A Message from the NMO:

Conductor Jennifer Huang leading the NMO at Thorne Auditorium.

The Northwestern Medical Orchestra invites you to join our Fall 2023 season as part of our orchestra or chamber music program! Our musicians include Northwestern staff, students, alumni, and faculty. Rehearsals will be on Tuesdays from 7:00–9:00 p.m. at the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab (355 East Erie Street, 10th Floor, Chicago). There also are opportunities to play as a soloist or in a small chamber group. The orchestra concerts will be on December 12 and 15, with chamber music concert to follow in February. Sign up by September 5 via this online form.

Make-A-Wish: “Doctor-For-A-Day”

Twelve-year-old Melanie Rodriguez Romo, a Make-A-Wish participant and kidney transplant recipient, recently experienced a day as a doctor—the first wish of its kind granted in Illinois by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

“During her recent two-day Make-A-Wish visit at Northwestern and Lurie Children’s, Melanie received her medical school letter of acceptance and jumped right into pursuing her dream. She participated in simulated patient care, learning how to perform CPR, cast a broken arm, intubate a simulated patient, and suture a simulated wound. During a graduation ceremony, Melanie received her white coat and medical school diploma.”

Melanie even had the opportunity to perform a simulated surgery to remove a simulated patient’s gallstones, made possible by Northwestern Simulation. Way to go, Melanie!

Read the full story on our website, featuring current fellow Carlos Becerril-Romero, MD, and alumni Eric S. Hungness ’93, MD, ’05 GMEF, and Jeffrey Barsuk, ’99 MD, ’02 GMER, ’11 MS.

Northwestern Hospitals: Best Hospitals, U.S. News & World Report

Northwestern Medicine hospitals have once again been recognized as leaders in clinical excellence by U.S. News & World Report. For the twelfth consecutive year, Northwestern Memorial Hospital has been named to the Best Hospitals Honor Roll, a select group of only twenty-two hospitals recognized for their exceptional performance across specialties, procedures, and conditions. Northwestern Memorial Hospital also was nationally ranked in eleven specialties, tying for the top-rated hospital in metropolitan Chicago and Illinois.

Additionally, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab (previously known as the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago) was named the national leader in Rehabilitation for its thirty-third consecutive year, and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago was named the top children’s hospital in Illinois, and seventh in the region, with nine of its specialties ranked in the top twenty-five nationally.

Thank you to all who voted! To read more about the rankings, visit the Feinberg News Center.

Now Accepting Nominations!

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine is currently accepting nominations for two prestigious prizes awarded by the medical school.

The Mechthild Esser Nemmers Prize in Medical Science is awarded to a

biomedical researcher whose body of work exhibits outstanding achievement in medical science, as demonstrated by works of lasting significance. This biennial prize of $350,000 is one of the five Nemmers Prizes administered by Northwestern University. The Mechthild Esser Nemmers Prize is awarded every two years by Feinberg and made possible by a generous endowment to Northwestern by Erwin and Frederic Esser Nemmers. The Nemmers Prize in Medical Science was founded in honor of their mother, Mechthild Esser Nemmers. Nominations are due by November 1. For more information, visit the award website.

The Kimberly Prize in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, given by Kimberly Querrey in honor of her late husband and life trustee of Northwestern, Lou Simpson, is awarded every year to a scientist who has made outstanding research contributions into the molecular basis of life with a direct demonstrated link of their discovery into clinic for the betterment of humankind. This annual prize of $250,000 is given by the Simpson Querrey Institute for Epigenetics and administered by Feinberg. As a condition of the award, the prize recipient will deliver a public lecture on the Feinberg campus in Chicago, visit with faculty, fellows, and students, and attend an honorific dinner. Nominations are due by November 17. For more information, visit the award website.

Congrats Are in Order!