Dr. Schwamm honored with Bowditch Award

Lee H. Schwamm, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, was recently honored with the Nathaniel Bowditch Prize given annually to the MGH employee who has increased the quality of care at the hospital while reducing costs.

Dr. Schwamm is vice chairman of the MGH Department of Neurology at MGH, and has served as director of the CIMIT National Stroke Program. He received $5,000 in addition to a certificate and a pin.

Dr. Schwamm leads the Acute Stroke Quality Taskforce at MGH, and was acknowledged for designing and developing the Partners Telestroke Center, founded in 1997.

The Telestroke Center allows MGH stroke specialists to examine the brain CT scans of patients at other hospitals to help diagnose acute ischemic stroke and quickly recommend a treatment plan.

The consultation facilities have the potential to save $4,000 per patient.

Dr. Schwamm is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, and trained in neurology at MGH following an internship in medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

He has developed "WEB-MED: Web-Enabled Bidirectional Education Device" to distribute educational content via hand-held devices.