Lifetime Achievement Award presented to R. Phillip Dellinger, MD
From Prestigious Society of Critical Care Medicine
R. Phillip Dellinger, MD, FCCM, FCCP, Chief of the Department of Medicine at Cooper University Health Care and Chair of the Department of Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU), received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) at the January meeting in Phoenix, AZ.
This award honors a SCCM member who has demonstrated meritorious contributions to the field of critical care through the advancement of medical science, medical education or medical care. Dr. Dellinger will become one of only 15 recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award in the 45-year history of the SCCM at the organization's 2015 annual meeting.
"I am humbled by the list of individuals I join with the receipt of this award," said Dr. Dellinger. "Success in one's profession of this degree cannot be achieved through capability and work ethic alone. I am grateful for the special opportunities I have been given and the support of family, friends and colleagues along this journey."
Dr. Dellinger's extensive critical care research, specifically in the field of sepsis, has brought international acclaim to his work and led to pioneering improvements in the detection and treatment of this infection. These techniques have been applied in hospitals throughout the world.
"Dr. Dellinger has been the pragmatic, calm voice of reason who keeps his eyes persistently on the sepsis horizon," said J. Christopher Farmer, MD, President of the Society of Critical Care Medicine. "Early on in the Surviving Sepsis Campaign, there was a great need for strong leadership and project guidance. Phil was that person. He kept many disparate, smart people together, achieving a workable plan and broad consensus."
"It's an honor and a privilege to have Dr. Dellinger, one of the world's most esteemed leaders in the field of critical care medicine, on the faculty of CMSRU," said Paul Katz, MD, Dean of Cooper Medical School of Rowan University.
He joined Cooper in 2001 and served as Head of the Division of Critical Care Medicine and Director of the Viner Intensive Care Unit at Cooper for nearly a decade. He currently also serves as Medical Director of the Adult Health Institute at Cooper.
Dr. Dellinger created the concept for the SCCM's Fundamental Critical Care Support (FCCS) course and served as the first FCCS Committee Chair. Each year, more than 10,000 clinicians on five continents receive FCCS training. He has authored more than 300 journal articles and book chapters, and had edited more than 30 books and journal issues in the fields of critical care medicine and lung disease, featuring both laboratory and clinical research. His primary academic interests are new, innovative sepsis therapies, sepsis management and sepsis performance improvement. He co-edited the second, third and fourth (2014) editions of the major critical care textbook, Critical Care Medicine (Mosby). He is associate editor of the Critical Care Medicine journal. He has been the lead investigator on numerous national and international multicenter clinical trials targeting sepsis and acute respiratory failure.
He was inducted as a Master Fellow in the College of Critical Care Medicine in 2012 (one of the initial 20 to have been bestowed this designation in the 45 years of the SCCM's existence) and is a Past President of the Society of Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Dellinger was associate chair of the 1992 consensus conference that created the first definitions for sepsis and chaired the 1997 National Institutes of Health (NIH)/American College of Chest Physicians workshop, "The Future of Sepsis Research." He is past chairman of the International Sepsis Forum (ISF), currently serves on the ISF Governing Council and was co-chair of the 2012 ISF Scientific Colloquium on Clinical Trial Design held at the NIH. He serves on the executive committee of the Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC). He previously served on the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) ICU Collaborative Advisory Board as well as the Rhode Island Hospital Association ICU Sepsis Performance Improvement Collaborative. He currently serves as faculty for the SCCM/Society Hospital Medicine initiative, Sepsis Hospital Floors Performance Improvement Collaborative. He is one of the co-leaders of the current New Jersey and Maryland Hospital Association state performance improvement initiatives in sepsis management.
Dr. Dellinger was awarded a BS and MSc from Clemson University. During service in Vietnam, he received the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. He received his medical degree from the Medical University of South Carolina and completed a residency and fellowship at Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas. He is one of 16 basic science and clinical faculty whose name is retired in the Baylor College of Medicine (Houston, Texas) Teaching Hall of Fame.