When we say Emory hospitals are among the best in the world, we really mean it. And now our confidence in our health care facilities has been affirmed by Newsweek, which has released the following rankings as part of its Best Hospitals 2023 list:

• Emory University Hospital – No. 1 hospital in Georgia (No. 34 in the U.S.)
• Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital – No. 2 hospital in Georgia (No. 97 in the U.S.)
• Emory Johns Creek Hospital – No. 3 hospital in Georgia (No. 224 in the U.S.)
• Emory University Hospital Midtown – No. 5 hospital in Georgia (No. 265 in the U.S.)

Emory University Hospital is also the only Georgia hospital named in the publication’s Top 250 World’s Best Hospitals 2023.

For Emory to have four of the top five hospitals in the state and the only Georgia hospital to make the global list represents a remarkable achievement and the work of an extraordinary group of people—especially in light of the unique challenges currently facing the health care industry as a whole.

Impressive achievements like these don’t happen in a vacuum. It takes the expertise, passion, and commitment of each of us to excel to this degree. Please accept my enthusiastic congratulations and my heartfelt thanks for all that you do to make Emory Healthcare and the entire Woodruff Health Sciences Center so successful.

Kind regards,

Ravi

Ravi I. Thadhani, MD, MPH
Executive Vice President for Health Affairs, Emory University
Executive Director, Woodruff Health Sciences Center
Vice Chair, Emory Healthcare Board of Directors

Please direct questions and comments to evphafeedback@emory.edu.

Brittany Holston, RN, unit director for perioperative services at Emory University Hospital Midtown (EUHM), has always been one of Emory’s own. Born at Crawford Long Hospital (now EUHM), she returned to Emory straight out of nursing school in 2014 to join our Periop 101 program and was promoted to unit director in 2021. I was honored to meet her on a recent visit to EUHM.

As the unit director for the Operating Room and the Sterile Processing Department, Brittany provides leadership and guidance to 140 employees across 28 operating rooms who handle more than 14,000 surgical cases per year. Her role also includes facilitating communication among physicians, leadership, and departments to optimize surgical flow and coordinating the budgetary and capital expenses needed to provide essential supplies and equipment to conduct surgery.

“Given the complexity and challenge of the surgical procedures that are performed, it is a rewarding experience to see the final outcome,” Brittany says. “It is an honor to lead a talented staff with a variety of specialties who provide optimal care on a daily basis. Knowing that you are a part of the process to give a patient a second chance at life is a surreal feeling.”

Dan Owens, CEO of EUHM (also pictured) says Brittany’s passion for her work is clear at first glance. “Brittany has a welcoming smile and a calm spirit,” he says. “Her passion is to provide the very best care to all of our patients and a compassionate environment for all.”

Brittany continues, “My late grandfather would always say, ‘Good. Better. Best. Never let it rest. ’Til your good becomes better and your better is best.’ It is an ideal that I live by, and it fuels my desire to optimize patient care in the work that I do. Patients are treated with the utmost dignity and respect. I collaborate with physicians and other leaders to make sure patients are receiving optimal care, helping them lead to improved lives and providing hope to the communities we serve!”

Thank you, Brittany, for helping us improve lives and provide hope!

To nominate a colleague to be featured in an upcoming segment of Our People, please email me at evphafeedback@emory.edu and let me know what makes them special.

Implicit bias training is back at the Emory University Hospital operating unit. Due to overwhelming response and interest, the EH/EUOSH/EWWH DEIB Advisory Committee is offering the training as a brief, three-part video series to make it more accessible to staff members. The video series will be followed up by drop-in conversation sessions once per month. The aim of these implicit bias sessions is to help people better understand the often-unknown attitudes or stereotypes we all hold and to provide steps they can take to counteract them in our work and daily lives. The first drop-in session was already a hit with more than 275 people joining the discussion.

James W. Curran, professor of epidemiology and global health and former dean of RSPH, is the recipient of the ASPPH Welch-Rose Award, recognizing his lifetime of distinguished public health service.

Maura George, associate professor of medicine and an internist at Grady, received the Association of American Medical Colleges’ 2022 Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism in Medicine Award.

Theresa Gillespie, associate director for community outreach and engagement at Winship, received the 2023 Award for Distinguished Leadership at the Emory Women of Excellence Awards. Read more.

Eun-Ok Im, professor and Edith Folsom Honeycutt Endowed Chair in the SON, received the Oncology Nursing Society’s 2023 Distinguished Researcher Award. Read more.

Anant Mandawat, director of the cardio-oncology program at Winship, has been appointed to the American College of Cardiology Leadership Council on Cardiovascular Management.

Vandana Niyyar, professor of medicine in the division of renal medicine, was elected president of the American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology. 

Shivani Patel, assistant professor in global health in RSPH, was selected to be a part of the National Academy of Medicine’s (NAM) Emerging Leaders in Health and Medicine Forum. Read more.

Nadine Rouphael, infectious dieseases physician-scientist, was named the 2022 winner of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) Oswald Avery Award for Early Achievement. 

Julie Swan, vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer at Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital, has been elected to serve as a member of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Board of Directors and Nominating Committee. Read more.

Jeff Sands, division director for the division of renal medicine, won the Homer W. Smith Award from the American Society of Nephrology.

Sara Turbow, associate professor of medicine, was selected by the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research as its 2023 recipient of the  APTR Early Career Award.