Two RWJBarnabas Health Pioneers Nominated for the NJ Hall of Fame

Two RWJBarnabas Health (RWJBH) pioneers have been nominated for the New Jersey Hall of Fame Class of 2017. Victor Parsonnet, M.D., retired chief of surgery at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center (NBIMC), where he worked for more than 60 years and pioneered the hospital’s heart transplant program, has been nominated in the Enterprise category. Clara Louise Maass, the namesake of Clara Maass Medical Center, is nominated in the Public Service category.

Each year, The New Jersey Hall of Fame (NJHOF) nominates 50 individuals in five categories, including Arts & Letters, Enterprise, Performing Arts, Public Service and Sports. Public voting determines the winners and is open until November 26, 2017 at njhalloffame.org/2017-nominees. RWJBH encourages the public to vote often as votes are not limited for Parsonnet (www.rwjbh.org/vp) and Maass (www.rwjbh.org/voteclara) in recognition of their contributions and life-saving efforts.

A Newark native, Victor Parsonnet, MD, age 93, made his name in New Jersey and worldwide as a groundbreaking cardiac surgeon. He was a physician leader and researcher at NBIMC, where he performed the first heart transplants and kidney transplants in New Jersey.

“Dr. Parsonnet is very well-deserving of this nomination,” said Darrel K. Terry, Sr., FACHE, President and CEO of Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. “He is an accomplished surgeon and researcher who has demonstrated a lifetime of commitment to cardiovascular surgery and medicine, saving hundreds if not thousands of lives. He is a perfect candidate for the New Jersey Hall of Fame.”

Dr. Parsonnet implanted the first permanent pacemakers in New Jersey and the first permanent transvenous pacemakers worldwide. In addition, he established New Jersey’s first heart transplant program. The Heart Failure Treatment and Transplant program at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center just celebrated its milestone 1,000 heart transplant, a distinction held by only 11 other hospitals nationwide.

“There could not be a better way to recognize the achievements of Dr. Parsonnet,” said Mark Zucker, M.D., J.D., Director of the Cardiothoracic Transplant Program at NBIMC. “He has pioneered transplant procedures that saved countless lives. His legacy is extraordinary. No one deserves this honor more than Dr. Parsonnet.”

RWJBH nominee Clara Louise Maass, (June 28, 1876 – August 24, 1901) was born in East Orange, New Jersey, and received her nurse training from Newark German Hospital’s Christina Trefz Training School for Nurses. She is highly regarded for her participation in early research experiments to study yellow fever. While volunteering in the United States Army during the Spanish-American War, Maass volunteered herself as subject of that research and was bitten by mosquitos infected with yellow fever. She survived the first experiment but succumbed to the disease in 1901 when she was bitten by an infected mosquito and died 10 days later.

To mark Maass’ legacy to New Jersey, the field of nursing and research and the study of medicine, in 1952, the Newark German Hospital was renamed the Clara Maass Memorial Hospital, the first hospital to bear the name of a nurse as its corporate identity. It is now known as Clara Maass Medical Center, a part of the RWJBarnabas Health family.

“As a nurse myself and chief executive for a facility that bears her name, I am deeply proud of the Clara Maass legacy that ranks her among history’s nursing titans including Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton,” said Mary Ellen Clyne, Ph.D., President and CEO of Clara Maass Medical Center.

“The Clara Maass Medical Center carries her spirit of caring and adventure, administering quality health care in her name,” said Nancy Holecek, RN, BSN, MHA, MAS, Chief Nursing Officer for the Northern Region for RWJBarnabas Health. “Placing Clara Maass in the New Jersey Hall of Fame would serve as another enormous salute to the incredible contributions she had to the medical community.”

The 2017 class of inductees will be announced in December and the formal induction ceremony will take place on Sunday, May 6, 2018. The public is encouraged to visit the NJ Hall of Fame website to cast their vote for a nominee in each category. Full biographies of the nominees, as well as online voting, can be found at https://njhalloffame.org/2017-nominees/. The public is welcome to vote often through November 26.

About RWJBarnabas Health

RWJBarnabas Health is the largest, most comprehensive health care system in New Jersey, with a service area covering nine counties with five million people. The system includes eleven acute care hospitals – Clara Maass Medical Center in Belleville, Community Medical Center in Toms River, Jersey City Medical Center in Jersey City, Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus in Lakewood, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark, RWJUH in New Brunswick, RWJUH Somerset in Somerville, RWJUH Hamilton, RWJUH Rahway and Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston; three acute care children’s hospitals and a leading pediatric rehabilitation hospital with a network of outpatient centers (Children’s Specialized Hospital) with its multiple outpatient centers, a freestanding 100-bed behavioral health center, two trauma centers, a satellite emergency department, ambulatory care centers, geriatric centers, the state’s largest behavioral health network, comprehensive home care and hospice programs, fitness and wellness centers, retail pharmacy services, a medical group, multi-site imaging centers and two accountable care organizations.

RWJBarnabas Health is New Jersey’s largest private employer – with more than 33,000 employees, 9,000 physicians and 1,000 residents and interns – and routinely captures national awards for outstanding quality and safety. RWJBarnabas Health recently announced a partnership with Rutgers University to create New Jersey’s largest academic health care system. The collaboration will align RWJBarnabas Health with Rutgers’ education, research and clinical activities, including those at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care.