SARASOTA, Fla. (Oct. 26, 2017) – Sarasota Memorial’s medical staff honored two physicians for outstanding service to the hospital and the community, and installed its new leaders for 2017–2018 earlier this week.
Sarasota Pediatrician Katherine Keeley, MD, was awarded the health system’s 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award, while Interventional Radiologist Scott Perrin, MD, was named 2017 Physician of the Year. Selected by a committee of physician leaders, both were recognized at Sarasota Memorial’s annual medical staff meeting Tuesday.
Dr. Keeley was honored for her commitment to the community and myriad leadership roles that have helped build a comprehensive safety net and specialized network of care for children in the Suncoast region. Over the years, she has served as Sarasota Memorial Hospital’s chief of staff, chief of pediatrics and an active member of multiple hospital committees and quality initiative teams.
On Tuesday, colleagues praised her expertise and dedicated service to local children. Dr. Keeley helped create and strengthen SMH’s affiliation and clinical partnership with Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, supporting a collaborative care model for hospitalized children and premature or critically ill newborns. For more than 25 years, she has started nearly every day at SMH, caring for newborns and her hospitalized pediatric patients.
Dr. Keeley also has devoted much of her time to Sarasota County’s Child Protection Team, for years serving as medical director and overseeing services to the community’s most vulnerable children. She has spent countless hours examining, working with and ensuring the safety of infants, children and teenagers who have been physically or sexually abused; testifying in court; educating law enforcement officers, ER physicians, state case workers and community providers about the signs of child abuse; and working with the Child Protection Center board and staff to help create a community in which children are safe from abuse. During Hurricane Irma, she volunteered to stay at the hospital, spending more than 48 hours caring for newborns and hospitalized children. (SMH delivered more than two dozen babies during the storm.)
The medical staff also honored Dr. Perrin as 2017 Physician of the Year. Dr. Perrin joined SMH’s medical staff in 2013 as part of the health system’s new partnership with Radiology Associates of Florida/Florida Interventional Specialists.
An interventional radiologist, Dr. Perrin quickly established his expertise in complex interventional radiologic procedures, treating a wide array of diseases and conditions throughout the body with minimally invasive, image-guided procedures. From managing ureteral obstructions and deep vein thrombosis to pulmonary embolisms and non-hemorrhagic cerebral strokes, Dr. Perrin offers life-saving options for many patients whose conditions have been deemed too risky for traditional surgery.
In addition to his busy practice, Dr. Perrin provides valuable guidance on multiple SMH medical committees, including cancer, critical care and infection control, and serves on the faculty of the Florida State University (FSU) College of Medicine helping to educate FSU’s third- and fourth-year medical students, and soon newly graduated physician residents completing specialty training at SMH.
On Tuesday, the SMH medical staff also appointed the 2017-2018 Medical Executive Committee officers:
- Kyle Garner, MD, was named chief of staff, serving as the top representative of Sarasota Memorial’s more than 900 medical staff members. He succeeds Scott Stevens, MD, whose one-year term as chief of staff ends Oct. 31. Dr. Garner, who also served as chair of the health system’s OB-GYN section for several years, has been on SMH’s medical staff since 2006.
- Joseph Seaman, MD, was named chief of staff-elect, while Jon Yenari, MD, was named secretary/ treasurer.
- Karen Hamad, MD, and Jeffrey Sell, MD, were named members-at-large.
About Sarasota Memorial
Sarasota Memorial Health Care System is a regional referral center offering Southwest Florida’s greatest breadth and depth of care, with more than 900,000 patient visits each year. Its flagship 829-bed, acute-care hospital has been consistently recognized as one of the nation’s largest and best, with superior patient outcomes and a complete continuum of outpatient services – from urgent care, trauma and emergency services to laboratory and diagnostic imaging, home health, skilled nursing and rehabilitation. SMH is the only hospital in Florida with the highest five-star ranking from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid for quality and safety.