Five finalists named for Gold Headed Cane

By Brooke Army Medical Center News ReleaseMay 9, 2014

Five San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium (SAUSHEC) faculty have been named finalists for the 2014 Gold Headed Cane award.

The award focuses on four areas: patient care, resident teaching, clinical research and operational medicine. It was established locally in 1992 at Wilford Hall Medical Center, where the award was given to annually honor a faculty member who is voted by his or her peers to represent all-around excellence. The award was expanded to include all faculty in the San Antonio Military Health System starting in 2009.

The winner this year will be named at the 2014 SAUSHEC Awards and Graduation ceremony on June 6. U.S. Army Deputy Surgeon General Maj. Gen. Brian Lein will be keynote speaker.

The five 2014 finalists are: Lt. Col. Vikhyat S. Bebarta, Emergency Medicine; Col. Joseph P. Chozinski, Psychiatry; Col. Matthew G. Retzloff, Obstetrics/Gynecology; Col. Paul M. Sherman, Diagnostic Radiology; and Lt Col. Anthony E. Johnson, Orthopaedics.

Previous winners in recent years were: Col. Stephen A. Harrison, 2013; Lt. Col. Clinton K. Murray, 2012; Col. Robert DeLorenzo, 2010; and Col. George Peoples, 2009.

The original cane was carried from 1689 to 1825 by six distinguished British physicians who cared for royalty. It is now displayed prominently in the Royal College of Physicians in London.