Newark Surgeon Is 1st Female To Earn Prestigious Medical Award

NEWARK, NJ — An expert surgeon at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center recently made history, becoming the first female recipient of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Harvey E. Nussbaum Distinguished Service Award.

According to a hospital news release, Margarita Camacho – a surgical director of cardiac transplantation and assist devices at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center – earned the award for her outstanding commitment to building healthier communities and to the mission of the American Heart Association.

Camacho has performed more heart transplants than any other surgeon in the state of New Jersey and more than 98% of the surgeons in the United States, hospital administrators said.

She was honored for her effort at the 20th Annual Affair of the Heart Ball on June 3 in Cedar Grove.

“Camacho is the surgical director of one of the ten largest heart transplant programs in the country and the largest on the east coast,” hospital administrators stated in a release. “She is the first woman to ever receive this award, named in honor of the late Harvey E. Nussbaum, a renowned cardiologist from the Saint Barnabas Medical Center, another RWJBarnabas Health facility.”

Under the leadership of Camacho and Mark J. Zucker, director of the Heart Failure Treatment and Transplant Program at Newark Beth Israel, the program is on track to reach a milestone of 1,000 heart transplants performed this fall, administrators said.

Send local news tips, photos and press releases to eric.kiefer@patch.com

Photo: Shotwell Productions / Newark Beth Israel Medical Center