Dr. Meshell Stokes receives 2017 Alper Humanitarian Award
Meshell Stokes, MD and Administrative Chief Resident, OB/GYN with the University of Tennessee College of Medicine Chattanooga (UTCOM Chattanooga) was named the 2017 Dr. Harold Alper Humanitarian Award winner recently at Erlanger Health System.
The Dr. Harold Alper Humanitarian Award is presented to a graduating resident at UTCOM Chattanooga who has consistently demonstrated the humanistic qualities for which the late Dr. Alper was known for: integrity, exemplary compassion for patients, families & colleagues, community service, and humanitarian qualities during residency.
“[Meshell] cares genuinely about teaching the upcoming generation of physicians by actively engaging the medical students,” said the nomination letter for Dr. Stokes. “She provides the framework for a team to function well.”
UTCOM Chattanooga, in conjunction with the Baroness Foundation at Erlanger Health System and an endowment from the family of the late Dr. Harold Alper, established the annual ceremony and Grand Round lecture.
This year’s lecture titled “Humanism in Medicine: Stories from the Edge” was given by Dr. Robert W. Neel, Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, where he founded and manages the Cincinnati Comprehensive Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Clinic with a multidisciplinary team. Dr. Neel’s clinical interests are in neuromuscular disease. He shared many stories of compassion and failures where he learned how to better serve his patients, colleagues and self.
Dr. Alper, an ear, nose and throat specialist, practiced medicine at Erlanger for 57 years. He retired from Associates in Ear, Nose and Throat, Head and Neck Surgery in 2004. A Chattanooga native, Dr. Alper introduced microscopic and laser surgery to Chattanooga and started the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Speech and Hearing Center. He also served as president of the Chattanooga -Hamilton County Medical Society, the Chattanooga Jewish Welfare Federation and the Jewish Community Center.