The Maryland House of Delegates and House Speaker Michael E. Busch, has announced that University of Maryland School of Medicine Dean E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA and University of Maryland Medical System President and CEO Robert Chrencik, MBA, are recipients of the "Speaker's Medallion," the highest honor given to the public by the leader of the Maryland House of Delegates.
"We are recognizing Dean Reece and Mr. Chrencik for their contributions to our statewide healthcare network and world class trauma system," Speaker Busch said in presenting the award.
University of Maryland Medicine, comprised of UM School of Medicine (UM SOM) and UM Medical System (UMMS), employs more than 30,000 people across the State of Maryland. In 2015, UM recorded 115,000 patient admissions, 395,000 emergency visits and 1.5 million outpatient visits. In addition, residents throughout Maryland now have more access to world-renowned transplant specialists, neurosurgeons and cardiologists, among others, across the System. The UM Cancer Network provides access to cancer services and clinical trials across the region.
The Award also recognizes the significant impact that UM Medicine is having on the State of Maryland as it increasingly becomes a destination for leading programs that are among the top in the nation - including trauma and critical care, transplantation, cancer, cardiovascular medicine and surgery, NeuroCare and Neuroscience, among others. In transplantation, for example UM Medicine has one of the top kidney exchange programs in the world, having performed 5,500 kidney transplants over the past four decades. In 2015 alone, UM Medicine performed more than 500 solid organ transplants (including kidney, pancreas, heart and lung.) The University of Maryland R A Cowley Shock Trauma Center is the leading center of its kind in the world, treating nearly 8,000 severely-injured patients each year.
With "discovery-based medicine" as its key mission, the UM SOM is one of the fastest-growing biomedical research enterprises in the nation, with more than $400 million in total research grants and contracts. The combined UM Medicine budget is in excess of $5 billion, and reports have estimated an economic impact to the State of more than $10 million.
"This is a tremendous honor and recognition for all of our faculty physicians, surgeons and scientists who work collaboratively with the dedicated health care professionals across the UM Medical System to provide the highest level of care to our patients," said Dean Reece, who is also Vice President of Medical Affairs at the University of Maryland and the John Z. and Akiko Bowers Distinguished Professor at the school.
Added Mr. Chrencik: "This award exemplifies the Power of Partnership between the University of Maryland Medical System and the University of Maryland School of Medicine, along with our employees across the System and the School's faculty, who together ensure the delivery of quality, discovery-based medicine to the citizens of Maryland."
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