Lahey Health CEO Honored by Arthritis Foundation

Lifetime Achievement Award Given to Dr. Howard Grant for dedication to improving patient care and safety

BURLINGTON, Mass. (November 20, 2013) – Lahey Health President and Chief Executive Officer Howard Grant, J.D., M.D.  received the Arthritis Foundation’s Dr. John I. Sandson Lifetime Achievement Award during its annual dinner on November 14. The award is given each year to an individual who has shown dedication to improving the welfare of those living with arthritis through professional and community leadership.

“It’s an honor to be recognized by the Arthritis Foundation, an organization working relentlessly to find a cure for arthritis,” said Grant. “I’m proud to accept this award on behalf of our whole team at Lahey Health. Every day we are working to make high-quality healthcare more personal, innovative and accessible for the patients and communities we serve.”

“We are very pleased to honor Dr. Howard Grant with the Dr. John I. Sandson Lifetime Achievement Award,” said Arthritis Foundation New England Region Chief Executive Officer Stephen Evangelista. “He has earned this through years of dedication to the community and the Arthritis Foundation.  This recognition comes not only from us, but from his peers, as the award is chosen by a committee.”

Grant has played a vital role in influencing patient safety and superior clinical care for more than two decades at some of the nation’s most preeminent health care institutions. As president and CEO of Lahey Health, Grant came to Lahey Hospital & Medical Center (formerly Lahey Clinic) in 2010 with a vision for creating an integrated healthcare system that provides a full continuum of services locally, keeping high-quality, affordable care in the community. In May 2012, the former Lahey Clinic and Northeast Health System formed Lahey Health, a next-generation healthcare system comprising award-winning hospitals, primary care providers, specialist physicians, behavioral health, and senior care resources and services throughout eastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire.

The Lifetime Achievement Award was named for Dr. John I. Sandson, a committed Trustee, enthusiastic leader and friend to the Arthritis Foundation. A Founding Fellow of the American College of Rheumatology, Sandson served as Dean of Boston University Medical School from 1974 to 1988. Sandson later joined the Board of Trustees of the Arthritis Foundation Massachusetts Chapter, serving as Chair from 1991-1993.

Past recipients of the award include Joseph D. Alviani, Esq., vice president of government affairs at Partners Healthcare; James Roosevelt, Jr., president and chief executive officer at Tufts Health Plan; and Charles D. Baker, former president and chief executive officer of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Inc.

About Lahey Health

Lahey Health is what’s next in healthcare providing a full continuum of integrated health services close to where you live or work. It comprises nationally recognized, award-winning hospitals—including an academic hospital and medical center, and community hospitals—primary care providers, specialist physicians, behavioral health services, post-acute programs such as home health services, skilled nursing and rehabilitation facilities, and senior care resources located throughout northeastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire.

Lahey Health offers nearly 1,000 locally based physicians, providing clinical excellence and an exceptional patient experience in adult and pediatric primary care and every medical specialty, including kidney and liver transplantation; cancer, cardiovascular and orthopedic medical and surgical care; local emergency and trauma care; urological surgery; chronic disease prevention and health management; and pediatric emergency, newborn and inpatient care provided in collaboration with Boston Children’s Hospital physicians.

Lahey Health includes Lahey Hospital & Medical Center—a teaching hospital of Tufts University School of Medicine—and Lahey Clinic physician group with practices in Burlington, Peabody and other locations throughout northeastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire. Beverly Hospital; Addison Gilbert Hospital in Gloucester, Mass.; Lahey Health Senior Care and Lahey Health Behavioral Services as well as more than 30 primary care physician practices and multiple outpatient and satellite specialty care facilities.

For more information, visit LaheyHealth.org and its member websites at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center, Beverly Hospital, Addison Gilbert, and Lahey Health Behavioral Services.

About the Arthritis Foundation

Striking one in every five adults and 300,000 children, arthritis is the nation’s most common cause of disability. The Arthritis Foundation (www.arthritis.org) is committed to raising awareness and reducing the unacceptable impact of this serious and painful disease, which can severely damage joints and rob people of living life to its fullest. The Foundation funds life-changing research that has restored mobility in patients for more than six decades; fights for health care policies that improve the lives of the millions who live with arthritis; and partners with families to provide empowering programs and information.