Alumni Achievement Award
Gary Roselle, MD, ’73 Res
Gary Roselle has spent his career as a leader in advancing our knowledge about infectious diseases and improving infection prevention and control, and infection biosurveillance around the world.
After completing his Internal Medicine residency at Northwestern University and an Infectious Diseases fellowship at the University of Cincinnati (UC), where he is now a Professor Emeritus, Roselle went on to join the faculty of the Infectious Diseases Division of UC. He practiced at the Veterans Administrations’ Medical Center in Cincinnati, where he became the chief of the Infectious Diseases Section and then later chief of the Medical Service, a position that he held from 1982 to 2014.
In 1988, Roselle also was named the first executive director of the VA’s National Program for the National Infectious Diseases Service, a position he held for 36 years until his retirement in 2024. Roselle represented the VA on multiple national VA and interagency advisory committees, including a number of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initiatives, such as the center’s Advisory Council for the Elimination of Tuberculosis, National Task Force to Combat Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis, and the Public Health Action Plan to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance Task Force. Other committee service included efforts with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Homeland Security’s National Biosurveillance Interagency Working Group.
George Weiner ’81 MD
George Weiner has been a faculty member at the University of Iowa since 1989, and served as director of the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center for 23 years, leading the center to National Cancer Institute (NCI) and comprehensive designations. He also served for 20 years as the principal investigator of the University of Iowa/Mayo Clinic Specialized Program of Research Excellence in Lymphoma supported by an NCI P50 grant. After earning his MD from Ohio State, Weiner completed his Internal Medicine residency at the Medical College of Ohio and his Oncology/Hematology fellowship at The University of Michigan where he also trained in tumor immunology.
Weiner is past president of the Association of American Cancer Institutes and is extensively involved in advising other cancer centers, including as a member of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center External Advisory Board since 2010. His research focuses on translational cancer immunotherapy. He is currently the Cancer Center Director Emeritus, C.E. Block Chair of Cancer Research, Professor of Internal Medicine and Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Experimental Therapeutics at the University of Iowa.
Alumni Service Award
Deborah Venesy, MD, ’90 Res
Deborah Venesy is a senior staff physician in the Center for Spine Health at the Cleveland Clinic, where she practices ambulatory adult spine physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) and electrodiagnostic medicine/EMGs with the Clinic’s Neurological Institute. A former vice chairman of the PM&R department at the Cleveland Clinic, where she has worked since 1999, Venesy is a clinical assistant professor of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. She completed her residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at The Ohio State University, where she also served as chief resident.
Venesy has given tirelessly of her time to the Ohio State College of Medicine, first serving as a member of the college's Admissions Committee from 1993 to 2001, and then as a member of the college’s Medical Alumni Society for more than 15 years, where she had leadership roles in a variety of committees and work groups. From 2018 to 2020, she served as the Medical Alumni Society president, advancing the organization's efforts in connecting alumni with students, the college and friends of the college, and advocating for the college in her professional organizational activities.
Venesy has served as president of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (AAPM&R), which followed decades of membership as well as volunteer service, including chairing a number of AAPM&R’s committees, as well as serving on the AAPM&R’s President’s Council of State Societies. She has also served on numerous committees within the American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine.
Early Career Achievement
Pankti Reid '13 MD, MPH
Pankti Reid is a rheumatologist/clinical immunologist, clinical researcher and educator at the University of Chicago, where she trained in both rheumatology and clinical pharmacology and pharmacogenomics. Her work, which has national reach, focuses on immune-related adverse events known as irAEs – autoimmune side effects that can develop in cancer patients receiving immunotherapy. She serves as director of her section’s Clinical Trials Division. She also founded and directs the university’s irAE Clinic and Clinical Consortium, which is one of the nation's first outpatient multidisciplinary programs dedicated to cancer immunotherapy toxicities and was highlighted this year by the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
A faculty member of UChicago since 2019, Reid serves on the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Guidelines Committee, which writes cancer immunotherapy toxicity management guidelines used by oncologists nationwide. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she led two investigator-initiated clinical trials repurposing a commonly-used rheumatology medication for COVID pneumonia, which earned her a spot to co-author a major JAMA meta-analysis with the World Health Organization. She has received an NIH KL2 career development award and was twice selected for the Research Exchange Program, a joint effort of the American College of Rheumatology and the European League Against Rheumatism.
A Gold Humanism Honor Society member, Reid was voted class president on student council for all her four years at The Ohio State University College of Medicine.
Community Practice Alumni Award
Maame Dankwah ’04 MD, ’02 MPH
Maame Dankwah is a distinguished neurologist, educator, mentor and community advocate whose career exemplifies the transformative power of service, leadership, and compassion. Her career focuses on patient care, public health education, and mentorship to better the lives of those she serves. Nationally recognized for her contributions to neurology, she was awarded the America’s Top Physicians Award in Neurology in 2011, 2012, and 2016 and was designated an Aventis Minority Scholar by the American Academy of Neurology.
Early on, Dankwah established a scientific drive for discovery and medical advancement with multiple research appointments and other awards from the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute.
Dankwah is a lifelong advocate and champion for stroke education and prevention in underprivileged neighborhoods in Greater Bridgeport area in Connecticut and Ghana, where she has worked tirelessly in her community to increase stroke awareness and to reduce disparities in stroke care/other neurologic disorders.
She was awarded the 2024 Career Achievement Award by The Ohio State University College of Education and Human Ecology, with which she was best recognized for an extraordinary performance of tremendous influence. As a role model, leader, mentor, and servant leader she strives to leave behind a legacy of hope, achievement and service.
Faculty Teaching Award
Creagh Boulger, MD, ’11 Res
Creagh Boulger, is a professor of Emergency Medicine at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, where she serves as vice chair of Education, associate ultrasound director, and director of the Emergency Ultrasound Fellowship. A nationally recognized leader in point-of-care ultrasound education and academic emergency medicine, Boulger’s career focuses on curriculum development, competency-based assessment and innovative teaching strategies across undergraduate, graduate and continuing medical education.
Boulger has held numerous leadership roles, including chair of the Emergency Ultrasound Fellowship Accreditation Council and past president of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Academy of Emergency Ultrasound. Boulger’s academic portfolio includes peer-reviewed publications, national guideline development, and invited presentations at major international conferences, with scholarship centered on ultrasound education, programmatic curriculum design, and clinical applications in emergency care. She has enjoyed creating a career around gaming in education regionally and nationally. She has received multiple national and institutional awards for excellence in medical education. In addition to her educational leadership, she serves as medical director of the Forensic Nurse Examiner Program, leading initiatives in trauma-informed care and education related to interpersonal violence.