Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital and Johns Hopkins Medicine celebrate excellence with the Johns Hopkins Medicine Clinical Awards for Physicians and Care Teams. On April 5, the hospital’s nominees and winners for the 2021 awards were honored at a hybrid virtual and in-person event.

Dozens of nominations in six award categories reflected the high caliber of clinical care and collaboration that is ongoing at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital.

President Alicia Schulhof, FACHE, thanked this year’s nominees for the hundreds of moments of clinical excellence she has witnessed — from the expert care provided during a complex surgery to a kind and thoughtful exchange with a family facing a difficult situation. “Even as we faced the pandemic and other significant challenges, you have been united in your willingness to continue to push forward and ensure that patients receive the highest quality care,” she noted.

The opportunity to spend time outside of the operating room working with physicians and clinicians from many medical and surgical specialties has inspired George Jallo, M.D., vice dean, physician-in-chief and medical director of the Institute for Brain Protection Sciences. “I admire and appreciate all that you do in support of Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital to provide family-centered care,” he told this year’s nominees.

Joseph Perno, M.D., chief medical officer and vice president of medical affairs, and Angela Green, Ph.D., R.N., vice president and chief patient safety and quality officer, announced the nominees in each category and highlighted the contributions of the winner for each category.

Michael Wilsey, M.D.

William A. Baumgartner Physician of the Year: Michael Wilsey, M.D., Vice Chair, Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology

Wilsey leads with enthusiasm, integrity and empathy. He helped build the hospital’s therapeutic endoscopy service and is nationally recognized for his expertise and innovation in pediatric endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, offering new options for children with challenging and complex cases. He also collaborates with the pulmonology, surgery and neonatology teams to enhance multidisciplinary care and outcomes. Soon after starting a two-year term as chief of the medical staff in January 2020, Wilsey worked closely with leadership to help the hospital navigate pandemic challenges, including telemedicine implementation, shortages in personal protective equipment and testing protocols to support safe resumption of clinical care. A role model for his peers and a mentor to trainees, he has made many contributions to system and quality at Johns Hopkins All Children’s.

The COVID-19 Analytic Response Team

Armstrong Award for Excellence in Quality and Safety: Allison Messina, M.D., and the COVID-19 Analytic Response Team

Messina, chief of infectious disease, and the multidisciplinary COVID-19 Analytic Response Team worked to quickly aggregate data to influence key decisions related to care and hospital operations. Members of the occupational health, analytics and infection prevention teams worked with hospital leaders to determine what information was essential to evaluating COVID-19’s impact on patients, personnel and the local community. They created a dashboard to track trends in employee and community test results (including data from neighboring counties) and information on patient testing and hospitalization by unit. The real-time data was used to make day-to-day decisions and continues to inform data-driven decisions about patient, family and employee safety.

Team members: Allison Messina, M.D., Luis Ahumada, M.S.C.S., Ph.D., Miste Baker, R.N., Mara Garcia, M.S.N., A.P.R.N., Fiorella Gonzales, M.P.H., Geoffrey Gray, Ph.D., Angela Green, Ph.D., R.N., Christine Hammerschmidt, M.A., Kay Lawrence, A.P.R.N., M.S.N., Chris Mize, R.N., M.S.N., Carolyn Perry, R.N., M.S.

Christopher Inglese, M.D.

Best Consulting Physician: Christopher Inglese, M.D., Pediatric Neurologist, Institute for Brain Protection Sciences

Inglese is recognized across the organization for his thorough clinical assessments and positive bedside manner. Working primarily with hospitalized children, he helps families cope and live with challenging neurological disorders and consistently provides exceptional patient- and family-centered care. He is a valued clinical partner who is appreciated by colleagues for his kind and approachable demeanor.

Clinical Collaboration and Teamwork: Joana Machry, M.D., and the Tracheostomy Team

The Tracheostomy Team

Machry, a neonatologist in the Maternal, Fetal & Neonatal Institute, leads a multidisciplinary team that has made significant contributions to improving respiratory care for a highly complex and vulnerable population of newborns. They embrace a culture of consistent participation and collaboration to develop practice guidelines and education. The culmination of a five-year effort, their achievements in improving patient safety, reducing complications and enhancing transition of care at discharge serve as an example of what can happen when clinicians work together with a shared vision to improve care. Talented and determined, Machry and the team turned a “someday” mission into a remarkable “today” reality.

Team members include: Joana Machry, M.D., Claudia Botero, P.A.-C, M.P.A.S., Chris Costa, M.S., C.C.S. – S.L.P., C.N.T., Courtney Cox, R.N., Laura Dench, Danilo Escoto, M.D., Allison Fernandez, M.D., Alyssa George, A.P.R.N., M.S.N., Aaron Germain, M.D., Samantha Hunt, A.P.R.N., M.S.N., Nicholas Jabre, M.D., M.S., Julia Krzyzewski, M.A.S., R.R.T.-N.P.S., Natalie Madar, A.P.R.N., Misti Moore, R.N., Kathy Renn, M.S., A.P.R.N., Tammy Sandillo, R.N., Tori Schomp, M.S., R.D., Caren Smith, A.P.R.N., Beatriz Teppa, M.D., Gretchen Thompson, R.T., Rose Trowbridge, M.D., Courtney Ward, R.N., Kathleen Wasylik, M.D.

Scott McKinley, D.O.

Excellence in Service and Professionalism: Scott McKinley, D.O., Pediatric Pulmonologist, Department of Medicine

McKinley advocates and promotes a multidisciplinary approach to caring for children with complex disorders. He has collaborated with pediatric surgery and gastroenterology to provide team-based care for children with complex airway issues. With the cardiology team, he is part of a multidisciplinary clinic that has improved care for infants with pediatric pulmonary hypertension. McKinley is an outstanding teacher and mentor to pediatric residents and promotes resident scholarship through joint publication. He helped prepare for the 2020 implementation of the Epic electronic medical record at the hospital, leading Epic champions across many service lines in developing workable solutions to complex issues.

The Heart Institute Flight Plan Team

Innovations in Clinical Care: James Quintessenza, M.D., Ashish Shah, M.D., M.B.A., and the Heart Institute Flight Plan Team

Quintessenza, Heart Institute co-director and chief of cardiovascular surgery, and Shah, director of quality and patient safety for the Heart Institute, led a team of physicians and advanced practice providers in using the flight plan paradigm to develop a method for quick visualization of a cardiac surgical patient’s hospital course. The flight plan provides a clinical summary of each patient’s episodes of care, from surgical procedure to discharge, and allows for rapid and through investigation of any potential safety or quality concerns. Expected and unexpected clinical events are documented on the flight plan and reviewed in a weekly forum, with each care team providing detailed system and clinical concerns. This approach has enhanced interdisciplinary team collaboration, allowing quicker attention to areas of improvement and development of action items for smaller care teams to address sooner.

Team members: James Quintessenza, M.D., Ashish Shah, M.D., M.B.A., Jennifer Davis, P.A.-C, Frankie Gilliland, D.N.P., Christine Hammerschmidt, M.A., Vyas Kartha, M.D., Arabela Stock, M.D.

“Despite the challenges presented by the pandemic, all of the 2021 award nominees and recipients continued to push the boundaries of excellence in clinical care,” Jallo concludes. “We are thankful for their outstanding work.”

The 2021 Clinical Award recipients across the Johns Hopkins Health System can be viewed here.