MEDAL OF HONOR WINNERS BEMOAN MANAGED CARE BUT LAUD THEIR PROFESSION
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Medal of Honor winners, from left, are Charles F. Wooley, M.D. '54, |
For the past 25 years, Dr. Ikeda has donated his skills as a plastic and reconstructive surgeon for disadvantaged children in Guatemala. He regularly travels to the Hospital De La Familia where he performs charitable surgery on children with cleft palates and other congenital anomalies. In 2001 the hospital honored him with a commendation "in appreciation for his devotion, inspiring team leadership and medical expertise, which have provided healing and new hope for thousands of the indigent Mayan population of the region." Dr. Ikeda serves on the hospital's board and has been its medical director since 2000.
"It's hard to believe I graduated from New York Medical College 25 years ago," Dr. Ikeda said upon accepting the award. In the quarter of a century he has volunteered his skills in Guatemala, as well as Peru and Alaska. In San Francisco, where he lives and works, Dr. Ikeda started a 24-hour clinic for substance abuse for the indigent poor in the Bay Area. In recognition of his work there, San Francisco's Mayor Willie Brown signed a proclamation designating November 1, 2001, as Clyde J. Ikeda, M.D. Day.
But it is his work with the children of Guatemala that seems to touch him most deeply. "After the successful repair of a cleft palate, the smile that emanates from a mother is the most rewarding gift of charity and hope," he said.
Medal of Honor winner Charles Wooley, a renowned scholar and teacher, has also dedicated his career to medicine and public service. Certified in both internal medicine and cardiology, Dr. Wooley has received dozens of awards and honors during his 50-year career. But he told his fellow alumni that they pale when compared to the Alumni Association Medal of Honor. "The prestige involved in this medal lies in the seal of New York Medical College," said Dr. Wooley, who joined the College's "Alumni Wall of Fame" in 1999. "Together we share this legacy."
Dr. Wooley's personal legacy is already impressive. Among his many awards are the U.S. Public Health Service's Career Research Development Award and the Charles F. Wooley Transmission of Excellence Award, which the Fellows-in- Training in the Division of Cardiology at Ohio State University established. In addition, the American College of Physicians honored him with its Laureate Award in 2002. As a visiting professor at universities around the country, Dr. Wooley has a dozen "outstanding teaching" awards to his credit. Currently, he is a scholar-in-residence at Ohio State University's Medical Heritage Center, which he founded in 1997.
Despite the many changes that medicine has endured since his graduation in 1954, he expressed excitement for the newest graduating class. "To the class of 2004, I salute you. You are entering medicine at the most incredible time to be a physician. You have an excellent opportunity that will exist before you for the rest of your careers."
Dr. Fierro, the third honoree and immediate past president of the Alumni Association, expressed similar optimism. A highly respected anesthesiologist, Dr. Fierro was director of the department of anesthesiology at Lenox Hill Hospital until his retirement in 1999. Although retired from clinical practice, he remains the department's honorary director and an active member of the College faculty, which he joined soon after graduating more than 40 years ago.
An associate clinical professor in anesthesiology, he has served on many of the College's committees, including Tenure, Admissions, and Promotions (TAP), and Executive of the Faculty Senate and By-Laws. He was president of the Alumni Association from 1989 to 1993 and again from 1999 to 2004. He has been a member of the Board of Governors of the Alumni Association since 1968 and the Board of Trustees since 2001.
Like his co-honorees, Dr. Fierro acknowledged the frustrations that managed care has brought to medicine. And yet, he added, "I enjoy it every moment."