Oncology Director Earns National Humanism in Medicine Award

Release Date: 06/06/2016

The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) recently awarded the Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism in Medicine Award to Cornelius “Skip” Granai III, MD, director of the Program in Women’s Oncology at Women & Infants Hospital, a member of Care New England.

 

Dr. Granai is also a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. He was presented the award at ACOG’s recent annual meeting. The Arnold P. Gold Foundation was established in 1988 by Arnold Gold, MD, Sandra Gold, EdD, and their colleagues at the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons.

 

“Humanistic medical care is not simply compassion,” according to the group’s website. “It is the best of medicine. When skilled physicians build caring, trusting and collaborative relationships with patients, studies reveal more appropriate medical decisions, better patient adherence with treatment plans, and less costly health care outcomes.”

 

Dr. Granai earned his medical degree from the University of Vermont and completed his residency and a fellowship in gynecologic oncology at Tufts University. He is the founder of the International Health Foundation, which is dedicated to education and care in impoverished Caribbean countries.

 

An acclaimed international speaker, Dr. Granai’s honors include those from the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics for teaching and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Cancer Society. He is an advocate for breast disease education, which is incorporated into the gynecologic oncology fellowship he directs, making it the first fellowship in the country to combine both fields.

 

“This prestigious honor is befitting a physician like Skip Granai,” says Maureen G. Phipps, MD, MPH, executive chief of obstetrics and gynecology at Care New England Health System, chair and Chace-Joukowsky professor in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology ad assistant dean for teaching and research in women’s health at the Alpert Medical School, and professor of epidemiology at the Brown University School of Public Health. “For decades, he has passionately advocated for a robust program to help women with cancer – not simply the treatments and protocols that can address the disease itself, but also the array of services women, their caregivers and family members need when they are going through a cancer diagnosis. His motto ‘What would you want done for your loved one under those circumstances’ should serve as a guide for everyone working with patients.”

 

In announcing the award, ACOG noted that Dr. Granai believes that, for the sake of their patients, physicians must remain “in the good fight.” To do this, they must avoid being demoralized by advocating for what they learn at the bedside is right for each patient and by remembering the “timeless values and privilege that brought them to medicine.”

 

Women interested in making an appointment with Dr. Granai or other providers with the Program in Women’s Oncology at Women & Infants can call (401) 453-7540.

 

About Women & Infants Hospital 

Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, a Care New England hospital, is one of the nation’s leading specialty hospitals for women and newborns. A major teaching affiliate of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University for obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics, as well as a number of specialized programs in women’s medicine, Women & Infants is the 9th largest stand-alone obstetrical service in the country and the largest in New England with approximately 8,500 deliveries per year. A Designated Baby-Friendly® USA hospital, U.S.News & World Report 2014-15 Best Children’s Hospital in Neonatology and a 2014 Leapfrog Top Hospital, in 2009 Women & Infants opened what was at the time the country’s largest, single-family room neonatal intensive care unit.

Women & Infants and Brown offer fellowship programs in gynecologic oncology, maternal-fetal medicine, urogynecology and reconstructive pelvic surgery, neonatal-perinatal medicine, pediatric and perinatal pathology, gynecologic pathology and cytopathology, and reproductive endocrinology and infertility. It is home to the nation’s first mother-baby perinatal psychiatric partial hospital, as well as the nation’s only fellowship program in obstetric medicine.

Women & Infants has been designated as a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiography; a Center of Excellence in Minimally Invasive Gynecology; a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence by the National Institutes of Health (NIH); and a Neonatal Resource Services Center of Excellence. It is one of the largest and most prestigious research facilities in high risk and normal obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics in the nation, and is a member of the National Cancer Institute’s Gynecologic Oncology Group and the Pelvic Floor Disorders Network.