VCU faculty member garners medical award

By Charmaine Curtis
University News Services

The Association of Military Surgeons of the United States, the Society for Federal Medicine, has given a Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine professor the Richard A. Kern award, which honors an individual’s contribution to the advancement of medicine within the federal sector.

Robert Jesse, M.D., Ph.D, director of the Acute Cardiac Care Program for the VCU Health System, was given the award for his work as the national program director for cardiology for the Veterans Health Administration. The award recognizes Jesse’s outstanding contributions to federal medicine and was presented during the annual AMSUS meeting in Denver.

"It was a great honor to receive the Kern Award, which recognized work done in the Veterans Health Administration, framing how a national healthcare system responds to a quality challenge through transforming models of care delivery,” said Jesse. “However, I believe that the real honor goes to all of those at the VCU Health System and the Veterans Affairs medical centers that have dedicated their efforts toward improving acute cardiac care.

“The award reflects groundbreaking work done in Richmond over the past 10 to 12 years,” Jesse said. “It set the stage for what has truly become a national transformation in how systems are established for the management of cardiac emergencies."

The award is named for Rear Adm. Richard A. Kern, United States Navy Reserve, retired, an emeritus professor of medicine at Temple University School of Medicine and a past president of AMSUS.

The award was established in 1979 and in 2003 was awarded to Jonathan B. Perlin, M.D., Ph.D., of the VCU School of Medicine, who is the current undersecretary for health in the Department of Veterans Affairs.

For more information, visit www.amsus.org.