U of M Medical Alumni Society Honors Five Physicians, the Medical School at the University of Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (May 20, 2008) -- The University of Minnesota’s Medical Alumni Society board has chosen five exceptional physicians to receive one of its three awards: the Harold S. Diehl Award, the Distinguished Alumni Award, and the Early Distinguished Career Award. The awards will be formally presented on Friday, Sept. 26, 2008, as part of the Medical School’s Alumni Reunion Weekend.

The Harold S. Diehl Award is the Medical Alumni Society’s most prestigious award for lifetime achievement. It is granted to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the Medical School, the University, and the community. It was established in honor of the Medical School’s fifth dean, Harold Sheely Diehl, M.D. This year’s Diehl Award recipients are:

• Lester Breslow, M.D., M.P.H.
  Breslow, class of 1935, also a University School of Public Health alumnus, is being honored for his pioneering contributions to public health. In his seven decades in medicine and public health, Breslow has been a consultant to several local, national, and world health agencies. He was a physician, California’s public health director, and dean of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), School of Public Health before he retired in 1980. He continues to give lectures and serve on several UCLA advisory boards. Breslow and his wife, Devra, who live in Los Angeles, also have endowed a scholarship at the University of Minnesota to support public health students studying health promotion and disease prevention.
  
• John V. Thomas, M.D.
  Thomas, class of 1946, is considered a founder of the University of Minnesota–Duluth School of Medicine, now known as the University of Minnesota Medical School–Duluth campus. In addition to serving that community as a longtime general surgeon at St. Luke’s Hospital, Thomas helped to determine the curriculum and organization of Duluth’s medical school. He shared his practical knowledge with students by teaching introductory anatomy from 1972, when the school opened, until his retirement in 2006. A Duluth resident, Thomas is known for his passionate commitment to his patients and to medical education.

The Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes University of Minnesota Medical School alumni who have made outstanding contributions to their local, regional, or national community through medical practice, teaching, research, or other humanitarian activities. This year, two physicians will receive this honor:

• Dale C. Betterton, M.D.
  A resident of New Orleans, Betterton, class of 1973, has devoted the last 15 years of his career to volunteer medical service. Since shifting his career focus from family medicine to service, Betterton has traveled to some of the world’s most impoverished countries to provide free medical care for those in need. He and his wife, Dorothy Davison, co-founded the International Medical Alliance, a nonprofit medical relief organization based in Knoxville, Tenn. After Hurricane Katrina, Betterton established a humanitarian and medical relief operation in Mississippi and—in conjunction with the governments in New Orleans and Louisiana—a free clinic in New Orleans. Friends and colleagues admire his courage, ingenuity, and tireless energy.
  
• Leif I. Solberg, M.D.
  Solberg, class of 1963, is a nationally recognized expert on systematic improvement in health care, especially in preventive services and chronic disease care. Solberg, a Minneapolis resident who is associate medical director for care improvement research for HealthPartners Medical Group and director for care improvement research for HealthPartners Research Foundation, has continuously sought to use science and his solid understanding of the patient-physician relationship to improve health care. He has inspired excellence in countless clinicians and researchers as a clinical professor in the Medical School’s Department of Family Medicine and Community Health.

The Early Distinguished Career Award honors a physician for his or her exceptional accomplishments within 15 years of medical school graduation. This year’s recipient is:

• Arne Vainio, M.D.
  Vainio, class of 1994, has emerged as a leader in the Native American medical community. In addition to being a beloved family physician at the Min-No-Aya-Win Human Services Clinic on the Fond du Lac Ojibwe Reservation, Vainio writes a regular health column for the national News from Indian Country newspaper, helps to recruit Native American students into medicine and volunteers as a preceptor for students at the University of Minnesota Medical School–Duluth Campus. Friends and colleagues know the Duluth resident as a compassionate physician, a steward of the environment, and an exceptional listener.

The Medical Alumni Society (MAS) serves as a link between the University of Minnesota Medical School and its alumni. MAS provides valuable support to current medical students and medical school alumni throughout the year. MAS has been staffed by the Minnesota Medical Foundation since 1986 and is a constituent of the University of Minnesota Alumni Association. Learn more at www.mmf.umn.edu/alumni.

Contact: Emily Heagle, Medical Alumni Society, 612-624-9161