Philadelphia County Physician Wins Pennsylvania Medical Society’s Highest Honor

Date: June 27, 2008
Media Contact:
Chuck Moran
    Pennsylvania Medical Society
For Immediate Release   (717) 558-7820


Dr. Doris Gorka Bartuska to be honored for lifetime of achievements

A Philadelphia doctor, who is hailed as a scientist, researcher, educator, clinician, and community servant, has been named the 2008 recipient of the Pennsylvania Medical Society’s Distinguished Service Award.

Doris G. Bartuska, MD, FACP, FACE, who joined the Pennsylvania Medical Society in 1972, received a unanimous vote of the Medical Society’s Board of Trustees in winning the award. To qualify for the award, a physician must demonstrate a lifetime of significant achievement, as judged by peers.

Dr. Bartuska becomes only the 23nd Pennsylvania physician to win this highly prestigious award since it was first introduced in 1956. She joins a distinguished list of past recipients, including Jonas E. Salk, MD, and C. Everett Koop, MD.

Nominated for the award by Dell Burkey, MD, past president of the Philadelphia County Medical Society, on behalf of the county medical society, Dr. Bartuska was described as an endocrinologist who advanced treatments focused on the genetic aspects of endocrine diseases, endocrinology of aging, osteoporosis, and thyroid diseases. Her work stimulated national interest in a woman’s health agenda with emphasis on prevention and treatment of osteoporosis and smoking including smoke-related disease. Her involvement in medical humanities and medical ethics led to participation in the President’s Forum on Physicians and Social Responsibility.

Dr. Bartuska, currently emeritus professor of medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine, has published numerous publications in her field. She was the director of the division of endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism as well as the endocrine fellowship training program at WMC – MCP, now Drexel University College of Medicine.

Dr. Bartuska is a 1949 graduate of Bucknell Junior College (now Wilkes University) and Bucknell University and a 1954 graduate of the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania.

She is past president of the Philadelphia County Medical Society; past president of the medical staff at the Medical College of Pennsylvania; past president of the Philadelphia Endocrine Society; and past president of the American Medical Women’s Association. She is also a founding board member of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologist. In addition, she is one of the first female voting members of the House of Delegates at the American Medical Association.

Dr. Bartuska will receive the award at the Pennsylvania Medical Society’s annual House of Delegates meeting in Hershey on October 25.

The Pennsylvania Medical Society has been working to enhance the patient-doctor relationship since 1848. To learn more about the Pennsylvania Medical Society, visit its Web site at www.pamedsoc.org, or to learn about Pennsylvania-specific health issues, visit the Medical Society’s consumer Web site at www.myfamilywellness.org.

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Last Updated: 6/27/2008
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