Ariadne Labs is pleased to announce that Executive Director, Asaf Bitton, MD, MPH, will be honored for his work in primary health care with awards from the Primary Care Collaborative at the 2023 Barbara Starfield Awards Dinner. Dr. Bitton will receive the Barbara Starfield Primary Care Leadership Award for his work to advance the field of primary care and is part of a team who will receive the David Meyers Research Award.
“I am honored to be recognized with the Barbara Starfield Primary Care Leadership Award,” said Dr. Bitton. “Primary care is critical to ensuring individual and population health, and the only part of the health system in which investment in it routinely results in improved outcomes and increased equity. While the field of primary care is facing unprecedented challenges, I am ultimately optimistic about necessary policy, payment, and clinical delivery changes that we are working on to transform the field and improve individual and community health. I am humbled to be recognized among colleagues who are advancing solutions to bring equitable access to high-quality primary care to all patients.”
Established in 2012, the Barbara Starfield Primary Care Leadership Award is given to primary care leaders whose work advances the goals of primary care, including a focus on person-centered care. Dr. Bitton was chosen for this award for his impactful contributions to the field, as shown through his work on primary care transformation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, primary care policy change at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid innovation, global primary health care Ariadne Labs, and as a member of the National Academy of Sciences Engineering and Medicine Committee on Implementing High Quality Primary Care in the US.
“Amidst the challenges and rapid changes in the health care landscape, Asaf has been a steadying voice of reason and leadership for high-quality, integrated, and person-centered primary health care both in the United States and around the world,” said June-Ho Kim, MD, MPH, Interim DIrector of Primary Health Care at Ariadne Labs. “This award is strong recognition of the need to double down on Asaf and Ariadne’s vision for follow-through innovations that can bring better, equitable primary care to everyone, everywhere.”
A paper co-authored by Dr. Bitton, Primary Care in Peril: How Clinicians View the Problems and Solutions, will receive the David Meyers Research Award. That award honors the work of Dr. David Meyer, a primary care physician and leader in health policy research. The paper, published in NEJM Catalyst, shared findings from the largest national survey of primary care clinicians during the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors detail the barriers clinicians face in delivering equitable, high-quality patient care and what steps need to be taken to stabilize and sustain primary care.
The awards will be presented at the Barbara Starfield Dinner Awards on Nov. 16. This event, held in Washington D.C., follows directly after Primary Care Collaborative’s summit.