Last Updated: Mar 3, 2022
Patricia C. Henwood, M.D., the James D and Mary Jo Danella Chief Quality Officer for Jefferson Health and an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University, was recognized by the Pennsylvania Medical Society (PAMED) with a Voluntary International Service Award for her focus on global health, humanitarian emergencies and point-of-care ultrasounds.
Over the last decade, Dr. Henwood led the development and expansion of clinical ultrasound training and research programs in Rwanda, Uganda, Liberia, and Tanzania through the volunteer-based non-profit, Point-of-care Ultrasound in Resource-limited Environments (PURE), which she co-founded in 2011. Dr. Henwood successfully led this work by developing partnerships with numerous hospitals, universities, local public health departments, and ministries of health.
She volunteered her time during the 2010 Haiti earthquake response, as well as the humanitarian response to the Ebola Virus Disease epidemic in West Africa in 2014-2015 and served as a medical director at the first Ebola Treatment Unit launched by a US-based humanitarian organization.
Dr. Henwood leveraged her prior leadership in civilian-military humanitarian response, mobile care delivery, and developing quality care programs in resource-constrained environments in working with leadership from the United States Departments of Homeland Security, Defense, and State, and the City of Philadelphia to welcome nearly 30,000 Afghan evacuees through Philadelphia as part of Operation Allies Welcome, the federal response to that humanitarian crisis in 2021.
Dr. Henwood led more than a hundred volunteer physicians, nurses, and students from Jefferson in offering 24/7 COVID-19 vaccination access at the airport for arriving evacuees, and led in the development and execution a novel family-centered medical care delivery model on arrival in collaboration with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health and leaders from other local health systems. “Dr. Henwood reminds me of the dedication and commitment we saw in global humanitarian, Dr. Paul Farmer,” said Lawrence R. John, M.D., PAMED chair of the award committee. “Medicine needs more doctors to emulate the example that Dr. Farmer gave to use and Dr. Henwood is certainly following in his footsteps.”
When the COVID-19 pandemic first surfaced in the United States, Dr. Henwood was a leader in preparing hospitals and the community-at-large in diagnosing and treating impacted patients. In her current role, she leads Jefferson’s nationally awarded OnPoint quality and safety program across the 18-hospital system.
Her nominator said, “Given her previous community service work and lessons learned during pandemic crises, she was the natural choice to lead.”
PAMED’s Physician Award for Voluntary International Service was created in 1992 to recognize physicians who have donated their time and expertise internationally. Dr. Henwood will be presented the award in October 2022 at PAMED’s Annual Meeting.
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Media Contact
Myla Merkel
MediaRelations@pamedsoc.org