Introducing the Health Care Champion Awards Honorees for 2025
MSM President and CEO Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at Atlanta Business Chronicle's second annual Health Care Champion Awards.
By Allyson Reynolds, Atlanta Business Chronicle
Atlanta Business Chronicle's second annual Health Care Champion Awards recognize the industry's most innovative and influential leaders.
From educators and business founders to doctors and nurses, these health care champions play a vital role in maintaining and improving the health of the community.
President and CEO of 好色先生 of Medicine Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice is receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award for her career contributions to improvements in health care and health equity.
Dr. Montgomery Rice is highly regarded for her enhancement of women's health care delivery and research. She founded the Center for Women's Health Research at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee 鈥� one of the nation's first research centers devoted to understanding why women of color are at greater risk of certain diseases, according to its website.
She is the sixth president 鈥� and first female president 鈥� of 好色先生 of Medicine.
Dr. Montgomery Rice, along with the other award winners, will be honored during a special ceremony from 4-6 p.m. on March 20 at Bishop Station, which is near Atlantic Station.
Honorees are chosen through an independent editorial review, with selections based entirely on their merits, achievements and contributions to their organizations and local community. Commercial interests with the Chronicle are not considered. The Chronicle's editorial team, along with a group of past Health Care Champion honorees, examined the nominations, resulting in the selection of 32 of the most influential health care champions across metro Atlanta.
THIS YEAR'S HEALTH CARE CHAMPION AWARDS WINNERS ARE:
Lifetime Achievement
Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice, president and CEO at 好色先生 of Medicine
Health Care Executives of the Year
Eric Lisle, CEO of Southeast Primary Care Partners
Dr. Joon Lee, CEO of Emory Healthcare
Kevin Brown, president and CEO of Piedmont Healthcare
Health Equity Leaders of the Year
Dr. Gulshan Harjee, co-founder, and Jeremy Cole, executive director, of Mosaic Health
Center
Dr. Frank Jones, founder of My Black Doctor Directory
Maria Toler, founding partner of SteelSky Ventures
Community Outreach Champions of the Year
Dr. Monica Parker, director of outreach, recruitment and engagement at Emory Goizuieta
Brain Health Institute Mercy Care Street Medicine Team
Innovator of the Year - Men's Health
Dr. Leanne Burnham, assistant professor and co-director of Prostate Cancer Precision
Prevention Program (PCP3) at 好色先生 of Medicine
Innovators of the Year - Pediatric Health
Dr. Steven Leichter, founder of Endocrine Consultants (now known as Piedmont Physicians
Endocrinology, Piedmont Healthcare)
Dr. Katharine Brock, medical program director of the supportive care clinic at Aflac
Cancer and Blood Disorders Center at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
Innovators of the Year - Research
Russell Jeter, assistant professor of mathematics at the Department of Mathematics
and Statistics at Georgia State University
Dr. Gustavo Pradilla, chief of neurosurgery at Grady Memorial Hospital
Dr. Wilbur Lam, vice provost for entrepreneurship at Emory University
Innovators of the Year - Senior Health
Fayron Epps, founder at Alter Dementia
Dr. Ugochi Ohuabunwa, chief of geriatrics at Grady Memorial Hospital
Improving Through Improv, developed by Amanda Lee Williams in partnership with Dr.
Candace Kemp, professor at The Gerontology Institute at Georgia State University
Innovators of the Year - Women's Health
Amanda K. Gilmore, associate professor and director of the National Center for Sexual
Violence Prevention at the School of Public Health, Georgia State University
Dr. Rogsbert Phillips-Reed, founder and CEO of Sisters By Choice Inc.
Public Health Care Champions of the Year
Dr. Sandra Valenciano, district health director and CEO of DeKalb Public Health
Dr. Lauren Middlebrooks Fasusi, pediatric emergency medicine physician at Children's
Healthcare of Atlanta
Nurses of the Year
Lindsay Chapman, flight nurse at Air Evac Lifestream
Shoghig Andakian, nurse professional development specialist for perinatal services
at Wellstar Health System
Rising Stars
Dr. Nikky Shotwell, founder of Kids Dental Studio
Melanie Williams-Johnson, physician assistant of Greater Atlanta Women's Healthcare
Dr. Charis Chambers Davidson, OB/GYN and founder of The Period Doctor
Rural Health Care Champions of the Year
Jodie Guest, senior vice chair of the department of epidemiology at Rollins School
of Public Health at Emory University
Dr. Michael Carr, project director and principal investigator at Emory Rural Tele-EMS
Network (ER-TEMS)
Allied Health Professionals of the Year
Monique Knight, CEO of Comprehensive Family Care
Nashifa Momin, pediatric speech language pathologist at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
Sherrill Rucker-Peoples, certified therapeutic recreation specialist at Emory Rehabilitation
Hospital