The Medical Tourism Congress Leadership Award Winners

West Palm Beach, FL, November 14, 2012 --(PR.com)-- “On behalf of the Medical Tourism Association® (MTA), it was an honor to award these professionals for the strides they have taken to further the growth of the medical tourism industry,” said Renée-Marie Stephano, president of the MTA. “The award categories were developed with the recipient in mind and have now set the standard for years to come.”

The award ceremony was held on October 24th, following the MTA’s annual membership meeting and luncheon. Each award winner was nominated and then selected for approval by the MTA’s leadership award committee.

Awards

The Minerva Award was for excellence in academic research; named after the goddess of wisdom, learning, the arts, sciences and medicine. This year’s recipient was Professor David Reisman. Professor Reisman is a full professor of economics at the Nanyang Technology University and the author of Health Tourism: Social Welfare through International Trade.

The Laso Award, was for excellence in patient experience and was named after the Greek Goddess Laso, the goddess of recuperation from illness. There were two recipients of this award, Mr. Fred Lee, the author of If Disney Ran Your Hospital; 9 ½ Things You Would Do Differently and the second winner was Dr. Scott Diering, a practicing emergency medicine physician and the author of Love Your Patients! Improving Patient Satisfaction with Essential Behaviors that Enrich the Lives of Patients and Professionals.

The Justitia Award was for commitment to legal issues in international healthcare, named after a Roman Goddess. The award recipient was Mr. Scott Edelstein, practicing attorney for Squire Sanders who focuses his practice on advising healthcare providers and payors on legal and regulatory issues related to medical tourism.

The Hermes Award was for excellence in medical tourism social networking, named after Hermes, the messenger of the Gods in Roman times. Mr. Luis Santamaria, CEO and founder of Panasalud, S.A., is a health communicator that provides consulting, creativity and logistics for more than 300 doctors, clinics and hospitals in Panama.

The Atlas Award was given to three recipients that have helped to support the MTA by using their valuable and unique skills. The first was Mr. Bill Cook, author, speaker, consultant, internationally recognized expert on medical tourism and has built one of Latin America’s most successful international patient programs. The second was Dr. Prem, he has undertaken various initiatives to foster the growth of global healthcare and medical tourism worldwide, and he is a chartered consultant, strategic investor, global trainer and renowned author. The third recipient of this award was Mr. Dan Cormany, professor at Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management at Florida International University. Mr. Cormany has introduced numerous hospitality students to the medical tourism business; he also organized a group of students to assist with the Congress this year.

These awards are the only of their kind and are given to the most prestigious in the industry. Nominations for next year’s awards will open July 2013 and can be found herehttp://www.medicaltourismcongress.com/. The MTA encourages you to take the time to notice those around you that are really striving to make a difference.