Glenn Geelhoed, M.D., Ph.D., Ed.D., M.P.H., professor of International Medicine and of Surgery, received the 2009 Surgical Volunteerism Award of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and the Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative (PMHI), becoming the 14th recipient of this award, inaugurated in 2003. Dr. Geelhoed received a Surgical Volunteerism Award for a life-long career rooted in international surgical outreach activities bringing desperately needed health care to the world’s medically underserved. Dr. Geelhoed, along with six other ACS honorees, received the award during the ACS 95th annual Clinical Congress in Chicago, Ill.
“Dr. Geelhoed's generosity of spirit and embrace of humanity, as evidenced through decades of service to those in need around the world, exemplifies the highest calling of the surgical profession,” said Kathleen Casey, M.D., F.A.C.S., director, Operation Giving Back. “We are grateful for the opportunity to share his story and his example by recognizing him with the 2009 ACS/Pfizer, Inc. Surgical Volunteerism Award.”
The surgical volunteerism awardees are determined by the ACS Governors Committee on Socioeconomic Issues, and the awards are administered through the ACS Operation Giving Back program.
For more than 30 years, Dr. Geelhoed and led medical missions providing uncompensated care to indigenous populations in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, the South Pacific, and Central and South America. Along the way he has passed those values of dedication and volunteerism to the hundreds of residents, medical students, and undergraduate students he has tapped for these mission.
The Surgical Volunteerism Award are given “in recognition of those surgeons committed to giving something of themselves back to society by making significant contributions to surgical care through organized volunteer activities.”
The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and to improve the care of the surgical patient. The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients. The College has more than 75,000 members, and it is the largest organization of surgeons in the world (http://www.facs.org).
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