and excellence in education, patient care, research and community engagement. More than 900 students are enrolled in MCW’s medical school in Milwaukee, MCW-Green Bay, and MCW-Central Wisconsin. In addition, the Milwaukee campus has more than 280 graduate students, 12 Masters of Science in Anesthesia students and 130 postdoctoral fellows in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. MCW’s School of Pharmacy opened in 2017. A major national research center, MCW is the largest research institution in the Milwaukee metro area and second largest in Wisconsin. In FY2016, faculty received more than $225 million in external support for research, teaching, training and related purposes. This total includes highly competitive research and training awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Annually, MCW faculty direct or collaborate on more than 3,100 research studies, including clinical trials. Additionally, more than 1,650 physicians provide care in virtually every specialty of medicine for more than 530,000 patients annually.
