Noted neuroradiologist Carolyn Meltzer, MD, has received one of the American Medical Association’s highest honors, the influential doc group announced Wednesday.
The AMA is bestowing her with its Distinguished Service Award, first established in 1938 to recognize “meritorious service in the science and art of medicine.” Meltzer currently serves as professor and chair of the Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences at Emory University’s School of Medicine in Atlanta. In an announcement, the association highlighted her research advancing the understanding of neuropsychiatric disorders that disproportionately affect women, including late-life depression and Alzheimer’s.
“She is a scholar and physician leader whose work in medical science and social advocacy has enhanced patient care and promoted equity and inclusion in the medical profession,” AMA President Gerald Harmon, MD, said in a statement.
Harmon and colleagues also highlighted her work promoting social justice as a “necessary element for sustained excellence in healthcare.” Her leadership on the issues of implicit and systemic organizational biases, which have hindered underrepresented minority groups in medicine, has “inspired and benefited many,” the AMA noted.
Along with department chair, Meltzer serves as Emory’s executive associate dean of faculty academic advancement, leadership and inclusion and chief diversity and inclusion officer. A past president of both the American Society of Neuroradiology and the Academy for Radiology and Biomedical Imaging Research, she’s published more than 200 papers in the field. RSNA recognized her as an “Outstanding Researcher” in 2018 and named her to its board of directors in 2019.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.