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This week, IBJ opened nominations for what has for years been called the Health Care Heroes Awards but that we’ve renamed the Excellence in Health Care awards.
The change is not meant to replace our longtime program—which is a favorite here in the newsroom—but to expand and enhance it by creating categories that help us honor a broader array of people.
We hope this encourages more companies and organizations to nominate people who are providing exceptional service to patients. But we’re looking for the leaders of these organizations as well as researchers and educators. And we’re expanding our categories to specifically honor those who work in the mental health field.
All five of the categories that have long been a part of our health care awards program remain. These categories will continue to be a core part of the awards programs, and we urge you to keep nominating central Indiana’s great doctors, nurses, volunteers and others to be honored.
But we have added five categories that we are also excited about. Here’s a rundown of what’s new:
Mental Health Advocacy: Honors an organization, program or a person who is making an impact in mental health or addiction services, whether through direct care, research or advocacy.
Pharmacist: Honors a pharmacist whose performance on the job is considered exemplary by patients and peers. This category is open to pharmacists working in health care facilities, university research labs or in retail settings. The award will recognize recent achievements.
Health Care Executive: Honors an executive or an administrator in a hospital, health care system, clinic or specialty health care facility who is having significant community impact. The award will honor recent achievements.
Health Care Educator: Honors an individual involved in training the next generation of doctors, nurses and other health care professionals. This category is open to nominees from medical and nursing schools as well as those who provide training in health care facilities.
Career Achievement: Honors an individual who has made exceptional contributions to the health care industry and/or patient care. This is a lifetime achievement award that honors a professional who has made a sustained impact on patients’ lives, whether through direct care to patients or through research and innovation.
We’re especially excited about the career achievement award. We’ve found over the years that it’s hard to judge a nominated physician, for example, whose decades of great work add up to an incredible career against another nominated physician who recently debuted a rare, life-saving surgery or created a program that is changing the lives of children. The career achievement category gives us a place to recognize professionals whose contributions might not be recent but are notable all the same.
Across all categories, we invite nominations of people who work across a broad spectrum of health care organizations, including hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, rehabilitation facilities, addictions programs, community centers, universities and more.
Nominations are open through Dec. 20. Go to IBJ.com/nominations for more information about the categories and to access the nomination form.
Then mark your calendar for the 2025 Excellence in Health Care awards program, scheduled for Feb. 25. A special publication with profiles of the winners will publish in IBJ on Feb. 28.
If you have questions about the new categories or the expanded program, email Managing Editor Samm Quinn at squinn@ibj.com.•
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Weidenbener is editor and assistant publisher of IBJ and assistant publisher of Indiana Lawyer. Reach her at lweidenbener@ibj.com.
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