July 8, 2013 — A reception honoring Dr. Alan Cohen, physician- in-chief, was held on May 4 at the Pediatric Academic Society meeting. He has stepped down as chair of the Department of Pediatrics after 12 years. Just this past spring, our Department of Pediatrics was ranked as the top pediatric department in the country by U.S. News & World Report in its Best Graduate Schools edition. This is a distinguished honor attributed to his leadership. Dr. Cohen will remain at CHOP as an attending physician in the Division of Hematology and contribute his individual talents to CHOP’s administrative offices.

Dean J. Larry Jameson of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and CHOP CEO Steven Altschuler have announced that Dr. Joseph W. St. Geme III will fill the position as chair of the Department of Pediatrics and physician-in-chief at CHOP. Joe is a former pediatric resident and chief resident physician at CHOP. He comes to us from Duke University Medical Center, where he served as chair of the Department of Pediatrics.

Jim O’Neill, former chief of the Department of Surgery at CHOP, was honored with the Richard D. Wood Distinguished Alumni award on June 3. He has retired as chief of surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and has continued to teach and work on several research projects. A reception was held in the Leonard and Madlyn Abramson Pediatric Research Center and included many retired and senior medical staff members.

Parents magazine named CHOP as the country’s best children’s hospital based on a survey conducted by the magazine.

If you have information about yourself or other CHOP alumni, contact Barrie Nussbaum at nussbaumb@email.chop.edu. You can find more information about fellow alumni on our alumni website at www.chopalumni.org.

Awards, Honors

  • Carol Ford, MD, chief of the Division of Adolescent Medicine, was named president-elect of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine.
  • Dennis Dlugos, MD, MSCE, senior neurologist, has received the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Award for distinguished teaching at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania.
  • David Schonfeld, MD, former CHOP pediatric resident, was the guest speaker at pediatric grand rounds, sponsored by our alumni organization. His particular interest is in dealing with children exposed to disastrous events. In January he was named pediatrician-in-chief at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children and chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia.
  • Victoria L. Vetter, MD, FAAP, FACC, former chief of the Division of Cardiology at CHOP, received the Edward S. Cooper MD award from the American Heart Association of Southeast Pennsylvania. She is the first female and first pediatric cardiologist to receive this award.
  • Stan Plotkin, MD, former chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, was ranked second of 50 people with the greatest worldwide influence on vaccines (after No. 1 Bill Gates) by the blog Vaccine Nation. Paul Offit, MD , current chief of Infectious Diseases, was named as the sixth most influential.
  • Garrett Brodeur, MD, former chief of the Division of Oncology, received the Pediatric Oncology Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Contributed by: Patrick S. Pasquariello, MD