Fred Hutchinson, SCCA researchers receive Seattle Business Magazine's 2014 Leaders in Health Care Awards

Feb 26 2014

Researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) were recognized in several categories of Seattle Business Magazine's 2014 Leaders in Health Care Awards, including the publication's Lifetime Achievement Award, given to Frederick R. Appelbaum, M.D., executive vice president and deputy director of Fred Hutch and president of SCCA.

The awards honor individuals and organizations in Washington's health care industry who have made significant contributions to health and well-being. The awards were presented February 24 at the Seattle Business Leaders in Health Care Awards ceremony held at Seattle's Washington State Convention Center.

Fred Appelbaum: Lifetime Achievement Award
Appelbaum received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his career's work on bone marrow and stem cell transplantation, leadership at Fred Hutch and his role in founding and leading SCCA to become a leader in cancer prevention and care. His research on the biology and treatment of leukemia, lymphoma and other blood cancers has been instrumental in founding Fred Hutch's world-renowned transplant program. Thanks to his work and advances in transplantation medicine, survival rates from leukemia have grown to greater than 70 percent. Physician scientists at Fred Hutch and SCCA have performed more transplants and consistently achieved the best transplant outcomes of any center in the world, due in large part to Appelbaum's leadership and integration of cutting-edge research with patient care.
"I'm wonderfully honored to be able to receive this award. Having spent my entire professional career in Seattle, I can't imagine an award that would mean more to me than this one," Appelbaum said. "I also want to thank my colleagues, my family and my patients for allowing me to have a 35-year career which has been endlessly enthralling and remarkably satisfying. I can't wait to see what the next 35 years hold."

Beti Thompson: Achievement in Community Outreach Award
Beti Thompson, Ph.D., a member of the Public Health Sciences Division and head of Fred Hutch's Health Disparities Research Center, was among three recipients of the Achievement in Community Outreach Award for her work devoted to improving cancer prevention efforts among underserved populations. Thompson researches the reasons why different populations have different rates of cancers and of surviving their cancers, and she aims to improve cancer prevention in groups traditionally underserved by the medical system. She runs several research projects in eastern Washington's Yakima Valley in primarily Latino agricultural populations that focus on cancer awareness and education with the goal of preventing cancer and increasing early detection to catch cancers earlier, when they are more treatable.

"This award is a great honor," Thompson said. "It equally belongs to the many community members and Fred Hutch staff who work with me to improve the health of the underserved."

Julie Gralow: Achievement in Community Outreach Silver Award
Julie Gralow, M.D., director of Breast Medical Oncology at SCCA and a member of Fred Hutch's Clinical Research Division, received the Achievement in Community Outreach Silver Award for her work helping women with breast cancer to heal and thrive. Along with treating patients at SCCA and leading several clinical trials related to breast cancer treatment, prevention and survivorship, Gralow has founded several organizations dedicated to improving the lives of cancer patients and survivors. She directs Team Survivor Northwest, a Seattle-area exercise program for female cancer survivors, and Women's Empowerment Cancer Advocacy Network (WE CAN), a global cancer advocacy organization focused on women's cancers in the developing world.
"My goal is to help cancer patients of all stages and in all parts of the world live a balanced, active life and take charge of those factors over which they have control - including healthy diet, physical activity and emotional well-being," Gralow said.

Elizabeth Trice Loggers: Outstanding Health Care Practitioner Silver Award
Elizabeth Trice Loggers, M.D., Ph.D., director of SCCA's Supportive and Palliative Care Service and assistant member of Fred Hutch's Clinical Research Division, received the Outstanding Health Care Practitioner Silver Award for her compassionate work in palliative and end-of-life care.

Loggers was recognized for her efforts to implement distress screening for all cancer patients and refine SCCA's Death with Dignity program, which allows physicians to aid terminally ill patients to end their lives. Her research on this topic found that the program has rarely been used in the four years since its inception, but in cases where it has, patients and their families have been grateful for the service. Loggers has expanded the palliative care service at SCCA; has instituted Schwartz Rounds, which focus on improving clinicians' capacity to provide compassionate care; and she serves as a member of the University of Washington Medical Center's Palliative Care Center of Excellence. Loggers is board certified in medical oncology, and hospice and palliative medicine, and she cares for sarcoma patients at SCCA.

"I want to thank the leadership of Seattle Cancer Care Alliance for its commitment to palliative and supportive care services, as well as our hard-working, superb, supportive-care clinicians. This award acknowledges all we have done, and it reinforces all that we will do going forward to optimize the experience of every cancer patient and their families," she said.