Collaborative Partnerships for the Tourette Syndrome Community
Faith W. Rice wins prestigious Verice M. Mason Community Service Honor
LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. – Faith W. Rice, founder and executive director of the New Jersey
Center for Tourette Syndrome is the 2014 recipient of the Verice M. Mason Community Service Leader.
The award, presented by MDAdvantage Insurance Company of New Jersey, is part of the Edward J. Ill Excellence in Medicine Awards. For the past 75 years, the Excellence Medicine Awards have recognized exceptional physicians and leaders in healthcare. The Verice M. Mason Community Service Leader Award is presented to an individual who has personified, led and provided the vision for an organization, and to the organization served, for extraordinary commitment to improving the health and welfare of citizens of New Jersey.
NJCTS is helping tens of thousands of families and professionals support the needs of individuals with Tourette Syndrome and its associated disorders. The organization was formally initiated in 2004, but Rice’s grassroots efforts in Tourette Syndrome advocacy trace back a decade earlier when her son was diagnosed with the disorder. Before establishing NJCTS, Rice was in marketing, human resources and strategic planning with the IBM Corporation. That extensive for-profit experience has allowed her to structure NJCTS as a non-profit organization that promotes collaboration and partnerships among individuals, universities, hospitals and other resources to provide services and support for the 1 in 100 children and their families affected by this neurological condition.
These collaborations and partnership have resulted in the formation of the world’s first Tourette Syndrome Cell & DNA Sharing Repository and a Tourette Syndrome Clinic (both at Rutgers University), an educational model that has served more than 60,000 New Jersey teachers, the introduction of the Collaborative Academic Research Efforts for Tourette Syndrome Act of 2011 and 2013 (the nation’s first proposed Tourette Syndrome legislation) and the Patient-Centered
Medical Education program, which has armed a new generation of resident physicians with the tools necessary to properly diagnose and treat Tourette Syndrome.
Created to address the needs of individuals and families living with Tourette Syndrome, as well as the myriad professionals who serve them, NJCTS – through its research and educational programs – is recognized as the world’s first Center of Excellence for Tourette Syndrome and associated disorders.
Also being honored with Excellence in Medicine Awards are:
Outstanding Medical Educator Award: David E. Swee, MD, Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Development, Associate Dean for Education and Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
Outstanding Medical Executive Award: Stephen K. Jones, FACHE, President and Chief Executive Officer, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and Robert Wood Johnson Health System
Edward J. Ill Physician’s Award: George F. Heinrich, MD, Vice Chair and Chief Executive Officer, New Jersey Health Foundation, and Associate Dean for Admissions and Adjunct Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.
Outstanding Medical Research Scientist Award for Basic Biomedical Research: Peter Lobel, PhD, Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Rutgers Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine.
Outstanding Medical Research Scientist Award for Clinical Research: Frederick F. Buechel, Sr., MD, orthopaedic surgeon, South Mountain Orthopaedic Associates, and Clinical Professor, Department of Orthopaedics at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.
Peter W. Rodino, Jr., Citizen’s Award: Donald M. Chervenak, MD, obstetrician/gynecologist at Florham Park OB/GYN and Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.
The Excellence in Medicine Awards are named after Edward J. Ill, MD, a New Jersey physician who was a pioneer in promoting continuing education in ways that set the national standard. Every year since 1939, exemplary New Jersey physicians and leaders whose dedication to education, research and public service have significantly impacted the delivery of health care in the state and around the nation have been honored. This annual event has been sponsored by MDAdvantage Insurance Company of New Jersey since 2003.
This year’s awards were presented at the Edward J. Ill Excellence in Medicine Awards ceremony on May 7 at Greenacres Country Club in Lawrenceville, N.J. All profits from the event will be dedicated to support seven medical and physician assistant student scholarships. More information about the NJ Center for Tourette Syndrome & Associated Disorders is available by calling 908-575-7350 or by visiting www.njcts.org.
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New Jersey Center for Tourette Syndrome and Associated Disorders, Inc. Collaborative partnerships for the Tourette Syndrome community.