On Wednesday, June 4,  Jim Foy, President and Chief Executive Officer of Riverside Health Care System, Inc., was installed as the 2008–09 Chairman of the GNYHA Board of Governors at the 2008 GNYHA Annual Reception and Awards Ceremony.      

Inspired by the theme of this year’s event, A Salute to the Physician Training Capital of the World, GNYHA chose to honor three alumni of the region’s graduate medical education programs for exemplifying the contributions of all physicians who have trained in New York. The honorees were also given the opportunity to thank and recognize the physicians  who mentored and inspired them throughout their education and careers.        

The evening’s first honoree, Malachi G. Sheahan III, M.D., Program Director, Vascular Surgery Fellowship and Assistant Professor of Surgery, Louisiana State University School of Medicine, New Orleans, was honored for his commitment to patients during Hurricane Katrina as he risked his own safety to ensure the evacuation of all of his patients during and after the storm. GNYHA also honored Dr. Sheahan’s mentor, Mark Wallack, M.D., Chairman of Surgery at Metropolitan Hospital Center. Dr. Sheahan did his residency at Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers.      

The second honoree, Bruce Charash, M.D., Founder and Chairman, Doc to Dock, was recognized for his organization’s successful efforts to bring surplus medical supplies and equipment to clinics in need in Africa. GNYHA also honored Dr. Charash’s mentor, his father Leon Charash, M.D., a semi-retired pediatric neurologist and health care humanitarian. Dr. Bruce Charash graduated from the Weill Cornell Medical College and performed residencies at the Mount Sinai Medical Center and NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital.     

GNYHA’s third honoree of the night, Martin Posner, M.D., not only trained in New York, but went on to teach generations of other New York residents and fellows as well. In fact, Dr. Posner, Chief of the Division of Hand Surgery, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, at the NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases, and Clinical Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, New York University School of Medicine, is the longest-serving residency director in New York.  Dr. Posner named Steve Lee, M.D., as his mentee. Dr. Lee is the Assistant Professor and Associate Chief of the Division of Hand Surgery at the Hospital for Joint Diseases and Co-Chief of the Hand Surgery Service at Bellevue Hospital Center.  Both Dr. Posner and Dr. Lee performed their residencies at the Hospital for Joint Diseases.     

•  Click here to learn more about the physicians honored at GNYHA's 2008 event.

GNYHA also presented the 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award to Richard Knapp, Ph.D., Executive Vice President, Government Relations, Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), for his lifelong commitment to the physician and teaching hospital community. Dr. Knapp will retire this year after four decades of service to the AAMC.

GNYHA Board of Governors
Officers 2008–09: Chair, Jim Foy, Riverside Health Care System, Inc; Chair-Elect, Linda Brady, M.D., Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center; Vice Chair, Alan Aviles, New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation;  Vice Chair, Pamela S. Brier, Maimonides Medical Center; Vice Chair, Long Term Care, Audrey Weiner, D.S.W., The Jewish Home and Hospital Lifecare System; Secretary, James Harden, Catholic Health Services of Long Island; Treasurer, Robert Grossman, M.D., NYU Langone Medical Center; Assistant Secretary, Steven Safyer, M.D., Montefiore Medical Center; Assistant Treasurer, James Kaskie, Kaleida Health; Immediate Past Chair, Gary S. Horan, F.A.C.H.E., Trinitas Hospital; Past Chair, Kenneth L. Davis, M.D.,The Mount Sinai Medical Center; Past Chair, Michael Dowling, North Shore–Long Island Jewish Health System; Past Chair, Herbert Pardes, M.D., NewYork–Presbyterian Healthcare System, Inc.; Past Chair, Stanley Brezenoff, Continuum Health Partners, Inc.; Past Chair, Gladys George, Lenox Hill Hospital; Past Chair, Mark J. Mundy, New York Methodist Hospital; Past Chair, John R. Gunn, Memorial Hospital for Cancer and Allied Diseases; Past Chair, David P. Rosen, MediSys Health Network, Inc.; and Chair, GNYHA Audit, Finance, and Budget Committee, Robert S. Shapiro, North Shore–Long Island Jewish Medical Center. 
New Board Members: Class of 2009, Frank A. Calamari, Calvary Hospital; Class of 2008, Scott Batulis, Orange Regional Medical Center; Class of 2011, Henry Amoroso, Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers; Scott Cooper, M.D., St. Barnabas Hospital; Lynda D. Curtis, Bellevue Hospital Center; Gail Donovan, Continuum Health Partners, Inc.; Louis A. Shapiro, Hospital for Special Surgery; and Steven Strongwater, M.D., Stony Brook University Medical Center.