President’s Medallion Presented to Dr. Edward J. Septimus HUC-JIR/Cincinnati Graduation
President’s Medallion Presented to Dr. Edward J. Septimus HUC-JIR/Cincinnati Graduation – May 20, 2022
It is now my great privilege to present the President’s Medallion to Dr. Edward J. Septimus, whose devotion and wise counsel have greatly strengthened this institution.
We are enormously grateful to Dr. Septimus for guiding us through the challenges of the Covid pandemic. A distinguished member of HUC’s Central Region Board of Overseers since 2011, Dr. Septimus is a practicing adult infectious diseases physician and hospital epidemiologist with a focus on infection prevention, antimicrobial stewardship, patient safety and sepsis.
He received his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston in 1972, and completed his postgraduate training in internal medicine and infectious diseases at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Board certified in both internal medicine and infectious diseases, he was Vice President, Research and Infectious Diseases at Hospital Corporation of America Healthcare until 2018. Prior to HCA, he was the medical director of infectious diseases and occupational health for Memorial Hermann Healthcare System.
He has served on the Board of Directors of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and was on the IDSA Antimicrobial Resistance Committee, the SHEA Antimicrobial Stewardship Committee, and the IDSA Quality Measurement Committee. He was the first recipient of the IDSA Watanakunakorn Clinician Award.
In 2011 he was appointed to the Healthcare-Associated Infections/Preventable Adverse Events Advisory Panel for the Texas Department of State Health Services and chair from 2019-2021. He was awarded the John S. Dunn Sr. Outstanding Teacher Award in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014. He is on the FDA Anti-Infective Drug Advisory Group and co-chaired of the NQF Patient Safety Steering Committee until 2022.
He holds a faculty position as Adjunct Professor at Texas A&M College of Medicine, Senior Lecturer Department of Population Medicine Harvard Medical School, and Professor Distinguished Senior Fellow, School of Public Health, George Mason University. He has published over 140 articles and chapters. Dr. Septimus is a member of both Congregation Beth Israel and Emanu El in Houston.
The President’s Medallion citation reads:
The Board of Governors
and the
President of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
hereby
confer the
PRESIDENTS’ MEDALLION
upon
Dr. Edward J. Septimus
Inspiring member of our Central Region Board of Advisors since 2011,whose passionate commitment to the College-Institute and Reform Judaism is an abiding source of strength and wisdom;
Who, as a leading epidemiologist actively engaged with HUC-JIR, has given of his time and expertise on an ongoing voluntary basis throughout the Covid-19 pandemic to alert HUC-JIR’s leadership of emerging issues and to shape our policies and procedures based on the best available public health information, thereby protecting the safety and wellbeing of our community;
Whose devotion has been expressed through his vital leadership of significant endowment campaigns supporting our students and faculty;
And whose life’s work as a physician exemplifies the teaching of Hippocrates,“Wherever the art of medicine is loved, there is also a love of humanity.”
May 20, 2022
19 Iyar 5782
Cincinnati
Click here to read more about Cincinnati Graduation and Ordination, and click here to read more about national Graduation and Ordination.