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MCW/Marquette Medical Alumni Association Awards

Each year, the MCW/Marquette Medical Alumni Association selects alumni for its highest honors to acknowledge their contributions to improving health through medicine, science and other means. On September 9, the Alumni Association honored five 2022 award recipients at the Alumni Weekend banquet.

2022 Award Recipients

Stephen Hargarten, MD, headshotStephen W. Hargarten, MD '75, received the Humanitarian of the Year Award. Dr. Hargarten is a long-term member of the MCW faculty. He is Former Chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine, Professor of Emergency Medicine, Founding Director of the Comprehensive Injury Center, Founding Dean for Global Health, and Former Global Health Pathway Director. He was also a Special Government Employee of the Board of Scientific Counselors at the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

In 2010, Dr. Hargarten was appointed MCW’s Associate Dean for Global Health and has overseen the development of over 40, faculty-led affiliation agreements with academic medical centers and Ministries of Health in over 25 countries.

Dr. Hargarten is an internationally recognized figure in the study of injury and violence as a disease. He has carried the reputation of MCW with him as he currently serves on CDC’s Community Preventions Services Task Force and on the Executive Committee of the National Academies’ Transportation Research Board.

Dr. Hargarten co-authored the book: Reducing Injury and Death: A Public Health Sourcebook on Guns. In 2011, he was elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (formally the Institute of Medicine) which is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service. He is a past member of their Board on Global Health and the Forum on Global Violence and Prevention. In 2011, Dr. Hargarten received the Johns Hopkins Scholars Award for his contributions in Public Health.

Internationally, Dr. Hargarten has served MCW as Co-Principal Investigator on a large EMS training project in multiple countries beginning in Poland. Dr. Hargarten has served on the Violence and Injury Prevention Mentoring Committee for the World Health Organization. Dr. Hargarten has been actively engaged in global health and humanitarian activities, beginning in the 1980’s, serving as the chief physician from MCW assisting with care in a refugee camp in Northern Thailand. More recently, he has been actively engaged in strengthening emergency care in Belize. Currently, Dr. Hargarten is the co-founder of the Network to Prevent Gun Violence in the Americas. Dr. Hargarten is a true global injury prevention and control humanitarian leader. We are grateful to be able to honor Dr. Stephen W. Hargarten and his work with this award.

View video featuring Stephen W. Hargarten, MD ’75, the 2022 Humanitarian of the Year.

Gary Kolesari headshotGary L. Kolesari, MD '77, PhD '76, received the Distinguished Service Award. Dr. Kolesari is a proud MCW alumnus and was a long-term member of the faculty as Professor of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy for over 40 years. He is now Professor Emeritus and continues to train future physicians as a volunteer faculty member.

Dr. Kolesari taught Clinical Human Anatomy to over 8000 students. He made the Clinical Anatomy course one of the most memorable of all medical school courses. He received the MCW Distinguished Service Award in 2001. The senior medical student class presented him with the Harry Beckman Basic Science Teaching Award eight times. He was a charter member of the MCW Society of Teaching Scholars -- 1990. Year after year alumni share what a difference he made in their lives and how Clinical Human Anatomy helped make them the physicians they are today.

Dr. Kolesari also served on the Executive Committee of the Walter Zeit Fellowship for many years, inspiring others to help elevate the stature of MCW. He has also served on the Reunion Committee for the Class of 1977 helping to facilitate lifetime connections with his classmates and to MCW. For over twenty years he was a regular at the Saturday Clinic for the Uninsured, a primary care clinic run by medical and pharmacy students that offers free health services to the uninsured patients of Milwaukee. The Alumni Association is thrilled to honor Dr. Gary L. Kolesari with this award.

View video featuring Gary L. Kolesari, MD '77, PhD '76, 2022 Distinguished Service Award.

Cheryl Maurana headshotCheryl A. Maurana, PhD, was named Honorary Alumna of the Year. Dr. Maurana serves as Senior Vice President for Strategic Academic Partnerships, Professor of Population Health, and Founding Director of the Kern National Network for Caring and Character in Medicine. For the last 27 years, she has been one of MCW's most effective thought leaders, ambassadors, and representatives.

Dr. Maurana joined MCW in 1995 to direct the statewide Area Health Education Center program. She founded MCW’s Center for Healthy Communities and served as the first MCW senior associate dean for public and community health. As the founding director of the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment, a beneficiary of Wisconsin’s Blue Cross/Blue Shield conversion, at MCW, she led the investment of $275 million in more than 475 initiatives focused on community health improvement, research, and health workforce education. In 2007, she developed and launched MCW’s PhD in public and community health, the first in the nation. In 2010, she served as the founding director for the Institute for Health and Society, now the Institute for Health and Equity.

Dr. Maurana served as the founding director of the Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Institute for the Transformation of Medical Education and the Kern National Network for Caring and Character in Medicine. The Kern Institute is dedicated to transforming faculty, students, and curriculum within MCW and beyond. The Kern National Network focuses on fostering culture and systems change in medical education and the practice of medicine. She continues to lead the Network, expanding its growth beyond the seven founding members (Dartmouth, Mayo, Vanderbilt, UCSF, UT Austin, UW Madison and MCW). Total giving to MCW from the Kern family and the Kern Family Foundation for the institute and network now stands at $87.9 million, including a $37.9 million investment in 2017 that originally launched the Kern Institute and the Kern National Network. Most recently the Kern Family Foundation renewed its support with a $50 million gift to MCW. This gift designates $10 million as a matching opportunity to inspire additional support.

In 2019, Dr. Maurana led a strategic campaign that promotes gender equity through fostering change in systems and social norms. This campaign, IWill MCW, emphasizes the power of individual responsibility for positive change. The MCW/Marquette Medical Alumni Association is profoundly grateful to Dr. Maurana for the impact she has had and will continue to have as MCW pioneers pathways to a healthier world. We are so thrilled to welcome Dr. Cheryl A. Maurana as an Honorary MCW Alumna.

View video featuring Cheryl A. Maurana, PhD, 2022 Honorary Alumna of the Year.

Sachin Patel, MD '06, PhD '04 Sachin C. Patel, MD '06, PhD '04, was named the Graduate School Alumnus of the Year.

Dr. Patel trained in clinical psychiatry at Vanderbilt where he also continued his research training in translational neuroscience. He joined the faculty at Vanderbilt where he rose to the James G. Blakemore Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and director of the Division of General Psychiatry at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Dr. Patel is now the Chair and Lizzie Gilman Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Services at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and psychiatrist-in-chief at Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Norman and Ida Stone Institute of Psychiatry.

An internationally recognized expert in the field of psychiatric neuroscience, Patel is a respected physician-scientist who combines a deep background in cellular, molecular and behavioral neuroscience with clinical expertise in psychiatry and addiction medicine.

Dr. Patel is also a prolific scientist: he has published many peer-reviewed papers, books, chapters and review articles in journals including Biological Psychiatry, Nature Neuroscience and Neuron, and amassed nearly 6,000 citations. He has consistently secured grant funding from the National Institutes of Health and numerous foundations for his work studying the biology and pathophysiology of the endocannabinoid system. We are so pleased to honor Dr. Sachin C. Patel with this award.

View video featuring Sachin C. Patel, MD '06, PhD '04, Graduate School Alumnus of the Year.

Anna Ledgerwood, MD '67

Anna M. Ledgerwood, MD '67, was named the Medical School Alumna of the Year.

As a clinician, researcher, and teacher, Dr. Anna Ledgerwood has forged a remarkable journey. She was one of three women in the 1967 graduating class of Marquette University School of Medicine, MCW’s predecessor institution. Her first exposure to Surgery was during her third year of medical school while a student on Dr. Edwin Ellison’s Blue Surgery Service at the Milwaukee County General Hospital. Dr. Ledgerwood matched for a rotating internship at Detroit General Hospital followed by a residency in General Surgery at Wayne State University where she was recruited as a faculty member and continues there today. She has been at the forefront of the development of the specialty of trauma surgery – partnering with Dr. Charles Lucas at Detroit Receiving Hospital to provide emergency surgical care for decades. Together, they developed groundbreaking techniques in resuscitation from hemorrhagic shock, instituting clinical trials in the care of patients with traumatic injuries.

Dr. Ledgerwood has made significant contributions to academic surgery as a leader in the profession. She has served as a Governor and First Vice-President of the American College of Surgeons. She was elected President of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma in 1998 and in 2014 was the first woman to be selected President of the American Surgical Association, one of the oldest and most prestigious professional surgical organizations in the country.

Since graduating from our medical school fifty-five years ago, Anna Ledgerwood has provided unwavering compassionate care to patients with the most complex surgical diseases and severe traumatic injuries. She has been an inspirational educator for generations of students of surgery, advancing the art and science of the profession at a pace and intensity unmatched by few others. We are so pleased to honor Dr. Anna M. Ledgerwood with this award.

View video featuring Anna M. Ledgerwood, MD '67, Medical School Alumna of the Year.

Make Your Nominations for the 2023 Awards!

Awards Criteria
Distinguished Service

Distinguished Service

This award is presented to an individual or individuals who have demonstrated outstanding service to their profession, the Medical College of Wisconsin/Marquette Medical Alumni Association and MCW.
Graduate School Alumnus or Alumna of the Year

Graduate School Alumnus or Alumna of the Year

The graduate alumnus/alumna selected for this award has achieved success in his/her profession that has led to recognition by their peers. This could be in the area of teaching, academic medicine, research and/or through leadership in professional societies at the state or national level. Other criteria could be used as the aforementioned are only examples. Volunteer work and financial support of the Medical College are not criteria for this award.
Honorary Alumnus or Alumna

Honorary Alumnus or Alumna

This award is presented to non-alumni whose commitment to MCW is unwavering and whose continued support of the college’s education, research, patient care and community engagement efforts are pervasive and demonstrable.

Humanitarian

Humanitarian

This award is presented to an alumnus/alumna who throughout his/her career has demonstrated a significant humanitarian commitment in medical practice and/or volunteer activities.
Medical School Alumnus or Alumna of the Year

Medical School Alumnus or Alumna of the Year

The medical school alumnus/alumna selected for this award has achieved success in his/her profession that has led to recognition by their peers. This could be in the area of clinical teaching, academic medicine, research and/or through leadership in professional societies at the state or national level. Other criteria could be used as the aforementioned are only examples. Volunteer work and financial support of the Medical College are not criteria for this award.

2023 Alumni Award Nomination Form

In the space below, please tell us why you wish to nominate this individual for the award. If you know of someone (spouse, partner, colleague, etc.) who can provide additional information regarding nominee's accomplishments, please include their name (and contact information if you know it) as well.

Past Recipients

all
Distinguished Service

2021 E. Christopher Ellison, MD '76
2020 Neil R. Guenther, MD ’83, GME ’86 ’88
2018 Paul E. Hankwitz, MD '74, GME '78
2017 Gerald J. Dorff, MD '64, FEL '70
2016 John T. Bjork, MD '71, Fel '76
2015 Donald J. McDonald, MD '83, GME '87
2014 Steven C. Bergin, MD '74, GME '78
2014 Thomas G. Wittmann, MD '84, GME '87
2013 James L. Algiers, MD '53, GME '63
2012 Victoria A. Vollrath, MD '77, GME '80
2011 Ronald J. Darling, MD '62, GME '67
2010 Jane L. Neumann, MD '70, GME '73
2009 Cynthia A. Bauer, MD '74, GME '75
2008 Thomas J. Russell, MD '62
2007 Thomas M. Kidder, MD '68, GME '73
2006 Anthony P. Ziebert, MD '60, GME '63, FEL '64
2005 Robert S. Pavlic, MD '54
2004 Kathleen M. Hargarten, MD '82, GME '85
2003 Roger P. Johnson, MD '67, GME '73, MS '65
2002 Donald P. Schlueter, MD '59, GME '63
2002 Gilbert S. Wadina, MD '61
2001 Donald E. Chisholm, MD '56, GME '64
2001 David S. Haskell, MD '67, GME '72
2000 John R. Litzow, MD '59, GME '63, FEL '65
2000 Robert J. Toohill, MD '60
1999 John J. Frederick, MD '51, GME '58
1999 Michael H. Keelan, Jr., MD '60, GME '66, FEL '68
1998 William B. Frymark, MD '46, GME '54
1998 Michael T. Jaekels, MD '55
1997 William C. Curtis, MD '47
1997 William G. Weber, MD '60
1996 Robert O. Buss, MD '66, GME '68
1996 Robert H. Herzog
1995 Walter E. Gager, MD '63, GME '67
1995 Rita M. Marino, MD '58
1994 Donald J. Heyrman, MD '56
1994John P. Kampine, MD '61, PhD '65
1993 Kathryn C. Bemmann, MD '56
1993 James M. Cerletty, MD '58, FEL '64
1992 George J. Korkos, MD '59
1992 William J. Listwan, MD '68, GME '74
1992 Sanbo S. Sakaguchi, MD '43

Graduate School Alumnus/Alumna of the Year
2021 Matthew R. Hodges, PhD '04
2020 Jeffery D. Molkentin, PhD ’94
2019 Page S. Morahan, PhD '69
2017 Cecilia J. Hillard, PhD '83
2016 Michael F. Nolan, PhD '75
2015 Joseph J. Carroll, PhD '02
2014 Sarah K. England, PhD '93
2013 Lawrence G. Pan, PhD '83
2012 Daniel J. McDermott, PhD '69
Honorary Alumnus/Alumna
2021 Ravi P. Misra, PhD
2020 Allen W. Cowley, Jr., PhD
2019 Richard N. Katschke
2017 Alonzo P. Walker, MD
2016 John R. Raymond, Sr., MD
2015 William A. Schultz
2014 Edward J. Zore
2013 James W. Heald
2012 Linda T. Mellowes
2011 J. Frank Wilson, MD
2010 Virginia K. Bolger
2009 John M. Cary
2008 James E. Youker, MD
2007 Thomas R. Hefty
2006 Stephen H. Marcus
2005 Vera Wilson
2004 Janice L. Lennon
2003 Lorry Uihlein
2002 P. Michael Mahoney
2001 Lloyd B. (Ted) Smith
2000 Melodie Wilson Oldenburg
1999 William L. Randall
1998 Jon P. McGlocklin
1997 Michael J. Cudahy
1996 Jack F. Hanus
1996 Lesley A. Mack
1995 T. Michael Bolger, JD
1991 Gerald A. Kerrigan, MD
1990 Reverend John P. Raynor, SJ
1989 John R. Petersen, MD, GME '60
1989 Richard O. Schultz, MD
1988 Jacob Lemann, Jr., MD
1986 Drs. June M. and George F. Unger
1984 Leonard W. Cronkhite, Jr., MD
1982 Edward A. Bachhuber, MD
1980 Edward J. Lennon, MD, GME '58
1979 Stavri G. Joseph
1978 Joseph F. Kuzma, MD
1976 Bessie Casey
1969 Walter P. Blount, MD
1969 Louis Quarles
Humanitarian
2021 Mark L. Harlow, MD '86, GME '91
2020 Steven E. Larson, MD ’75, GME ’78, FEL ’80
2019 Marc H. Erickson, MD '89
2018 Sister Alegria, MD '78
2017 Donald A. Hackbarth, MD '77, GME '82
2016 Anne T. Martinelli, MD '01
2015 Frank T. Pilney, MD '59
2015 John P. Zimmermann, MD '70
2014 Laurel M. Bear, MD '84, GME '87
2013 Gloria M. Halverson, MD '73
2012 Clifford H. Starr, MD '56, GME '63, MS '63
2011 Sister Mary V. Annel, MD '71
2010 Thomas P. Chisholm, MD '59
2009 Wendelin W. Schaefer, MD '64
2008 Carol A. Ritter, MD '83
2007 Theodore G. MacKinney, MD '85
2007 Julianne R. Newcomer, MD '87, GME '97
2006 Stuart E. Adair, MD '64
2005 Brother Jerry J. Galloway, MD '65, GME '70
2005 George R. Schneider, MD '70
Medical School Alumnus/Alumna of the Year
2021 Elizabeth M. Davies, MD '95, GME '98
2020 Marlene D. Melzer-Lange, MD ’75, GME ’78
2019 Beth Erickson Wittmann, MD '84, GME '88
2018 Robert P. Nirschl, MD '58
2017 William M. Valenti, MD '72
2016 Karen J. Marcdante, MD '80, GME '83
2016 Paul S. Pagel, MD '86, GME '90, FEL '93, PhD '94
2015 Joseph E. Kerschner, MD '90, FEL '98
2014 Jerry R. Youkey, MD '74
2013 Philip E. Stieg, MD '83
2012 David R. Holmes, Jr., MD '71
2011 Steven P. Shelov, MD '71
2010 Gen. C. Bruce Green, MD '78
2009 Richard J. Kitz, MD '54
2008 Mary M. Horowitz, MD '80, GME '89, MS '91
2007 Janis M. Orlowski, MD '82
2006 Ritsuko Komaki, MD, GME '77, FEL '78
2005 James T. Casper, MD '70, GME '72
2004 Joseph D. Zuckerman, MD '78
2003 Thomas M. Krummel, MD '77
2002 George J. Reul, MD '62, GME '69
2001 Joseph E. Geenen, MD '60, GME '65, FEL '67
2000 Maria Bustillo, MD '75
1999 Donald R. Laub, MD '60
1998 John P. Kampine, MD '61, PhD '65
1997 Thomas L. Garthwaite, MD, GME '79
1996 Michael J. Dunn, MD '62
1995 Raymond C. Zastrow, MD '55
1994 Walter J. Hogan, MD '58, FEL '64
1993 Jack A. Klieger, MD '41
1992 Eugene E. Bleck, MD '47
1991 Timothy T. Flaherty, MD '59
1990 Edward J. Lennon, MD, GME '58
1989 William V. Dolan, MD '74
1988 Michael J. Krentz, MD '73
1987 James B. Perry, MD '56
1986 John J. Czajka, MD '56, GME '61
1985 Marvin Wagner, MD '44, MS '51
1984 Sister Antonia M. Guerrieri, MM, MD '34
1983 Norman H. Engbring, MD '51
1982 Leo R. Weinshel, MD '37, GME '48, MS '53
1981 Francis X. Paletta, MD '39
1980 Bruce J. Brewer, MD '40
1979 Steve L. Chojnacki, MD '37
1978 Reverend James R. (Luke) Tupper, MD '58
1977 Anthony V. Pisciotta, MD '44
1976 Derward Lepley, Jr., MD '49
1975 Bruno J. Peters, MD '38
1974 Robert J. Schweitzer, MD '46
1973 John S. Hirschboeck, MD '37, MS '41
1972 John G. Walsh, MD '38
1970 Frederick J. Hofmeister, MD '35
1967 Joseph M. King, MD '21