Julie Silver, MD, (pictured right) Harvard Medical School physician, and member of Rehab Management magazine’s editorial advisory board, was recently named “Top Innovator in Medicine 2012” in the Boston Globe’s online and print project, The Globe 100. The annual Globe 100 Most Innovative in Massachusetts awards aim to recognize innovative individuals in a wide range of fields whose efforts over the past year have transformed a business or their community.
According to a news release, Silver received the award in recognition of the work done in cancer rehabilitation by her healthcare company Oncology Rehab Partners, headquartered in Northborough, Mass, and her development of the Survivor Training and Rehab (STAR) Program Certification. The STAR Program Certification stems from Silver’s own battle with cancer and is a model of evidence-based cancer rehabilitation that offers hospitals and cancer centers education and training, evaluation and treatment protocols in order to establish and implement quality cancer rehab services for their patients, the news release reports. The program has reportedly been implemented by facilities in more than 30 states.
“I’m very appreciative of the honor. It’s a powerful validation of the importance of cancer rehabilitation as a necessary next step after treatment to improve survivors’ quality of life,” Silver emphasizes.
The release adds that in October of 2011, Silver also facilitated an initiative in Rhode Island, centering on the goal to make cancer rehab accessible to all survivors statewide. The initiative introduced cancer rehab to more than 20 facilities and thousands of survivors in Rhode Island.
Silver explains that her next cancer rehab initiative will take root in her home state, “Massachusetts hospitals offer world-class cancer care. Now that research shows that rehabilitating survivors gives them the best long-term health outcomes, hospitals want to include cancer rehabilitation as part of that world-class care,” Silver says. She also highlights the positive impact that accessibility to statewide services would have on cancer survivors and their families.
For more information on Oncology Rehab Partners click here.
To learn about the STAR Program Certification click here.
Silver has written multiple feature articles for Rehab Management, including A Growing Need to Address Chronic Pain, The Smallest Sufferers, and Polio Returns from the Dead.
Source(s): Oncology Rehab Partners, The Boston Globe
