SOURCE: Tennessean
AUTHOR: Staff Report
Dr. Mary Bufwack, former CEO of Neighborhood Health, is among this year's inductees into the Tennessee Health Care Hall of Fame. (Photo: George Walker IV / The Tennessean)
A prominent Nashville professor, an HCA executive and a former White House official are among seven health care professionals to join the Tennessee Health Care Hall of Fame this year.
Inductees were announced and honored at a luncheon on Belmont University’s campus on Wednesday. They were chosen from nearly 50 nominees who were submitted for consideration since January.
The Hall of Fame is open to medical professionals, executives, entrepreneurs, scientists and others who made a significant, lasting impact on health care.
Nancy-Ann Deparle, a former Tennessee Department of Human Services commissioner who also served in the Clinton and Obama White Houses, will be inducted into the Tennessee Health Care Hall of Fame.(Photo: AP )
According to a Hall of Fame news release, the new inductees are:
- David Barton and Dr. John M. Flexner: As the founders of Alive Hospice, these doctors “contributed to changing the process of dying and death in the U.S.”
- Mary Bufwack: Bufwack, a former CEO of Neighborhood Health, has been “instrumental in the development and support of systems of comprehensive primary care services to the medically underserved populations in Middle Tennessee.”
- Nancy-Ann DeParle: DeParle, a Nashville lawyer, served in the administrations of Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and contributed to the passage of the Affordable Care Act.
- Lloyd C. Elam: As prominent teacher and education leader at Meharry Medical College, Elam has been “responsible for a long career of promoting psychiatric health.”
- Richard (Dick) L. Miller:Miller is chairman and CEO of the architectural firm Earl Swensson Associates, “one of the top-ranking health care designers in the country.”
- Jonathan B. Perlin:Perlin, a former undersecretary for health in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, is now chief medical officer at the Hospital Corporation of America where he “transformed the clinical enterprise, developed a clinical leadership structure and built a clinical data warehouse."
The Health Care Hall of Fame — created by Belmont University, Belmont’s McWhorter Society and the Nashville Health Care Council — began in 2015 with eight inductees, including the founders of HealthTrust, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital and HCA. The Hall of Fame now includes 34 inductees.