Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/456982
People in the NEWS Lyn Weiss, MD, Chair of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Residency Program Director at Nassau University Medical Center, has been awarded the "Distinguished Clinician Award" from the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (AAPM&R). This is one of the Academy's top awards, presented to honor physiatrists who have achieved distinction on the basis of their scholarly level of teaching and outstanding performance in physiatric patient-care activities. Gregory Worsowicz, MD, MBA, President-elect and Awards Committee Chair of AAPM&R, presented Dr. Weiss with the plaque. The Long Island Business News (LIBN) awarded its "Health Care Heroes" Physician Hero Award to Neil Kirschen, MD, Director of Pain Management at South Nassau Communities Hospital. Dr. Kirschen runs several interventional pain management clinics on Long Island. When he's not at his full-time job, Dr. Kirschen volunteers as a firefighter and emergency medical technician for the Rockville Centre Fire Department. He also volunteers as Medical Director for the Rockville Centre, Roosevelt and Hicksville fire departments. During 30 years of service, he has responded to thousands of fire and EMS calls. Much of his volunteer work is local, except for medical missions work that takes him to Guadalajara, Mexico — more than 2,500 miles away. Each fall for the past seven years, he and 36 physicians, who are members of the American Association of Orthopaedic Medicine, travel from all over the United States to staff the city hospital's pain clinic. Catholic Health Services of Long Island (CHS) has announced that Salvatore F. Sodano is the new Chair of its Board of Directors. He succeeds Richard J.J. Sullivan Jr., who held the position since 2002. Sodano has been a member of the CHS Board of Directors since April 2014 and previously served as chair of the Board of Trustees of the CHS Eastern Region. Sodano is also Chair and CEO of Worldwide Capital Advisory Partners LLC. Neuro-ophthalmologist Geoffrey H. Basson, MD, has joined Neurological Surgery, P.C. (NSPC). He is trained and board certified in neurology and ophthal - mology and is a diplomate of both the American Board of Ophthalmology and the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology Inc. Dr. Basson practiced neuro-ophthalmol - ogy in Queens for more than 30 years. Since 2008, he has been on the faculty of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where he serves as both Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences and Assistant Professor of Neurology. Geoffrey H. Basson, MD Neil Kirschen, MD Salvatore F. Sodano (L-R): Lyn Weiss, MD, and Gregory Worsowicz, MD, President-elect and Awards Committee Chair of AAPM&R 1 6 | Long Island MD NEWS ■ M D N E W S . CO M

