Dean Hess Receives Prestigious Chadwick Medal

April 28, 2011

Respiratory Care Editor-in-Chief Dean Hess, PhD, RRT, FAARC, has received the prestigious Henry D. Chadwick Medal from the American Lung Association of New England’s Medical & Scientific Branch, known formerly as the Massachusetts Thoracic Society.

The Chadwick Medal is the highest honor awarded by the Branch, given each year to recognize meritorious contributions to the study and treatment of tuberculosis and other thoracic diseases. It is named after Henry D. Chadwick, MD, who was a tuberculosis specialist and sanatorium administrator and health commissioner.

Previous winners have included such well known names in respiratory care as John H. Emerson, MD, inventor of the iron lung, O2 tent, and IPPB; Richard H. Overholt, MD, a thoracic surgeon and pioneer in the crusade against smoking; and researcher, physiologist, and pulmonary rehab specialist Bartolome R. Celli, MD.

In addition to serving as editor of the Journal since 2008, Dr. Hess is assistant director of respiratory care at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and an associate professor of anesthesia at Harvard Medical School. He has published more than 200 papers and a number of books related to the respiratory care field and has also served on the editorial boards of several other medical journals. His research interests range from adult mechanical ventilation and critical care monitoring to aerosol delivery techniques.

Dr. Hess has received numerous awards for his contributions to respiratory care, including the Shubin-Weil Master Clinician/Teaching Award from the Society of Critical Care Medicine in 2009, and several teaching awards from Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard Pulmonary and Critical Care fellowship program, awarded between 1996 and 2001.

He received the Forrest M. Bird Award for Lifetime Scientific Achievement from the American Respiratory Care Foundation in 1999 and was awarded the AARC’s highest honor, the Jimmy A. Young Medal, in 2006.

Dr. Hess received the Chadwick Medal during the annual meeting of the Medical & Scientific Branch on April 6 in Newton, MA.