Holy Name Press Releases

Holy Name Finalists Chosen For Healthcare Heroes Awards

May 25, 2017

Four finalists have been chosen from Holy Name Medical Center by NJBIZ,New Jersey's premiere business publication, for the publication's 2017 Healthcare Heroes Awards. A physician, employee, volunteer and an innovative summer health care careers program for teens were chosen out of a myriad of submissions. The awards honor individuals and organizations that are making a significant impact on the quality of health care in New Jersey.

"We are proud that Holy Name's Institute for Simulation Learning and three of our medical center family are being honored as finalists for Healthcare Heroes Awards," said Michael Maron, President and CEO of Holy Name Medical Center. "Through their dedication to our patients and their families, they fulfill Holy Name's mission of providing high-quality patient-focused care, advancing medicine through innovative research and educating future health care professionals."

Holy Name's Healthcare Heroes finalists are:

• The Institute for Simulation Learning's Healthcare Careers Discovery Program for "Education Hero of the Year"
  Established in 2015, the Healthcare Careers Discovery Program provides an authentic, immersive learning experience for high school students to explore careers in medicine, nursing, and allied health fields. Separate one-week introductory and advanced programs combine vibrant classroom instruction with simulation learning experiences and hands-on clinical training to introduce career options and improve students' interpersonal communication skills.


• Kyung Hee Choi, Vice President of Asian Health Services, for "Public Health Hero"
  After retiring from a successful 25-year career in banking, Ms. Choi chose to dedicate her life to serving the Asian-American community. Under her leadership, Asian Health Services has become the most comprehensive program of its kind in the U.S. and a national model for providing culturally and linguistically sensitive medical and behavioral health care, and community education and outreach.


• Thomas M. Birch, M.D., Director/Founder, Institute for Clinical Research; Chairman, Infection Prevention Committee; and Infectious Diseases Specialist, for "Innovation Hero"
  Dr. Birch and his research colleagues at 30 U.S. centers made clinical research history in 2016 when the FDA approved a groundbreaking new treatment called Zinplava™– the first non-antibiotic therapy – for recurring C diff, the leading cause of hospital-acquired infections in the U.S. The results of this two-year study were published as the lead article in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, which publishes only about 5 percent of the 5,000 submissions it receives annually.


• Bob Orozovich, Lead End-of-Life Doula, for "Volunteer Hero of the Year"Following his retirement from the CBS Evening News, Mr. Orozovich joined Holy Name's Villa Marie Claire residential hospice in 2014. As lead end-of-life doula, he helps terminally ill patients make their last days about living, rather than dying, by assisting them in creating personalized legacies for their loved ones through photos, poems, artwork and other mementoes.

Healthcare Heroes Awards finalists will be recognized and the winner in each category will be announced at a breakfast at The Palace at Somerset Park on June 20.