Dr. Ed Karotkin, chairman of the Physicians for Peace Board of Directors, has been named a 2012 “Health Care Hero” by Inside Business newspaper in Norfolk, Va. The annual award celebrates members of the Hampton Roads community for excellence and innovation in the delivery of health care, particularly to those in need.

“For more than 20 years, Ed has been a dedicated and inspiring volunteer leader with Physicians for Peace,” said Brig. Gen. Ron Sconyers (USAF, Ret.), president and CEO of Physicians for Peace. “It’s wonderful to see Ed recognized for all that he does to improve patient care, as both a physician and an educator, abroad and here in Virginia.”

Dr. Karotkin leads a workshop on maternal and child health in India.

Karotkin, a neonatologist at the Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters and a professor of Pediatrics at Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS), has led volunteer training missions for Physicians for Peace to Cuba, Israel, Uruguay, the Dominican Republic, Romania and India.  In 2005, he also pioneered the Physicians for Peace Madres Tutelares program in the Dominican Republic. Modeled on the Resource Mothers program developed at CHKD, Madres Tutelares pairs young, expectant women with mentors who help them through their pregnancy and each baby’s first year of life.

Among other honors, Karotkin has received a Volunteer of the Year Award (Greater Hampton Roads Division) from the March of Dimes, a humanitarian award from the National Council for Community and Justice and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Department of Pediatrics at EVMS. In 2010, Physicians for Peace honored Karotkin as a Medical Diplomat.

In addition to Karotkin, Dr. Terri Babineau, who has helped shaped Physicians for Peace partnerships in Latin America and with her colleagues and students at EVMS, and ODU's G.W. Hirschfeld School of Dental Hygiene, a partner in Physicians for Peace Dental Care projects to Nicaragua, will be honored as Health Care Heroes at the Inside Business awards ceremony on Feb. 21.

“The ceremony will be a kind of reunion for Physicians for Peace, and a rewarding celebration,” Sconyers said. “We’ve always known that our volunteers are the best. It’s gratifying to see them recognized as heroes.”

For more information or to schedule an interview with Dr. Karotkin, please contact Mary Westbrook.