Published: July 31, 2019

BOG Awards

Receiving the 2019 Board of Governors’ (BOG) Model Society Award is the Virginia Society of Otolaryngology (VSO).


Bog News

BOG Model Society Award

The BOG Model Society Award recognizes outstanding local, state, and national societies that exhibit effective leadership, institute Academy and Foundation programs, and further Academy goals through active participation in the BOG. 

The recipient of the 2019 Board of Governors’ (BOG) Model Society Award is the Virginia Society of Otolaryngology (VSO). VSO is fully and ably represented on the BOG by Spencer C. Payne, MD (BOG Governor); Patrick J. Gibbons, MD, and Eric M. Gessler, MD (BOG Alternate Governors).

Active practitioner and resident member engagement, education, and networking are driven by an annual conference offering CME credits and topical programming themes. An annual Lobby Day allows members to personally take VSO’s message to their legislators in Richmond, VA. Further advancing the membership connection, VSO provides an informative website, timely electronic and print communications and social media outlets, and in-person updating through the Board of Governors Report at the AAO-HNSF Annual Meeting & OTO Experience. Always committed to public awareness and outreach, VSO provided its eighth free head and neck cancer screening for high-risk demographics at the first-ever Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoff race in September 2018, in Richmond, VA. This high-profile event drew 80 patients, with 17 requiring follow-up.

VSO’s advocacy strategy includes partnering with allied medical societies and working with policy makers and regulatory agencies to ensure patients in the Commonwealth receive the highest quality otolaryngologic care by highly trained and skilled professionals who best know how to treat them. For VSO’s members, aggressive lobbying strives to maintain reimbursement rates and ensure that a growing patient population is not diluted by other professionals wishing to expand their scopes of practice.

The results of VSO’s efforts have paid off, successfully demonstrating the return on investment in VSO membership and increasing membership numbers in 2018.

 

BOG Practitioner of Excellence Award

HeadshotThe BOG Practitioner Excellence Award recognizes the prototypical clinical otolaryngologist one wishes to emulate. In addition to his or her clinical skills, the nominee possesses: civic leadership, charitable activity, leadership involvement with local, state, regional or national medical organizations, community education, or engagement in local civic and/or community activities.

The recipient of the 2019 BOG Practitioner Excellence Award is Mark S. Persky, MD, Professor of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and Co-Director of the Head and Neck Institute at NYU Langone Health in Manhattan, NY.

The nomination of Dr. Persky noted his thorough, honest, and excellent care to every patient – earning their trust by showing respect and listening. He has contributed to many of the modern advances in treatment for patients with head and neck cancer through his work at NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center, with more personalized therapy for patients and improved overall cure rates and functional outcomes following surgical treatment.

Integrated in Dr. Persky’s work at NYU Langone is his commitment to teaching medical students and residents at the NYU School of Medicine. Students are an important part of his professional legacy and represent the optimism and potential for the future of otolaryngology and its subspecialty, head and neck surgery.

Dr. Persky is a respected mentor to residents and attending physicians alike while he himself is one of the most experienced attending physicians. He uses a sense of humor and critical self-evaluation to support the next generation of physicians. Helping people and giving back to the community extends beyond the exam room and hospital as well. Notable examples of his contributions to the community include serving as President of The Triological Society from 2017 -2018, and his ongoing supervision of residents at Bellevue Hospital in New York City.

 


More from August 2019 – Vol. 38, No. 7