UVA’s Top Honors Go to Doctors Known for Their Heart
Mohan M. Nadkarni, MD, Res '93, and Coleen A. McNamara, MD, Res '90 were honored recently by the University of Virginia
Two former UVA residents are recipients of this year’s Thomas Jefferson Awards, the highest honor bestowed upon members of the University of Virginia community.
UVA President Jim Ryan presented Mohan M. Nadkarni, MD ’93, with the Thomas Jefferson Award for Service, and Interim Executive Vice President and Provost Brie Gertler presented Coleen A. McNamara, MD, Res ’90, with the Thomas Jefferson Award for Scholarship during a Board of Visitors meeting.
“These awards are the most prestigious honors that the University presents,” Ryan told board members and guests gathered in the Rotunda’s Dome Room. “They’re given to members of the University community who have exemplified the principles, ideals and mission of the University in their character, work and influence. Past recipients include some of the most extraordinary teachers, scholars and citizens to ever walk our Grounds.”
In presenting the service award, Ryan noted Nadkarni’s efforts to provide medical services to all who need them, including co-founding the Charlottesville Free Clinic during his residency in 1992. He still volunteers at the clinic, which has become a cornerstone of care for the area’s uninsured.
Nadkarni also teaches Social Issues in Medicine, a course which has become a national model for integrating service learning and social determinants of health into medical school curriculum. He has served as a board member for the Blue Ridge Area Coalition for the Homeless, volunteered as a supervising physician at UVA’s Haven Homeless Clinic on the Downtown Mall, and helped plan and develop a new mobile community outreach project.
McNamara is known for groundbreaking work in cardiovascular medicine, including research highlighting the critical protective role of B lymphocytes against atherosclerosis, the underlying cause of heart attacks and strokes. Her discoveries led to new diagnostic approaches based on genetic profiles and immune cell patterns, and she pioneered personalized protective immune response treatments for individual patients. She’s also a dedicated mentor and leader.
“Dr. McNamara has spent four decades serving as ambassador for the School of Medicine and the University,” Gertler said, adding the award is “in recognition of her groundbreaking contributions to the field of cardiovascular immunology, her tenacious zeal for collaboration, and her wholehearted dedication to the education and mentorship of colleagues and future physician scientists.”
Excerpted from UVA Today. Read the full story here.
