University of Maryland Shore Regional Health will name the recipient of the 2016 Arthur B. Cecil, Jr., MD, Award for Excellence in Health Care Improvement on October 13 at the Tidewater Inn. Dr. Cecil was the first recipient of the award, which recognized his contributions to clinical advancements and medical staff development. The Cecil Award continues the tradition of recognizing performance improvement initiatives that have a measurable effect on the quality of health care for a defined group of patients.
Each of this year’s Cecil Award finalists exemplifies Dr. Cecil’s commitment to advancing healthcare for the benefit of the community they serve. This year’s finalists include:
-
R. Duane Cespedes, MD
R. Duane Cespedes, MD for his commitment to and ongoing highest quality care in our Continence and Pelvic Health Center Program that focuses on finding alternatives to surgery for urinary incontinence patients. The program also offers state of the art Urodynamic Studies to assist in the diagnosis of conditions such as neurogenic bladders and complications from multiple sclerosis.
-
Donald D’Aquila, PharmD
Donald D’Aquila, PharmD for implementing pharmacologic therapies in the management of pain and non-pain symptoms. He has implemented numerous programs and strategies that have benefited our patients in our programs in pain management, palliative care, and surgical and cancer care.
-
Khalid H. Kurtom, MD, FAANS, FACS
Khalid Kurtom, MD for his role in improving spine patient outcomes and as our regional representative to the UMMS Spine Network. As part of the UMMS Spine Network, he has been instrumental in decreasing spinal surgery patients’ length of stay, readmissions and post-procedure complications all while decreasing spinal surgery costs.
“These finalists strive every day to innovate and bring leading edge care to all the patients we serve,” says William Huffner, MD, MBA, FACEP, FACHE, chief medical officer, UM Shore Regional Health. “We are fortunate to have care team members of this caliber in our region.”