Physician Citizen of the Year Award
The Wisconsin Medical Society’s Physician Citizen of the Year Award recognizes and encourages Wisconsin physicians who volunteer their time and talents through civic, cultural and charitable activities, helping to improve the health and well-being of their communities.
Nominations
Consider nominating a friend, colleague or your personal physician for the Physician Citizen of the Year Award. The deadline to nominate a physician for the 2020 award is December 31, 2019.
Here are the requirements:
- The physician must be a Wisconsin resident.
- The physician must be a medical doctor (MD) or doctor of osteopathy (DO).
- Except in unusual circumstances, the service to the community should be uncompensated.
- Previous winners of the award are not eligible. (Email Noreen Krueger to find out if your nominee is a previous winner.)
Click here to nominate someone online. For more information, contact Noreen Krueger at 866.442.3800 (ext. 3904).
2019 Recipient: Kenneth Gold, MD, Beloit
Doctor Gold was selected for his contributions to his community, which include working with the Beloit Fire Department and his involvement mentoring medical students. In addition to practicing internal medicine with Beloit Health System since 1968, Dr. Gold served as medical director of the Beloit Fire Department from 1979 to 1990, one of the first such positions in the state. He has been a clinical professor of medicine with the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health for close to 25 years, where he has provided instruction and onsite training of future physicians.
2018 Recipient: Gloria Halverson, MD, Milwaukee
Doctor Halverson was recognized for her leadership, both in paving the way for women in medicine and for the humanitarian work she has done since the early 1990s, working with victims of human trafficking both internationally and in the United States.
2017 Recipients: Paul Durbin, MD, Racine, and Tim Westlake, MD, Oconomowoc
Doctor Durbin, an internal medicine physician, was nominated for as Physician Citizen of the Year for his “exceptional kind and compassionate care, not only for his patients in clinic, but anyone he meets in the community.” Doctor Westlake, an emergency medicine physician, was recognized for his “commitment to addressing the prescription opioid abuse epidemic and expanding medication-assisted treatment throughout Wisconsin, resulting in Wisconsin being a paragon for all states.”
2016 Recipient: Michael Ostrov, MD, MS, Madison
Doctor Ostrov was honored in 2016 for his extraordinary efforts to help promote the adoption advance care planning across the state. A family medicine physician, Dr. Ostrov is chief medical officer for WPS Health Insurance and Arise Health Plan.
2015 Recipient: Steven Manson, MD, La Crosse
In addition to his pediatric practice with Gundersen Health System in La Crosse the past 23 years, Dr. Manson has provided medical services to underserved populations in La Crosse, as well as Native American communities in South Dakota. His many years of volunteerism and leadership include not only St. Claire Health Mission in La Crosse–a clinic for underinsured or uninsured individuals–but also through the Gundersen Global Partners-Pine Ridge program on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
2014 Recipient: Gordon Haugan, MD, Green Bay
The Society honored Dr. Haugan, a Green Bay pediatrician, in 2015 for his efforts to educate children and their families in northeast Wisconsin on the prevention and elimination of childhood injuries that lead to disability or death. In 1991, he brought together a group of community leaders to found what is now the Center for Childhood Safety, Inc. following the severe brain injury of a bright, young patient; and he has continued his involvement as the Center has grown and expanded its programs.
2013 Recipients: Ryan Gossett, MD, Wausau, and William Nietert, MD, Mosinee
Doctors Gossett and Nietert were recognized for their involvement in the Never Forgotten Honor Flight, a Wausau-based affiliate of the national Honor Flight Network.