2004 EPIC Awards

New Jersey Nurse, Jul/Aug 2004 by Zafar, Ita Fitzgerald

On Thursday May 13th the Institute for Nursing held its third annual "EPIC AWARDS" luncheon at the Clarion Hotel and Towers in Edison. Over 190 of our New Jersey community members joined the Institute to honor 11 deserving leaders.

Dr Carol Kleinman, a member of the Institute Board of Trustees once again did a stupendous job as Master of Ceremonies and welcomed the Institutes guests with her charm and humor.

Linda Parry Carney, President of the Institute shared the following thoughts with the audience. "As we honor this group of Exceptional People, we must applaud their courage in assuming a leadership role within their communities and among their constituencies. Such an extension of self requires vision, faith in one's abilities, and confidence in those who believe in the vision and seek to follow it. There is frightening seriousness in being a role model for the future, as a good role model is not someone to lean on, but someone who makes leaning unnecessary. The individuals we honor today serve as role models for us all in their efforts to improve the health, the well being, and the very lives of those whom they serve."

The Institute for Nursing is pleased to introduce to 2004 EPIC AWARD Recipients:

Mr. Stanford L. BROWN

Executive Director, The Bridge, Inc.

Stanford L. Brown has been Executive Director of The Bridge since July 1, 2001. The Bridge is a private, nonprofit community agency that has been helping children and families in the Essex County area since 1971. Services include family counseling, substance abuse counseling, crisis intervention services, and school-based youth services. Under Mr. Brown's leadership, The Bridge is expanding into new areas of service and collaborative initiatives designed to solve emerging social problems.

Prior to joining The Bridge, Inc., Mr. Brown was the Founder and Executive Director of the Summer Scholarship Program, a nonprofit corporation founded as a Mayoral Initiative during the Koch Administration to research, design, and implement alternative educational programs for disadvantaged and at-risk youth.

Mr. Brown has assisted many nonprofit educational organizations with development initiatives, school governance and reform, and program evaluation. He has a long standing commitment to disadvantaged children and families and has taken active leadership roles in organizations that serve this population.

Mr. Brown is currently the President of the Board of the Essex Valley School in West Caldwell a private, state-sponsored high school for students classified as emotionally disturbed. He is the Founding President and current board member of CITYterm, a national model, boarding semester program that used the urban environment as a metaphor and an experiential base for this alternative educational program.

Mr. Gary S. CARTER

President, New Jersey Hospital Association

Gary Carter is president and CEO of the Princeton-based, 105-member New Jersey Hospital Association (NJHA), where he has led the healthcare advocacy group for the past ten years. Known as an association leader who builds consensus and cooperation, he is working in New Jersey to improve hospital-physician relations and to foster member advocacy on such issues as charity care funding, certificate of need reform, and the needs of specialty hospitals. Mr. Carter also supports new community health initiatives and the public release of health outcome data.

He sits on various committees of the American Hospital Association and consults to the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations in its attempt to standardize quality measurement.

A Salt Lake City native, Mr. Carter graduated from the University of Utah in 1967, spent six years in the Office of Special Investigations of the US Air Force, and earned a master's degree in healthcare administration at Trinity University in Texas.

Dr. Ahmad FARZAD

Otolaryngologist, Capitol Health System, Mercer Campus

Dr. Farzad, a board-certified Otolaryngologist, has been an active medical staff member of Mercer Medical Center, now known as Cathedral Health System, since 1974.

Dr. Farzad received his medical degree from Tehran University in 1966 and completed an internship at St. Clare's Hospital, NY. He continued his graduate training at Jewish Hospital and Medical Center, Brooklyn Eye and Ear Hospital, New York University Hospital, and Columbia University Hospital.

During his association with Capitol Health, Dr. Farzad has served as president and vice president of the medical staff and as chairman of the medical staff Executive Committee. He developed the head and neck cancer surgery program on the Mercer Campus in 1974 and was the first physician to perform a laser procedure to treat hernias in the esophagus. Dr. Farzad was appointed to the Board of Directors in 1994 and served on the board until 2000.

In 1998, Dr. Farzad established the nurse education fund at Capital Health System. To date, the fund has sent more than 55 Capitol Health System nurses to educational seminars throughout the country.