Two physicians, a politician and a medical center received awards from WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease for their work with women in at-risk communities.
The winners of the Wenger Awards were announced on April 26. They will be honored on May 1 in Washington, D.C.
The awards are named after Nanette Kass Wenger, a cardiologist and professor at Emory University in Atlanta since 1958.
The winners are:
* Joyce Beatty, a Democratic Congresswoman from Ohio and a stroke survivor, will receive the Excellence in Public Policy award. She is co-chair of the Congressional Heart and Stroke Coalition and the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues.
* The Chickasaw Nation Medical Center, a 370,000 square foot facility in Ada, Oklahoma, will receive the Excellence in Community Education award. The center, which has 72 beds, provides free healthcare services to any federally-recognized tribe.
* Keith C. Ferdinand, MD, a cardiologist and Tulane University professor, will receive the Excellence in Medical Leadership award. He was formerly the co-chair of the American College of Cardiology (ACC)'s Women's Health program and member of the ACC's Cardiovascular Disease in Women Committee. He has also served on the boards of several major cardiology organizations, including the Association of Black Cardiologists and the American Society of Hypertension.
* Ileana Piña, MD, MPH, a cardiologist and professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, will receive the Excellence in Research award. She is an advisor to the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health and epidemiology section. She has authored or co-authored more than 100 publications and been a leading heart failure researcher.
Nancy Loving, Jackie Markham and Judy Mingram, three women who had MIs in their 40s, founded WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease in 1999. The organization now has 20,000 members and 110 patient support groups in 40 states.
Executive Editor
Tim Casey joined TriMed Media Group in 2015 as Executive Editor. For the previous four years, he worked as an editor and writer for HMP Communications, primarily focused on covering managed care issues and reporting from medical and health care conferences. He was also a staff reporter at the Sacramento Bee for more than four years covering professional, college and high school sports. He earned his undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Notre Dame and his MBA degree from Georgetown University.