MedTips: Awards and announcements from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

 

James Kern, senior director of Access and Capacity Management at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, has received Patient Access Collaborative’s Access Leader of the Year award. This honor recognizes those who drive change, inspire others and advance equitable, patient-centered care. The collaborative praised Kern’s leadership, saying it “extends beyond measurable achievements—it is defined by the culture he has fostered … an environment where innovation thrives, and challenges are met with bold solutions.” 

 

 

Two faculty members who serve as assistant professors in the Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity at The Ohio State University College of Medicine were selected as 2025 Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease (PATH) award from The Burroughs Wellcome Fund. Adriana Forero, PhD, and Fernanda Novais, PhD, will each receive a five-year, $505,000 award supporting their research projects while they’re still early-career scientists.  

Forero investigates how genes linked to neurodevelopmental disorders shape immune defenses in the lungs. Novais is an expert in immune responses to Leishmania parasites, which cause cutaneous leishmaniasis, a neglected tropical disease that affects millions worldwide.

 

 

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center has received Practice Greenhealth’s Emerald Level Award for its commitment to environmental sustainability. This is the sixth consecutive year Ohio State has received an award from the membership and networking organization for sustainable health care.

 

 

The American College of Lifestyle Medicine awarded The Ohio State University College of Medicine the bronze tier certification in the Undergraduate Medical Education Lifestyle Medicine Curriculum Certification process for integrating lifestyle medicine into its undergraduate lifestyle medicine education. Lifestyle medicine uses therapeutic lifestyle interventions as a primary way to treat chronic conditions, such as cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes and obesity. Lifestyle medicine-certified clinicians are trained to apply evidence-based, whole-person, prescriptive lifestyle change to treat these conditions. Students graduating from lifestyle medicine-certified medical schools can complete a portion of educational prerequisite hours towards becoming certified in lifestyle medicine. 

 

Anil Parwani, MD, PhD, professor of Pathology and Biomedical Informatics at The Ohio State University, received the 2024 CAP Distinguished Service Award from the College of American Pathologists. Parwani was selected for his contributions to digital and computational pathology, including his work on how to safely and effectively integrate AI into clinical practice and for his commitment to education and mentorship.

 

The Association for Clinical and Translational Science (ACTS) awarded Ann Scheck McAlearney, ScD, the 2025 ACTS Distinguished Educator: Mentorship Innovation Award. ACTS, a non-profit membership association of translational scientists from the nation’s leading academic medical centers, recognized McAlearney for her innovative mentorship that results in significant scientific accomplishments by the next generation of clinical and translational researchers. McAlearney is a distinguished professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, executive director of the Center for the Advancement of Team Science, Analytics, and Systems Thinking in Health Services and Implementation Science Research (CATALYST) and associate dean for Health Services Research at Ohio State College of Medicine and The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. 

 

The Ohio State University College of Medicine moved up to the No. 37 spot in the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research rankings for medical schools. Eleven departments earned top-30 rankings based on data from federal fiscal year 2024, which ended Sept. 30.