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Health Center Today, March 31, 2010

Health Center Celebrates Doctors’ Day 2010

By Maureen McGuire

With balloons and words of thanks, the Health Center celebrated National Doctors’ Day on March 30, the official recognition day, and honored the physicians and dentists who provide care for people throughout the region every day.

In addition, this year marked the creation of the Health Center’s first Doctors’ Day Awards to pay special tribute to one physician and one dentist, each of whom exemplifies dedication to excellence and collaboration. The nominations came from nurses and other clinicians.

Dr. Richard A. Garibaldi, the former James E.C. Walker/PHS Professor of Medicine, chairman of the Department of Medicine, and leader in fields of infectious disease and epidemiology, was awarded posthumously. Garibaldi, who passed away in September of 2009, was nominated unanimously. “There is no one who embodied the spirit of what being a doctor should mean, nor someone with a truer passion for his profession than Dr. G,” nurse Molly Davison Price wrote in the nomination letter. Price worked side-by-side with Garibaldi for 19 years in Infectious Disease and Primary Care.

Dr. Kamran Safavi, head of the Endodontic Department, was nominated by co-workers in Dental Clinic II. “If a patient is at the front window or calling on the phone with pain, he will make sure the patient is seen and taken care of, no matter what,” wrote Colleen Osterling, a certified dental assistant, in the nomination letter. She also noted Safavi’s humble, warm and caring approach to patients and colleagues alike.