Dr. Elizabeth Kelly, 2004 President's Quality Service Award Winner

As an asset to the university and to the community, Dr. Elizabeth Kelly is a professional with an interest in those most in need of her services. Her willingness to take a personal interest in their well-being is producing benefits for Greater Cincinnati and the UC Medical Center.

Kelly is an associate professor of Clinical Obstetrics/Gynecology who has made a reputation for herself of being devoted to medical issues of the underserved and the poor.

Dr. Clarence McClain, professor emeritus of Obstetrics/Gynecology, says Kelly "is a no-nonsense person and very pro-active in providing quality service to her patients. She is polite, respectful and very friendly and outgoing. She accepts ownership of the problems facing us in health care and is very positive in her efforts to carry out her responsibilities."

At the Medical Center, Kelly’s career has advanced steadily since returning to the UC in 1994. Kelly, who earned both her undergraduate and medical degrees from UC, became the medical director of the Women’s Health Center in 1995 and then the director of the General Obstetrics and Gynecology Division in 2000.

Outside of the university, she organizes and manages a team of doctors, nurses and clinicians that provide care to women in nine City of Cincinnati Health Centers. Because of Kelly’s commitment, a new relationship has been created between UC’s Obstetrics and Gynecology department and the clinics that will allow University Hospital to provide care for patients from the clinics. "This is an accomplishment that no else has been able to achieve, and it should improve the health care of the underserved women in our city," McClain says.

For her dedication, Kelly earlier this year won the Community Outreach Award as part of the Health Care Heroes program. As she said at the time, the service she provides is its own reward. "I am privileged, grateful and forever changed to have been touched by the lives of the patients I have met," Kelly said.