Alvin Crawford, MD, Honored at Ioannina University in Greece

Alvin Crawford, MD, was bestowed the recognition of honorary professor of the University of Ioannina, Greece, April 2. The ceremony was presided over by the university’s rector, George Kapsalis, who inducted Crawford as an honorary faculty in Ioannina’s College of Health Sciences.

Crawford, a professor emeritus of orthopaedic surgery, is world renowned for his advances in pediatric spines surgery. 

Among his long list of positions, honors, and awards is the first African-American president of the Scoliosis Society, an international society for the study of Spinal Deformities in 2001. He received the Daniel Drake Award (2006) from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, its highest academic award, named for the founder of the medical school; the 2007 Diversity Award from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons; and the 2009 Candle in the Dark Award from Morehouse College for his contributions in the field of medicine. He was admitted to the 2008 Hall of Fame of Historically Black Colleges and Universities and received the esteemed international Trumpet Award heralding the accomplishment of a black American who has inspired others in 2009. He presented the prestigious Paul Harrington, MD Lecture at the Scoliosis Research Society in 2012 and Presidential Oration at the Indian Pediatric Orthopaedic Society in Ahmedabad, India, in 2013. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Medicine from Closing the Health Gap in Cincinnati and Mayor Mark Mallory proclaimed May 8, 2013, to be Dr. Alvin Crawford Day in Cincinnati. He received the Laurel Wreath Award from Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity in 2013, its highest award for a member’s achievement in service. He was honored by the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce in 2014 with the Great Living Cincinnati Award for his medical and civic contributions. He was awarded the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America in 2014, its highest award. He received the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Scoliosis Research Society, the premier organization for spinal deformities, at its annual meeting in September 2014. He was the keynote speaker for the Orthopaedic Section of the Arab Health Conference in Dubai in January 2015. He received the Lifetime Achievement award from the Cincinnati Business Courier in February 2015. He is currently a prep student in clarinet at the UC College-Conservatory of Music and professor emeritus in medicine  and orthopaedic surgery at the UC College Of Medicine.