Awards & More

Mervat Abdelhak, chair of the Department of Health Information Management in the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, received the American Health Information Management Association’s (AHIMA) Distinguished Member Award. The award is the organization’s highest honor for an individual with an impressive history of health information management contributions. Abdelhak’s career in the health information management field spans more than 30 years. She served as AHIMA president in 2005 and continues to serve in leadership roles in the organization.

The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine has selected Michael Boninger, a renowned researcher in spinal cord injury and assistive technology, as chair of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Since November 2007, Boninger has directed the UPMC Institute for Rehabilitation and Research, which combines medical care and research to help patients regain independence and enhance their quality of life. Boninger will continue serving this role along with his position as associate dean for medical student research at the Pitt School of Medicine and his secondary Pitt appointments in the School of Engineering and School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.

Donald M. Yealy, the newly named chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine in the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, has received the Outstanding Contribution in Research Award from the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). The award, presented during the group’s annual scientific assembly in Boston earlier this month, recognizes Yealy’s significant contributions to research in emergency medicine.

Vice chair of the department since 1995, Yealy is a principal investigator on two current federally funded research trials totaling $9.7 million. He has focused most of his academic research on clinical decision-making and the early care of many life-threatening conditions, including community-acquired pneumonia, sepsis, acute heart failure, and respiratory failure.

William P. Follansbee, professor of medicine and radiology in the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and director of Nuclear Cardiology at the UPMC Cardiovascular Institute, has been selected the inaugural Master Clinician Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine at the UPMC Cardiovascular Institute.

Named in his honor, the William P. Follansbee, M.D., Master Clinician Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine was established to recognize a faculty member who is both an outstanding academic clinician and educator. This chair allows the recipient to support the training of tomorrow’s physicians, teaching them to apply scientifically advanced treatments while preserving the traditions of bedside care.