Kudos
Victor Garcia, MD, founding director, Trauma Services, will receive the 2017 Health Care Heroes Lifetime Achievement Award from the Cincinnati Business Courier on February 23 at the Hyatt Regency Cincinnati downtown.
Garcia established the Trauma Center at Cincinnati Children’s in 1990, which he headed until 2009. He also has done pioneering work with the Cincinnati Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV), and he was the driver behind the country’s first Pediatric Weight Loss Surgery Center. In addition, he founded the Cincinnati CoreChange Initiative to address non-medical factors, such as concentrated poverty, violent crime and low-performing schools, to improve community health in Cincinnati’s urban neighborhoods. Complimenting regional planning efforts, the organization works with local residents and community partners to build on a neighborhood’s strengths to develop solutions for social, cultural, environmental and economic issues.
Garcia earned his undergrad degree in engineering from the US Military Academy at West Point in 1968 and his MD from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He completed his residency in general surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center (1978) and his fellowship at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (1981). Prior to coming to Cincinnati Children’s, he held positions as chief of general surgery services at Walter Reed (1982-88) and associate professor of surgery at Children’s Hospital National Medical Center in Washington, DC (1984-90).
Tom Cody, chairman of the Board of Trustees at Cincinnati Children’s, and his wife, Mary Ellen, were honored by the Cincinnati Eye Institute (CEI) Foundation recently as 2016 Leaders of Vision at the third annual “A Feast for the Eyes” gala. The event raised $130,000, which supports the foundation’s four adult vision clinics in Greater Cincinnati; training of eye care professionals, including the Ophthalmology Resident Program at the UC College of Medicine; and innovative research for the cure and treatment of eye disease.
“The Cody’s have made a positive impact on our community that will be felt for generations,” said Patrick Ward, president and CEO of the CEI Foundation. “By graciously lending their name to the event, they are continuing their legacy of leadership.”
Mary Ellen Cody is a longtime community volunteer. She is a board member of Every Child Succeeds; the Carnegie Center; and the Central Clinic Foundation. She is a past president of Dress for Success Cincinnati and a former board member of St. Ursula Academy and 4C for Children. She served on the development board of the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus and was named as a Cincinnati Enquirer Woman of the Year in 2006.
Tom Cody, in addition to serving as chairman of the board at Cincinnati Children’s, is also on the boards of Xavier University and the CEI Foundation. He retired as vice chairman of Macy’s and has chaired the United Way of Greater Cincinnati and the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce. In 2012, he was named a Great Living Cincinnatian.
