Dr. Parrish Receives Maxwell Thurman Award

THIS PAGE HAS BEEN FORMATTED FOR EASY PRINTING

Recognized for his work in the use of advanced technologies to improve patient care.

The prestigious Thurman Award for 2009 has been awarded to John Parrish, MD, Executive Director of CIMIT. The Award honors the late Gen. Maxwell Reid Thurman, who championed the advancement of lifesaving medical technologies within the U.S. Army.

Presented by the U.S. Army Medical Research & Materiel Command (MRMC) and its Telemedicine & Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC), the Maxwell Thurman Award is given to a national leader who has made a substantial contribution toward the advancement of telemedicine and related medical technologies in order to improve patient care. It is the Command’s top award and is presented each year at the American Telemedicine Associations International Meeting.

Dr. Parrish is a nationally recognized innovator, clinician and researcher. His career included tenures as chief of the MGH Dermatology Service and director of the MGH Cutaneous Biology Research Center. He founded the first, and now the world's largest, multidisciplinary research group to systematically study the nature of laser effects on tissue, The Wellman Center for Photomedicine.

Dr. Parrish founded and leads CIMIT, the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology. A center of innovation, CIMIT fosters and nurtures interdisciplinary collaboration among world-class experts in medicine, science and engineering, in concert with industry and government, to rapidly improve patient care. As a non-profit consortium of Boston area teaching hospitals and engineering schools, CIMIT provides innovators with resources to explore, develop and implement novel technological solutions for today’s most urgent healthcare problems.

Having served as a battlefield doctor during the Vietnam War, Dr. Parrish is acutely aware of the needs of soldiers and their supportive medical units. Today, CIMIT is supporting efforts to develop technology that can care for the injured soldier in all phases of care, from front lines of the battlefield, through evacuation, restoration and transitioning home for long term care.

“Collaboration has the power to change medicine,” Dr. Parrish said in accepting the award. “It is indeed a special honor to be recognized by MRMC and TATRC, who have become exceptional partners with CIMIT in advancing innovation on behalf of both soldiers and civilians.”

We welcome inquiries from journalists. Please contact Elaine Richardson with any questions or to reach our researchers:

Elaine Richardson
Director, Strategic Communications & Marketing
617-643-3847
emrichardson@partners.org