College of Medicine Faculty Named Health Care Heroes

Two faculty members in the UC College of Medicine were named Health Care Heroes by the Business Courier during an awards dinner Tuesday, Feb. 26.

Yash Patil, MD, assistant professor of otolaryngology and an otolaryngologist with UC Health and the UC Neuroscience Institute, won in the award’s Provider category. John Hawkins, MD, chief of psychiatry at the Lindner Center of HOPE and an adjunct associate professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience, was the winner in the Innovator category.

Patil was nominated for the provider award by his patients Jayme and Bill Budde. The couple first met Patil in 2007, when Bill was diagnosed with a deadly form of head and neck cancer. Five years later, Patil reached out to them when he wanted to start a support group for Head and Neck Patients and Caregivers. 

In their nomination, Jayme and Bill wrote that Patil sought to learn from his patients—"about our needs, our challenges, our hopes and fears. He wanted to empower us to create a better environment for healing. He wanted this to be our group. At the end of a long day, he was there to learn from us and to really listen.”

The group now meetings monthly and welcomes members and caregivers in all stages of the disease. Their latest project is to develop materials for newly diagnosed patients that include practical support and contact numbers.

"Dr. Patil has given a voice to all of us, even those who are physically unable to speak,” the Buddes wrote. "He is our hero—and his unselfish example has helped each of us who have been affected by this terrifying disease to find the little piece of hero in ourselves.”

Hawkins, nominated by Paul Keck Jr., MD, president and CEO of Lindner Center of HOPE, won for his research and delivery efforts in the field of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), a noninvasive procedure that uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain to improve symptoms of depression.

Hawkins, also deputy chief of research at the center, director of the outpatient clinic and medical director for Transcranial Magnetic Services, has been a leader in advancing the knowledge and application in mental health treatment of TMS. He works with a treatment team in its delivery for patients who are interested and appropriate for the procedure.

"Dr. Hawkins believes it is critical to research, assess, adopt and provide cutting-edge treatments that offer the most promise of recovery for patients,” Keck wrote. "(He) understands that Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation is one of those cutting-edge treatments that can give new hope to suffering patients.”

Also honored at the dinner was Beatrice Lampkin, MD, professor emerita of pediatrics, who received the Lifetime Achievement award. She overcame a childhood bout with polio and historic resistance to women in medicine to become one of Cincinnati’s finest physicians and most dedicated philanthropists.

Honored as finalists along with Patil and Hawkins were Christopher McPherson, MD, assistant professor of clinical neurosurgery, in the Innovator category; George Atweh, MD, professor of medicine, division of hematology oncology, and Patricia Carey, MD, associate professor of clinical pathology and laboratory medicine, in the Manager category; and Alexei Grom, MD, associate professor of pediatrics, in the Provider category.