HERSHEY, Pa. — Dr. W. Stuart Warren, a retired pediatric physician at Penn State Health, was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award in Central Penn Parent magazine’s 2019 Healthcare Heroes Awards on March 12.
Three other staff won in their respective categories. Of all of the health care institutions in the awards program, Penn State Health had the highest number of finalists — 11 — in the magazine’s standard categories. The health network had a finalist in nine of the 11 categories — also the strongest representation in the program.
Warren was founder and former director of the Cystic Fibrosis Care Center at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and served as an adjunct professor of pediatrics at Penn State College of Medicine.
“He’s one of the best physicians I ever worked with,” said Melissa McClure, a clinical cystic fibrosis program coordinator. “He’s very caring and compassionate.”
McClure worked with Warren in 1990 when he first arrived. In those days, the doctor gave his phone number out to all of his patients.
Jodie Stabinski, a nurse practitioner in pediatric pulmonology, said Warren was a major influence in her career. Key to his many lessons was that pediatric care required teamwork — the practitioner always teams up with the family to handle care.
“He molded me and role modeled what a pediatric practitioner should be,” she said. After Warren accepted the award at an event in Camp Hill, Stabinski told him, “Every time I go into a patient's appointment I carry you with me because you helped me become the practitioner I am.”
Other recipients of the Healthcare Heroes Award are:
Winners
- Nurse of the Year: Kristie Barkley, urology nurse, Hershey Medical Center
- Senior Care Hero: Christine Ewing, consultant, Penn State Health Stroke Center
- Women's Health and Wellness Hero: Lisa Murphy, labor and delivery room nurse leader, Hershey Medical Center
Finalists
- Allied Health Hero: Danielle Jeffries, patient care assistant, Hershey Medical Center
- Health Professional Hero: Karen Meads, precertification associate, Provider and Patient Access Services Revenue Cycle
- Health Professional Hero: Gil Pak, operations director, Penn State Children’s Hospital
- Health Professional Hero: Kim Troutman, practice site manager, Penn State Bone and Joint Institute
- Pediatric and Pediatric Specialties Hero: Dr. Amy Burns, pediatric urologist, Children’s Hospital
- Pediatric and Pediatric Specialties Hero: Dr. Aleesha Penica, pediatric perianesthesia head nurse, Children’s Hospital
- Physician of the Year: Dr. Matthew Kaag, urologist, Hershey Medical Center
- Special Needs Advocate: Rachel Griffith, pediatric oncology nurse, Children’s Hospital