BIDMC Honors Three for Leadership
Melzer Awards to Wright, Matlaw, Wolk
Date: 9/24/2009
BIDMC Contact: Bonnie Prescott
Phone: 617-667-7306
Email: bprescot@bidmc.harvard.edu
BOSTON – The seventh annual Robert M. Melzer Leadership Awards were presented to three leaders at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) for their “constructive, lasting and all-embracing change.” The awards were made by BIDMC’s Board of Directors during the medical center’s Annual Meeting.
This year’s awardees are Sharon B. Wright, MD, MPH, Director of Infection Control/Hospital Epidemiology at BIDMC; Jane Matlaw, Director of BIDMC’s Community Relations Program; and Howard Wolk, former Chair of BIDMC’s Board of Overseers Nominating Committee.
The awards are named in recognition of Robert Melzer, former Chair of BIDMC’s Board of Directors and Interim CEO, and are an opportunity for the Board to celebrate a select few among BIDMC’s exemplary staff and community.
Wright was recognized for her leadership in managing a highly effective infection control program that has not only reduced the incidence of pneumonia and bloodstream infections among hospitalized patients but, through the hospital-wide implementation of a highly effective employee hand-hygiene program, has also reduced infections of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Wright has also been instrumental in preventing the transmission of the H1N1 virus on the BIDMC campus.
In presenting the award, BIDMC’s Senior Vice President of Health Care Quality Ken Sands noted, “The coming flu season will undoubtedly be another stress to our system, but we are fortunate to have Dr. Wright navigating us through largely unknown territory with a combination of rigorous scientific analysis and sound judgment. Our confidence in her leadership stems from her commitment, her deep expertise and her ability to communicate complex information across all levels of the organization that leaves us reassured that we are taking the best and safest approach.”
As BIDMC’s Community Relations Director for more than 27 years, Matlaw has been the face of the medical center to many individuals. Said BIDMC President and CEO Paul Levy, “From the Fenway and Mission Hill, to Brookline and beyond, Jane Matlaw has committed herself – day in and day out – to solving problems and building bridges between our world-class physicians and the communities we serve. And inside the halls of BIDMC, Jane has in so many ways been our conscience and our leader on issues of lasting importance to the BIDMC community, and indeed, to our planet.”
On environmental issues, Matlaw’s work has created a legacy and an organizational change that will last beyond our lifetimes, noted Levy. Over the past 11 years, Matlaw has organized and led the Annual Healthy Work, Healthy Home Environmental Awareness Day at BIDMC, galvanizing and motivating the BIDMC community to this critically important cause and resulting in efforts ranging from thermometer collection, battery recycling, and cell phone donation to the recent hiring of the medical center’s first environmental sustainability coordinator.
And, as a living “bridge” between the medical center and the community, Matlaw has been a long-time member of the Jewish Women’s Coalition on Breast Cancer, the Jewish Community Relations Council and countless other area organizations. She is a leader in the Boston-Haifa Partnership, and chairs the Social Justice & Civil Society Committee, which fosters learning exchange between non-profit organizations in the two cities. She has also worked tirelessly on behalf of numerous elder and aging issues.
In recognizing Wolk, former Chair of BIDMC’s Board of Overseers Nominating Committee, Senior Vice President of Development Kristine Laping noted, “Howard’s characteristically understated yet eminently persuasive zeal for [the work of the medical center] has made him the ideal ambassador, continually drawing a range of talented new people into the BIDMC fold.”
Wolk recently developed a three-year strategic plan for diversifying the Board of Overseers, challenging his committee to bring on new members who will lend a different set of experiences and skills to the board and more appropriately reflect and represent the varied constituencies served by BIDMC. With his transition from the Board of Overseers to the Board of Trustees, including his new appointment as a Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees, Wolk continually works to engage and expand the BIDMC community, with an enviable persistence and drive. Noted Laping, “We are indebted to Howard for all his hard work to engage and expand the BIDMC community and to build a pipeline of leadership for our future.”
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a patient care, teaching and research affiliate of Harvard Medical School, and consistently ranks in the top four in National Institutes of Health funding among independent hospitals nationwide. BIDMC is a clinical partner of the Joslin Diabetes Center and is a research partner of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. BIDMC is the official hospital for the Boston Red Sox. For more information, visit www.bidmc.org .
