President’s Posts

CHoR at VCU awarded Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal

Left to right: John Duval, CEO of MCV Hospitals; Frederick Ballantyne, governor general of St. Vincent and the Grenadines; Michael Rao, president of VCU and the VCU Health System; Sheldon Retchin, CEO of VCU Health System and senior vice president of VCU Health Sciences

As a national research university with a renowned academic medical center, it is our responsibility to improve the human condition and experience everywhere. That is especially true for people who need the most help, such as our world’s children and those who lack access to health care. Did you know that 10 percent of the world’s population has access to 90 percent of the world’s medical resources? The fact is that the biggest factor in life and death continues to be where you are born.

My physician, nurse and care-partner colleagues at our hospitals are focused on doing everything possible to solve this problem. In doing so, they are also earning world acclaim. Two weeks ago, the government of the Caribbean nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines presented the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal to Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU for providing life-saving care to St. Vincent children for more than a decade. This medal acknowledges exceptional public service and is the only one that nation has awarded to a non-citizen. His Excellency Sir Frederick Ballantyne, governor general of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and an official representative of Queen Elizabeth II, presented the award to John Duval, CEO of MCV Hospitals.

CHoR has treated 69 St. Vincent children in Richmond, with more than 75 percent of the cases for the treatment of pediatric heart conditions. In addition, more than 60 medical professionals from CHoR have provided care to St. Vincent children both at CHoR and on volunteer medical team trips to St. Vincent. This commitment began in 2002 as part of a partnership with World Pediatric Project, a nonprofit organization that provides surgical and diagnostic care to Central American and Caribbean children. Bill Moskowitz, M.D., professor and chief of the Division of Pediatric Cardiology at CHoR and vice chairman of the VCU Department of Pediatrics, is one of World Pediatric Project’s first volunteers.

The Diamond Jubilee Medal is a commemorative medal created to mark the 60th anniversary of the accession to the throne of Queen Elizabeth II. Only the United Kingdom, Canada and the Caribbean realms, which include St. Vincent, award this medal.

The award acknowledges honorable service, public service or outstanding achievement. To me, it also signifies VCU’s ongoing commitment to human health around the world, and to unmatched service everywhere.