Fil-Am doctor to get US excellence award

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – A Filipino doctor who spearheads yearly medical outreach projects in far flung and depressed areas of the country will be one of 50 medical practitioners in the United States who will receive the prestigious American Medical Association Foundation Leadership Award.

Dr. Christopher M. Guerrero, who hails from this province, is a US-based medical practitioner and will be the first Filipino-American to receive the award, considered the equivalent of the US medical excellence award, whose recipients are outstanding medical practitioners worldwide.

“This is the fruit of our labor.  I realized that my success is not the product of just my own talents but the result of many people helping me over the years – my family, my colleagues and my countrymen. I just hope that my fellow kababayans here abroad will be encouraged to look back to where they came from and share their blessings and successes, especially with the less fortunate ones,” Guerrero said in an email to The STAR yesterday.

Since 1997, Guerrero has been sharing his blessings by leading medical missions in his province and in other parts of the country, saying this is his way of giving back to his countrymen.

The leadership award, accorded to medical practitioners “who exemplify the highest values of altruism, compassion, leadership and dedication to patient care,” is given yearly by the American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation Excellence in Medicine Awards in partnership with the Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative.

Guerrero and the other recipients will be conferred the AMA’s highest honor during awarding and recognition rites at the Grand Hyatt in Washington D.C. on March 31, after the AMA National Advocacy Conference to be attended by renowned medical practitioners worldwide.

Guerrero was cited for his display of strong non-clinical leadership skills in advocacy, community service, public health and education.

He has also been a recipient of the 2006 Medicine Award from the Chicago-Midwest Filipino-American Community and a Faculty-Mentorship Award on student leadership from the University of Illinois’ College of Medicine in April 2007.

Aside from the AMA Foundation Leadership award, other awards to be given are the Pride in the Profession Award honoring US-based physicians whose lives encompass the true spirit of being a medical professional by practicing medicine in areas of challenge or crisis or by devoting their time to public service; the Dr. Nathan Davis International Award for physicians whose influence reaches the international patient population; and the Jack B. McConnell, MD Award for Excellence in Volunteerism for senior physicians who provide treatment to patients who lack access to health care.