Newspaper honors four from VUMC
Nashville Business Journal has named four VUMC leaders to its list of Health Care Heroes for 2010.
Those named were selected based on professional accomplishments, nomination strength and community involvement.
• Clifton Meador, M.D., executive director of the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance, was selected for the Lifetime Achievement Award in health care. Meador came to Vanderbilt University at the age of 16 and went on to graduate from the Medical School with the highest award — the Founder's Medal for Scholastic Honors.
Clifton Meador, M.D.
Bonnie Pilon, D.S.N., R.N.
Jay Groves, Ed.D.
Dana Backlund, M.D.
He served as dean of the University of Alabama-Birmingham School of Medicine from 1968 to 1973 before returning to Vanderbilt to set up a teaching program at Saint Thomas Hospital for the residents at VUMC. He served in that role for 25 years.
• Bonnie Pilon, D.S.N., R.N., senior associate dean for Faculty Practice at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, was named a Health Care Hero in the Community Leader category. During the past 11 years under Pilon's leadership, VUSN has seen explosive growth in its faculty practice program, providing care to more than 19,000 individuals each year.
Pilon is program director for VUSN's health systems management track in the school's master's program and teaches in the Doctor of Nursing Program.
Additionally, she is chief operating officer of University Community Health Services, a nonprofit Federally Qualified Healthcare Center dedicated to improving health care among vulnerable populations.
• Exercise physiologist Jay Groves, Ed.D., administrative director of the Vanderbilt Dayani Center for Health and Wellness and Vanderbilt Center for Integrative Health, was recognized as a Health Care Hero in the Innovator category. Groves recently received VUMC's Five Pillar Leader Award, which recognizes superior performance in the areas of service, quality, finance, people and innovation.
Under Groves’ leadership, the Dayani Center and the Center for Integrative Health had approximately 21,000 combined patient visits last fiscal year.
• Dana Backlund, M.D., assistant professor of Medicine, was recognized in the Health Care Newcomer category. Backlund received her medical degree from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, then served her residency at Vanderbilt and was a fellow in the Division of Hematology/Oncology before joining the Vanderbilt faculty. She is a member of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center and specializes in malignancies of the gastrointestinal tract, including pancreatic cancer.
This year she completed her Master of Science in Clinical Investigation at Vanderbilt.
This year's Health Care Heroes will be honored during a luncheon Oct. 1 at the Embassy Suites Cool Springs, Franklin, Tenn.