2019 - Sen. Dean Burke, Chief Medical Officer, Memorial Hospital and Manor
Sen. Dean Burke is the chief medical officer (CMO) of Memorial Hospital and Manor in Bainbridge, where he oversees medical staff affairs and employed physicians and physician practices. He has served Senate District 11 since being elected to the Georgia State Senate in 2013. Since then, through his roles as CMO and a legislator, he has been instrumental in supporting the work of Georgia’s hospitals to transform the delivery of health care. In 2013, he sponsored a bill requiring the Department of Public Health to establish a Maternal Mortality Review Committee to review maternal deaths and devise solutions to this public health crisis to ensure that childbirth is safe for every woman in Georgia.
As vice chairman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee and chairman of the Senate Health Subcommittee of Appropriations, Sen. Burke supported state budget increases in emergency department reimbursement, including a 20 percent increase and 40 percent increase for urban and rural hospitals, respectively. He was also instrumental in raising the Rural Hospital Tax Credit to 90 percent from 70 percent during the 2017 Georgia General Assembly session and then to 100 percent during the 2018 session.
During the 2019 legislative session, Sen. Burke sponsored a bill that extended the sunset for the Rural Hospital Tax Credit and would create an office of Health Strategy and Coordination that, among other things, would develop innovative approaches to stabilizing costs while improving access to quality health care. The bill also included language to update and modernize certificate of need while maintaining the health planning process that preserves access to health care for all Georgians.
“Our hospitals have benefited tremendously from the legislative efforts of Sen. Burke,” said GHA President and CEO Earl Rogers. “He continually looks for ways to serve and enhance his community and the entire state; we are extremely appreciative of all that he has done. He is a most-deserving recipient of this esteemed award.”
Sen. Burke is a Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. He graduated summa cum laude from Georgia Southwestern University and went on to graduate from the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. He completed specialty training in obstetrics and gynecology at Mercer University School of Medicine in Macon.
Past Distinguished Service Award Winners
2018- Starr H. Purdue, Navicent Health
2017 - Charles Moore, M.D., Grady Health System
2015 - Don Thomas, M.D., Hamilton Medical Center, and William Pannell, M.D., Crisp Regional Hospital
2014 - Walter C. McNeely, Southeast Georgia Health System
2013 - Aretha Neal, Monroe County Hospital, and Lila Hertz, Piedmont Healthcare
2012 - Benjamin H. Underwood (Gold Honor Award of Excellence), Charles 'Pete' Wood, WellStar Health System, and W. Woodrow Stewart, Northeast Georgia Health System
2011 - A. D. 'Pete' Correll, Grady Health System
2010 - Leonard Fant, Hutcheson Health Foundation, and R. Lee Smith, Jr., University Hospital
2009 - Sen. Greg Goggans (R-7), Coffee Regional Medical Center, and Norman Morris, Upson Regional Medical Center
2008 - James Lanier Allgood, Jr., Fairview Park Hospital, and Richard B. Hubbard, III, Piedmont Atlanta Hospital, Inc.
2007 - Levi W. Hill, Augusta, and William Waters, III, M.D., Atlanta
2006 - H. Duane Blair, M.D., Decatur, and Eldred Tippins, Jr., Claxton
2005 - Romeo Adams, Royston, and Howard Stroud, Sr., Athens
2004 - David Apple, Jr., M.D., Atlanta, and Wayne T. Sikes, Lawrenceville
2003 - Robert L. Brown, Jr., Atlanta, and George Jeter, Columbus
2002 - James Floyd, Jr., Hinesville, and Judy McMahan, Decatur
2001 - Rosemary Evans, Forsyth, and Willie (Bill) H. Odom, Macon
2000 - William M. Huffman, Rome, and W. Harry Wilson, Albany
1999 - Frank S. Dennis, Jr., Augusta, and John B. Prince, III, Tifton
1998 - Clarence C. Butler, M.D., Columbus, and Damon D. King, Macon
1997 - Jeff Kinlaw, Alma, Edward D. Griffin, Sr., Columbus, and Pauline Channell Richardson, Greensboro
1996 - Charles B. Eberhart, Decatur
1995 - B. G. Early, Rome, and Harley Langdale, Jr., Valdosta
1994 - T. Richard Daniel, Augusta, and Hulett D. Sumlin, Atlanta
1993 - Edward C. Loughlin, Jr., M.D., Atlanta, and Perry G. Busbee, M.D., Cordele
1992 - Alana Smith Shepherd, Atlanta, and C. Jackson Bandy, Dalton
1991 - Harold Nichols, Blairsville, and Charles R. Underwood, M.D., Marietta
1990 - J. William Pinkston, Jr., Atlanta
1989 - J. N. Cook, DeSoto, and Richard L. Olson, Columbus
1988 - Richard E. Bird, Statesboro, and W. Carl Gordon, Jr., M.D., Albany
1986-87 - T. W. Lord, Jr., Marietta, and J. Roger Sumner, Rome
1985 - Frederick Higginbotham, Atlanta, and James P. Hollis, Newnan
1984 - William T. Barnes, Macon, and Charles Yager, Dahlonega
1983 - George M. Rooks, Jr., Hartwell, and Aldine Rosser, Statesboro
1982 - Jack Hughston, M.D., Columbus, and Edwin B. Peel, Atlanta
1981 - Norman Dorminy, Fitzgerald, and Byron L. Southwell, Tifton
1980 - Mary W. Schley, M.D., Columbus, and Charles D. Hudson, LaGrange
1979 - Harry W. Jernigan, Jr., Augusta, and Robert W. Woodruff, Atlanta
1978 - J. P. Turner, Jr., Dalton, and Samuel R. Hunter, Sr., Americus
1977 - John Holt Moye, Columbus, and William C. Wardlaw, Jr., Atlanta
1976 - Hugh B. Landrum, Jr., Columbus, and James R. Lientz, Savannah
1975 - Lucius H. Atherton, Sr., Marietta, and John W. Gates, Rome
1974 - Glenn M. Hogan, Atlanta
1973 - Carl T. Barrett, Canton, and J. W. Fanning, Washington
1972 - John Rufus Evans, M.D., Decatur, and Fuller E. Callaway, Jr., LaGrange
1971 - Harry H. Purvis, Cornelia, Judge B. B. Heery, Savannah
1970 - Louie D. Newton, Atlanta, and George Lamar Westcott, Dalton
1969 - Boisfeuillet Jones, Atlanta, and Elbert P. Peabody, Augusta
1968 - John A. Sibley, Atlanta, R. C. Williams, M.D., Atlanta, and Reuben G. Clark, Savannah