Newswise — LOS ANGELES (April 26, 2011) – Los Angeles Business Journal has honored two Cedars-Sinai executives in its inaugural Healthcare Leadership Awards.
The journal awarded its top honor to Thomas M. Priselac, president and CEO of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, naming him the 2011 Healthcare Icon.
Linda Burnes Bolton, DrPH, RN, FAAN, vice president and chief nursing officer of Cedars-Sinai Health System, received the journal’s Healthcare Leadership Award in the category of healthcare executive.
“The Heathcare Icon award was given to Mr. Priselac for his leadership and dedication to healthcare in Los Angeles for more than 30 years,” said Josh Schimmels, Los Angeles Business Journal vice president. “He leads an outstanding organization, which is highly regarded as one of the nation’s leading providers of healthcare services, medical education and research.”
Priselac said he was pleased to be honored, but added, “The real recognition and any praise belongs to the excellence and hard work of all the people at Cedars-Sinai who ensure patients get the highest quality care and that our medical center stays at the fore of scientific research.”
The award-winning weekly journal, widely read online and in print by tens of thousands of business executives and community leaders, recognized 10 healthcare professionals and organizations from the Los Angeles area. They were selected by a committee that reviewed more than 80 nominations.
“We congratulate Linda Burnes Bolton on being the first-ever honoree in the category of Healthcare Executive,” Shimmels said. “We created this category to recognize the important role that day-to-day managers play in the leadership and success of healthcare organizations. She has improved care for patients from our community and beyond, thought her daily interactions with nurses and patients, her research and her leadership in nationwide healthcare initiatives.” Priselac has served as president and CEO of Cedars-Sinai since 1994 and has been with the medical center since 1979. He was Cedars-Sinai’s executive vice president from 1988 to 1993. Before joining the Medical Center, he served on the executive staff of Montefiore Hospital in Pittsburgh.
He is a recognized leader in the healthcare field having served as past chair of the American Hospital Association, the American Association of Medical Colleges and, the California Healthcare Association. He is the Warschaw Law Chair in Healthcare Leadership at Cedars-Sinai and an adjunct professor at the UCLA School of Public Health. He is an author and invited speaker on an array of concerns confronting the healthcare industry, including policy issues related to the delivery and financing of care, quality and safety, as well as the adoption and implementation of information technology.
A Pennsylvania native, Priselac earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from Washington and Jefferson College in Pennsylvania and his master’s in public health, health services administration and planning from the University of Pittsburgh.
Burnes Bolton also expressed gratitude for the journal recognition. “Cedars-Sinai is a leader in healthcare because of our outstanding nurses, doctors and staff – all of whom work tirelessly on behalf of patients and for scientific advances,” she said.
Burnes Bolton began her career as a staff nurse at Cedars-Sinai in 1971 and has served in numerous roles at the Medical Center, including chief nursing officer since 1994. Her research, teaching and clinical expertise includes: nursing and patient care outcomes; improving the health of childbearing women; boosting nursing and organizational function and effectiveness; heightening health literacy and access across racial and ethnically diverse communities; and cultivating cultural diversity in the health professions.
She is a past president of the American Academy of Nursing and the National Black Nurses Association. She has been a leader in state and national programs, serving as chair of the National Advisory Committee for Transforming Care at the Bedside, VA Commission on Nursing and vice chair of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing at the Institute of Medicine. She is a trustee at Case Western Reserve University and serves on several nursing school advisory boards. She recently was named one of the Top 25 Women in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare Magazine.
Her outstanding leadership, scholarship and community service has been recognized with numerous awards, including the American Organization of Nurse Executives Lifetime Achievement Award and the Distinguished Alumnae Award from Arizona State University. She has written 73 peer-reviewed articles among other publications. She earned her nursing degree from Arizona State University and her master’s in nursing and public health and doctorate in public health from the University of California, Los Angeles.
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