Thomas Boat, MD, Receives National Award From Ronald McDonald House Charities

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Thomas Boat, MD, chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati and director of the Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation, is the 2006 recipient of the Ronald McDonald House Charities Award of Excellence. He was honored for his contributions to the care of children with cystic fibrosis and for his role as an advocate for better child health care through research and improvement of health care delivery systems.

The award was presented October 28 at a black tie celebration in a suburb of Chicago, near the Ronald McDonald House Charities headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois. The annual event helps raise funds to support programs for children around the world.

The board of trustees of Ronald McDonald House Charities created the Award of Excellence in 1986 to recognize the exceptional work of physicians who have made great contributions to improving the quality of life for children. Previous winners include Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, Dr. C. Everett Koop and Dr. Antonio Novello. A second award was created in 1987 to recognize outstanding non-physicians for their work on behalf of children. Former winners in this category include Jimmy Carter, Colin Powell and Fred Rogers.

Dr. Boat says he was surprised and greatly honored to win this very prestigious award, which carries with it a gift of $100,000 to be contributed to the charity of his choice. Dr. Boat has given $80,000 to support personalized and predictive medicine at Cincinnati Children's and $20,000 to the Ronald McDonald House of Cincinnati.

Cincinnati Children's is a 475-bed institution devoted to bringing the world the joy of healthier kids. Cincinnati Children's is dedicated to transforming the way health care is delivered by providing care that is timely, efficient, effective, family-centered, equitable and safe. Cincinnati Children's ranks second nationally among all pediatric centers in research grants from the National Institutes of Health. It is a teaching affiliate of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. The Cincinnati Children's vision is to be the leader in improving child health.