KMA will honor three esteemed individuals during its Awards of Excellence program as part of the 2024 Annual Meeting.
The award winners will be recognized during the Presidents’ Celebration Reception, held the evening of Saturday, August 24 at the Hyatt Regency Downtown Hotel. Winners will be featured in short videos during the ceremony highlighting their accomplishments.
The Presidents’ Celebration Reception will also recognize the 51 graduates of the 2024 Medical Student Outreach and Leadership (MSOL) program.
KMA members are encouraged to register for the Annual Meeting as soon as possible in order to attend this enjoyable event, which will include socializing, activities, drinks, and hors d’oeuvres. More information and registration is available here.
The KMA Distinguished
Service Award will be awarded to William C. Harrison, M.D., of Owensboro. Dr. Harrison is a KMA Past President, having served as President in 2012-2013 after the untimely death of President Uday Dave, M.D. Dr. Harrison assumed the position with a calming approach for the membership and worked to bring physicians from across the Commonwealth together foster a collaborative tone with external organizations to further the public health and legislative goals of the organization.
Dr. Harrison’s stalwart leadership has continued in the last several years as he continues to serve as Vice President of KMA’s charitable arm, the Kentucky Foundation for Medical Care. In this role, Dr. Harrison has been an integral part of helping to craft and support KMA’s public initiative including the robust resources and information communicated about COVID-19, tobacco cessation and lung health. The Foundation’s recent campaign “Voices for Vaccination” has led to multiple public service announcements, which were also deployed as ads on streaming services targeting the five Kentucky counties with the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates. These ads generated nearly 700,000 impressions and more than two hundred clicks to the website.
The KMA Community
Service Award will be given to Orthopedic Sports Medicine physician, Benjamin Kibler, M.D., of Lexington. Dr. Kibler has been a member of the KMA Committee on Physical Education and Medical Aspects of Sports for forty years. During this time, he has been an integral part in developing sports physical requirements and concussion return to play protocols. He has also provided expertise on considerations of heat index guidelines, all of which have been adopted and used by the Kentucky High School Athletic Association’s recommendations for student athletes. Dr. Kibler has dedicated his career to supporting athletes through his world-renowned approaches in the treatment of shoulder injuries and rehabilitation. As KMA Board of Trustee member and fellow committee member cited, “In the world of treating baseball players, there are two eras: There’s B.K., or Before Kibler, and A.K., or After Kibler.” For his work in promoting the safety and protection of sports athletes, Dr. Kibler is most deserving.
The KMA Debra K. Best
Outstanding Layperson Award will be given to Cynthia Benedict, Systems Director for Belonging and Health Equity at Norton Healthcare in Louisville. Cynthia has a passion for growing inclusivity in the workplace and in her community. Her approach to teaching equity and belonging has earned her the respect of her peers and students as she strives to provide tangible tools and relevant resources. This past year, she was invited to speak to medical society executives from across the country about Norton’s approach to addressing diversity and building a culture of inclusivity. Her presentation was one of, if not the, most popular session and she was requested to speak to several other organizations as a result.
In her personal time, Cynthia leads “Pathways to Success,” a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping women discover their purpose, overcome life challenges, and achieve personal goals. She has also recently been named to the Maryhurst Board of Directors, an organization dedicated to providing the most vulnerable families with support through counseling, residential treatment, and community/transitional living.
