The Los Angeles Business Journal recognized Keck Medicine of USC’s leaders and programs with several awards and nominations at its 2022 Health Care Leadership Panel & Awards virtual event in late August.

Marty Sargeant, MBA, CEO of Keck Medical Center, was awarded Hospital President or CEO of the Year for leading the medical center through the continued pandemic and helping to oversee the medical center’s COVID-19 vaccine efforts, among other achievements. Under his leadership, the medical center also earned several safety and quality awards over the past year.

In accepting the award, Sargeant thanked his colleagues for “their commitment to patient care, especially in the complex times we are living in.” He also acknowledged and thanked the other Keck Medicine individuals and programs recognized at the award ceremony.

One program to receive special recognition was the USC Transplant Institute living donor wellness program, which won the award for the Best New Product or Service of the Year. The program helps organ donation candidates make sustainable lifestyle changes so they can become healthy enough to register to donate a kidney or part of their liver.

Susan Kim, MS, RDN, CCTD, clinical nutrition and wellness manager for the living donor wellness program, accepted the award. As part of her speech, she spoke of a son who is halfway toward his goal of getting healthy enough to donate part of his liver to his father. Due to his demanding work hours, he would not be able to improve his health enough to become a donor without the support of the Keck Medicine program.

In addition, the COVID Recovery Clinic was named Best Research Organization of the Year. This multidisciplinary program is led by a core team of physicians specializing in primary care, pulmonology and physical therapy, with the mission to help patients recover from long COVID by providing specialty care for their wide array of symptoms. Family medicine doctor Caitlin McAuley, DO, accepted the award, thanking the patients for helping the clinicians learn how to best treat long COVID.

Two Keck Medicine leaders were named as award finalists: CEO Rod Hanners in the category of Health System Executive of the Year and Felipe Osorno, chief performance and transformation officer, for Hospital Executive of the Year.

Keck Medical Center was also a finalist for Top Hospital or Medical Center of the Year.

Keck Medicine’s strategic collaboration with The TransLatin@ Coalition — to improve access to specialized care for the transgender community — was a finalist for Outstanding Collaboration of the Year, and Keck Hospital’s successful efforts to reduce the number of hospitalizations and deaths of transplant patients with COVID-19 was a finalist for Best Research Organization of the Year.

Additionally, Stephanie Hall, MD, chief medical officer of Keck Hospital and USC Norris Cancer Hospital, was nominated for Outstanding Health Care Innovator of the Year, and Armand Dorian, MD, MMM, CEO of USC Verdugo Hills Hospital, was nominated for Hospital President or CEO of the Year. The health system’s Keck Kindness program, which offers employees financial assistance in times of hardship, was nominated for Best Institutional or Educational Program.

The Los Angeles Business Journal Health Care Leadership awards is an annual event honoring outstanding individuals and organizations in the field of health care in Los Angeles. In total, the publication presented 16 awards to individuals and organizations.

To watch a video of the award ceremony,  click here.

— Alison Rainey