2016 Induction Ceremony, Awards Presentation and Reception
The University of Toledo - Health Science Campus
Howard L. Collier Building
March 19, 2016
7:00 – 9:30 pm
2016 Recipients
Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, MBBS, DCH, FRCP, FRCPCH, FCPS, FAAP, PhD
Karachi, Pakistan and Toronto, Canada
When Dr. Bhutta first launched his career, neonatal pediatrics was barely even a concept
in his home country of Pakistan. Today, he is credited as a major force in putting
the health of mothers and their babies on the development agenda not just in Pakistan
but across the world, where he is considered a leading expert in global health.
He is Founding Director of the Centre of Excellence in Women & Child Health at The
Aga Khan University, with campuses in South-Central Asia, East Africa and the United
Kingdom; the Robert Harding Chair in Global Child Health & Policy; Co-Director, SickKids
Centre for Global Child Health; Senior Scientist at the Research Institute, the Hospital
for Sick Children
and also Professor, Departments of Pediatrics, Nutritional Sciences and Public Health
at the University of Toronto.
Dr. Bhutta was born in 1955 in Pakistan and graduated from Khyber Medical College at the University of Peshawar, Pakistan (MBBS) in 1977, where he was adjudged the "Best Graduate of the Year" and awarded the University Gold Medal for overall distinction. He obtained his PhD from the Karolinska Institute, Sweden, one of Europe's most prestigious medical universities.
Dr. Bhutta has won several awards including the Tamghia-i-Imtiaz (Medal of Excellence) by the President of Pakistan for contributions towards education and research in 2000, The President of Pakistan Gold Medal for contributions to Child Health in Pakistan in 2004 and in 2006 he was awarded the Outstanding Pediatrician of Asia award by the Asia Pacific Pediatric Association.
Professor Bhutta was awarded the inaugural Global Child Health award in 2009 by the Program for Global Pediatric Research for outstanding contributions to Global Child Health and Research and has recently been elected an honorary Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics for contributions to international child health. His research interests include newborn and child survival, maternal and child undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies. He leads a large research group based in Pakistan with a special interest in research synthesis, scaling up evidence based interventions in community settings and health system research. In Pakistan, he has been a driving force in improving maternal and child health through his work with the Lady Health Workers program and in advocating for key changes to national and provincial health and nutrition policies.
Professor Bhutta has published eight books, 65 book chapters and over 650 peer-reviewed publications to date.
Oheneba Boachie-Adjei, MD
Ghana, West Africa
Dr. Boachie-Adjei has dedicated his life to improving the lives of his fellowmen by
making his primary work correcting incidents of pervasive spinal defects found among
many of his African countrymen. As Founder and President of the Foundation of Orthopedics
and Complex Spine (FOCOS) he has helped provide orthopedic medical care to underserved
populations in West Africa and other third world nations since 1998. In 2014, Dr.
Boachie-Adjei bid a fond farewell to the Hospital for Spinal Surgery (HSS) in New
York so he could retire in his own words “to devote his time and talents on one of
the most debilitating medical conditions of my country.” His return to Ghana has been
in the making for many years. “In 1972 I came to the U.S. for a purpose and I have
achieved that and this is the realization of my dream. I have trained at the finest
orthopedic hospitals in the country, and have given back what I could. If I want to
train more surgeons in Ghana, now is the time.”
Typical of the esteem which Dr. Boachie-Adjei is held by his colleagues is this commendation by one of his colleagues, Dr. Rick Hodes, Medical Director, American Jewish Joint Distribution Center, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: “Dr. Boachie-Adjei is changing spinal surgery in Ghana, in Ethiopia, and is transforming the spines and the lives of some of the most deformed kids on this planet. It is our honor to work closely with him every day.”
Oheneba Boachie-Adjei was born in Kumasi, Ghana one of the poorest areas of the subcontinent of Africa. After struggling to obtain an education in Kumasi, he and his family immigrated to the United States in 1972. He studied at Brooklyn College and completed his undergraduate education (summa cum laude) in 1976. In 1980 he received his Doctor of Medicine degree from Columbia University’s College of Physicians & Surgeons. He was Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Minnesota; Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Southern California and Assistant Clinical Professor, University of California College of Medicine, Irvine; and Associate Medical Director at the Southern California Complex Spine and Scoliosis Center.
Dr. Boachie-Adjei has published and lectured extensively on spine surgery, with special emphasis on surgery to correct spine deformity and he is an inventor who holds several patents for devices used in spine surgery.
The Global Medical Missions Hall of Fame is honored to recognize Dr. Boachie-Adjei in the Class of 2016.
Richard Sacra, MD
Worcester, Massachusetts & Liberia, West Africa
For more than two decades Dr. Rick Sacra has served with SIM, an international Christian
mission organization, as a medical missionary in Liberia, West Africa. He has cared
for the sick at the Eternal Love Winning Africa (ELWA) Hospital in Liberia through
years of civil war, reconstruction and the Ebola epidemic.
Dr. Sacra grew up in Wayland, Massachusetts and graduated from Brown University in 1984 with a degree in biochemistry. He earned his doctor of medicine degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester in 1989 and completed a family medicine residency program in Bristol, Tennessee. He is currently a Family Medicine Faculty Physician at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and divides his time between Massachusetts and Liberia.
Dr. Sacra began his career in Liberia in 1995, in the midst of the Liberian civil war. After he and his family evacuated during an outbreak of fighting in Monrovia in 1996, he returned in 1997 to help re-open ELWA Hospital, which had been looted and vandalized. From 1998-2010, Dr. Sacra lived and worked in Liberia full time with his wife and three sons, directed the medical staff at ELWA Hospital and taught medical students at the University of Liberia Medical School. When they began to see patients with HIV and AIDS, he initiated a program at the hospital to provide treatment, education and support to those who were living with HIV.
In September 2014, he contracted Ebola Virus Disease in Liberia, even though he was not treating known Ebola patients at the time. Dr. Sacra was evacuated by air ambulance to the University of Nebraska’s Biocontainment Unit in Omaha. Along with ICU level supportive care, he was given an experimental drug, and blood serum from his colleague, Dr. Kent Brantly, who was infected before Sacra. He was released after 20 days when his blood tested negative for the Ebola virus.
After he was Ebola free, full recovery took several months. Dr. Sacra experienced a respiratory infection, muscular degeneration, and eye inflammation (uveitis) in those months. Ebola survivors in Africa are battling such challenges too, without adequate healthcare and support.
Dr. Sacra returned to his medical work in Liberia just three and half months later, in January of 2015. His long term desire is to train Liberian Family Practice physicians, because he says that “even if Ebola is finished in West Africa, if we don’t continue to strengthen the health system there, they’re going to be vulnerable to some other devastating disease.”
The Global Medical Missions Hall of Fame is honored to induct Dr. Sacra with the Class of 2016.
Lawrence V. Conway Distinguished Lifetime Service Award
Daniel M. Johnson, PhD
President Emeritus - The University of Toledo
Dr. Johnson has served in higher education leadership, positions for more than 30
years, during which time he developed significant collaborations and partnerships among
various public universities, government entities, industrial corporations and international
organizations.
Prior to his years in high level leadership positions, Dr. Johnson enjoyed a remarkable career as a professor of Sociology and Demography at major universities in Kansas, Illinois, Virginia, Texas and Alaska. He helped lead these universities to become highly engaged in critical community issues and regional economic development programs.
His broad community affiliations in the Toledo metropolitan area have included the Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Regional Growth Partnership and the Urban League.
He is also on the board of the Alliance for Paired Donation, The Library Legacy Board of the Toledo Lucas County Public Library, Hospice of Northwest Ohio, Lourdes University, SkyLIFE Technology and the Toledo 22nd Century Committee. He has served as a consultant to several universities and been an advisor/mentor to numerous university presidents. He also served as a commissioner to the Western Higher Education Commission, one of six major U.S. academic accrediting bodies.
Dr. Johnson became president of The University of Toledo in 2001 where he fostered community engagement and led the highly successful effort in 2006 to merge UT with the Medical University of Ohio, creating the third largest public university in the state.
In 2008, after a distinguished career in higher education leadership positions, Dr. Johnson was invited to become Provost and Chief Operating Officer of Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates with campuses in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. At Zayed University he worked closely with the Minister of Higher Education in building a new, billion-dollar campus in Abu Dhabi. Additionally, he developed collaborative relationships with universities in the Middle East, Europe, Asia, Africa and North and South America.
In 2011, Dr. Johnson returned to the University of Toledo as President Emeritus where he led the University's initiative for Global Engagement. Since retiring from UT former President Johnson has remained professionally active in Northwest Ohio. In particular, he has been actively involved in promoting the Global Medical Missions Hall of Fame Foundation.
President Johnson is a prolific author. Most recently he authored "Leading Economic Development: A Toolkit for Public Officials and Civic Leaders." His autobiography, "With Gratitude: Memories I Want to Keep and Pass On" is a personal chronicle of significant events in Dr. Johnson's personal life and professional career.
We congratulate Dr. Johnson as the recipient of the 2016 Lifetime Distinguished Service Award.
UToledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences Alumni Community Award
Pamela J. Oatis, MD, FAAP
Dundee, Michigan
This award, which is presented annually, is given to a University of Toledo College
of Medicine graduate who has performed outstanding voluntary service to his/her community
beyond normal business or professional obligations.
Dr. Oatis, a graduate of The University of Toledo College of Medicine & Life Sciences (formerly the Medical College of Ohio), has been a Pediatrician for almost 35 years and has been working with children and their families at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center Family Care Center in Toledo for most of her career. She heads the Mercy Family Care Team which provides multiple services to children and families including connecting families to a medical provider to care for them and their child, palliative care for children who are chronically ill and family counseling.
Dr. Oatis is also currently a Medical Ethics Specialist at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center; Chair, Adult Institutional Review Board; Medical Director, Pediatric Palliative Care and Ethics at Mercy Children’s Hospital and a board member of the Ohio Pediatric Palliative Care Education Network and is Clinical Faculty at UT’s College of Medicine & Life Sciences.
She graduated from Maumee High School, Maumee, OH; attended Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY; received her Bachelor’s degree in Human Biology & Masters in Physical Therapy from Stanford University, Stanford, CA and received her Medical Degree at the former Medical College of Ohio in 1981. She then completed an internship at MCO, a pediatric residency at Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital and the Harvard Program in Palliative Care Education and Practice at Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
Dr. Oatis received the YWCA 2016 Milestones Award for Science for her work in Northwest Ohio as a pediatrician who embodies their mission to empower women and eliminate racism, the Research Excellence Award twice from Mercy St. Vincent Research Symposium, and was named the March of Dimes Physician of the Year in 2013. She is also the recipient of the Dr. Elizabeth Spencer Ruppert Outstanding Pediatrician Award by the Ohio Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2011, which is the highest honor bestowed by the OAAP and recognizes a pediatrician’s distinguished achievements and outstanding contributions to the advancement of pediatric care and education for patients and physicians of Ohio. She has also won numerous awards for research excellence.
Dr. Oatis has led several hundred workshops, support groups and classes and has presented at national and international conferences. She is a member of the Lay Review Board for the Catholic Diocese, serves on the CORE Clinical Faculty at Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine and has overseen multiple grants including two CATCH grants one of which was for a pediatric palliative care needs assessment for physicians in Northwest Ohio and parent focus groups in Toledo.
Her commitment to pediatric care is unequaled and she provides inspiration to all those who care for children.