Newswise — Delos (“Toby”) Cosgrove III, M.D., and Samuel Gorovitz, Ph.D., will receive honorary Doctor of Science degrees and address students at Upstate Medical University’s 2016 Commencement, to be held Sunday, May 22 at the Nicholas J. Pirro Convention Center at Oncenter Complex in Syracuse, N.Y.
Cosgrove, a cardiothoracic surgeon, is president and chief executive officer of the Cleveland Clinic where its patient-centered care serves as a national health care model.
Gorovitz, professor of philosophy at Syracuse University, is a distinguished ethicist, philosopher, educator and scholar who played a major role in developing the field of biomedical ethics.
Delos (“Toby”) Cosgrove, M.D.Cosgrove was appointed president and chief executive officer of the Cleveland Clinic in 2004. He oversees this $6.2 billion health care system comprised of the Cleveland Clinic, eight community hospitals, 16 family health and ambulatory surgery centers, Cleveland Clinic Florida, the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas, Cleveland Clinic Toronto, and Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. His leadership has emphasized patient care and patient experience, including the re-organization of clinical services into patient-centered, organ and disease-based institutes. Under his leadership, Cleveland Clinic has consistently been named among America’s top four hospitals (U.S.News & World Report); it also made the list of “America’s 99 Most Ethical Companies” (Ethisphere Institute).
Joining the Cleveland Clinic faculty in 1975, he became chair of the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery in 1989. Under his direction, the Cleveland Clinic’s heart program was ranked No. 1 in America for 10 years in a row by U.S.News & World Report. Cosgrove himself has performed more than 22,000 operations, earning an international reputation for expertise in all areas of cardiac surgery, especially valve repair. He holds 30 patents filed for developing medical and clinical products used in surgical environments.
A sought-after speaker worldwide, he has addressed the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting at Davos, Switzerland, and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in Washington, D.C. At Upstate Medical University, he has given invited lectures, most recently in 2010 at the Frederick B. Parker Jr., M.D. Endowed Lecture in Cardiothoracic Surgery, where he addressed innovations in health care based on his work at the Cleveland Clinic. He authored The Cleveland Clinic Way: Lessons in Excellence from One of the World’s Leading Health Care Organizations, which offers an in-depth look at today’s health care system. He has published nearly 450 journal articles, book chapters, and 17 training and continuing medical education films. He is the recipient of numerous awards and commendations.
Cosgrove received his medical degree from the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville and completed his clinical training at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital, and Brook General Hospital in London. His undergraduate work was completed at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass. He was a surgeon in the U.S. Air Force and served in Da Nang, Republic of Vietnam, as the chief of U.S. Air Force Casualty Staging Flight. He was awarded the Bronze Star and the Republic of Vietnam Commendation Medal.
Samuel Gorovitz, Ph.D.Gorovitz is professor of philosophy at Syracuse University and former dean of the university’s College of Arts and Sciences. He is distinguished as a leader in the development of the field of biomedical ethics. He was selected by Upstate as an honorary degree recipient in part for “his scholarly publications that demonstrate his interest and engagement at the interface of science and philosophy, his role in establishing the field of biomedical ethics and his early and lifelong engagement in challenging biomedical issues, including such topics as death and dying and equity and distribution of health care, among others.”
Gorovitz has also published extensively on other topics in philosophy and public policy. His advice on college governance and on health policy has been widely sought, presenting more than 200 invited lectures in on five continents, serving as a consultant to PBS, the World Health Organization, and many federal agencies and often being interviewed on programs, including as All Things Considered and quoted in national press.His publications include more than 130 articles, reviews and editorials in philosophical journals, medical journals, public policy journal and newspapers. He is a co-author of Philosophical Analysis, an editor of several anthologies, and author of Doctors’ Dilemmas: Moral Conflict and Medical Care and of Drawing the Line: Life, Death, and Ethical Choices in an American Hospital.
Gorovitz received his bachelor’s degree in humanities and science from MIT in 1960 and his doctorate in philosophy from Stanford University in 1963. Since 1988 he has served, by gubernatorial appointment, on the New York State Task Force on Life and the Law. He was Dearing-Daly Professor of Bioethics and Humanities at Upstate Medical University from 2001 to 2004. He is founding director of the Renée Crown University Honors Program at Syracuse, and for 2004 to 2005, was Visiting Professor of Philosophy and Bioethicist in Residence at Yale. In 2007 he was appointed by New York’s governor to the new Empire State Stem Cell Board, which oversees a $600 million commitment to stem cell research in New York State.
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