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In recognition of their leadership in clinical care, research and medical education, Dr. Antonio M. Gotto Jr., dean of Weill Cornell Medical College, and Dr. Herbert Pardes, president and CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, were each honored yesterday with the Maurice R. Greenberg Distinguished Service Award.

The 30th anniversary award dinner underlined the synergies between the Hospital and Medical College, and the crucial role of effective leadership and collaboration in furthering the ability of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center to serve patients in New York and around the world. Dinner co-chairs included Bernadette Castro, Dr. Peter Guida, and Myra and Arthur Mahon. Among those attending were Joan and Sanford Weill, Maurice and Corinne Greenberg, and Charlotte Ford.

The Maurice R. Greenberg Distinguished Service Award is presented annually to a senior member of the medical staff at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center for exceptional and longstanding service. The award was established in 1980 by one of the Medical Center's most generous benefactors, Maurice R. Greenberg, chairman emeritus of the Board of Trustees of NewYork-Presbyterian and a member of the Weill Cornell Medical College Board of Overseers, and by Dr. Peter Guida, who has been affiliated with the Medical Center for more than 50 years. Based on the notion that greatness of an institution is derived from the people behind it, the Greenberg Award was conceived as a way to identify and celebrate in perpetuity those individuals who make NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell cornerstones of academic medicine in New York City and beyond.

Dr. Antonio M. Gotto

Dr. Antonio M. Gotto Jr. is the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College, where he is also Professor of Medicine. Dr. Gotto also serves as Provost for Medical Affairs of Cornell University. A lifelong supporter of educational efforts aimed at cardiovascular risk reduction, he speaks nationally and internationally on cardiovascular disease and has contributed more than 500 scholarly articles and books to the medical literature. An authority on atherosclerosis, Dr. Gotto has played a leading role in several landmark clinical trials demonstrating that cholesterol-lowering drug treatment can reduce the risk for heart disease. He has served as National President of the American Heart Association and President of the International Atherosclerosis Society. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a recipient of numerous honors, including the Gold Heart Award from the American Heart Association and the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Vanderbilt University and the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Bologna and Abilene Christian University, honorary professorships from the University of Buenos Aires and Francisco Marroquin University (Guatemala), and the Order of the Lion from the Republic of Finland. Prior to joining Weill Cornell in 1997, Dr. Gotto was the Bob and Vivian Smith Professor and Chairman of the Department of Medicine, Scientific Director of the DeBakey Heart Center, and the JS Abercrombie Chair for Atherosclerosis and Lipoprotein Research at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He also served as Chief of the Internal Medicine Service at The Methodist Hospital in Houston.

Dr. Herbert Pardes

Dr. Herbert Pardes is president and CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System. Nationally recognized for his broad expertise in education, research, clinical care and health policy, he is an ardent advocate of academic medical centers, humanistic care and the power of technology and innovation to transform 21st-century medicine. He is a regular commentator in the national news media and other public forums. Prior to joining the Hospital in 1999, he served as Vice President for Health Sciences at Columbia University and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He served as Director of the National Institute of Mental Health and U.S. Assistant Surgeon General during the Carter and Reagan administrations, and was President of the American Psychiatric Association. He was appointed by Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton to serve on health policy commissions, including the Commission on Systemic Interoperability, and the Presidential Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Healthcare Industry. He is the former Chairman of the Greater New York Hospital Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges and the New York Association of Medical Schools. Dr. Pardes is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and earned the Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health from the Institute of Medicine. In 2009, the New York State Office of Mental Health named the main building of its New York State Psychiatric Institute in his honor.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, located in New York City, is one of the leading academic medical centers in the world, comprising the teaching hospital NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medical College, the medical school of Cornell University. NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell provides state-of-the-art inpatient, ambulatory and preventive care in all areas of medicine, and is committed to excellence in patient care, education, research and community service. Weill Cornell physician-scientists have been responsible for many medical advances — including the development of the Pap test for cervical cancer; the synthesis of penicillin; the first successful embryo-biopsy pregnancy and birth in the U.S.; the first clinical trial for gene therapy for Parkinson's disease; the first indication of bone marrow's critical role in tumor growth; and, most recently, the world's first successful use of deep brain stimulation to treat a minimally conscious brain-injured patient. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital also comprises NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Westchester Division and NewYork-Presbyterian/The Allen Hospital. NewYork-Presbyterian is the #1 hospital in the New York metropolitan area and is consistently ranked among the best academic medical institutions in the nation, according to U.S.News & World Report. Weill Cornell Medical College is the first U.S. medical college to offer a medical degree overseas and maintains a strong global presence in Austria, Brazil, Haiti, Tanzania, Turkey and Qatar. For more information, visit www.nyp.org and www.med.cornell.edu.