Department of Medicine providers are healthcare heroes to many patients

A large number of University of Wisconsin Department of Medicine (UW DOM) providers were recognized by grateful patients through this year’s Healthcare Heroes campaign.

The philanthropy campaign, run by the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association (WFAA) and Wisconsin Medicine, invites patients who have received care from a UW Health provider in the preceding year to share a message of gratitude with that provider. 

Here are a few of the wonderful messages sent to providers in DOM:

• Sent to Siobhan Wilson, MD, PhD, clinical associate professor, General Internal Medicine: “We are grateful for Dr. Wilson and her community care nurse, Kim. Together they made my quality of life better. Without them I would have struggled to live my best life.”
• Sent to Kurt Jacobson, MD, associate professor, Cardiovascular Medicine: “Dr. Jacobson and his team made me feel very comfortable in how they explained the problem, the surgery, and expectations after the surgery. Dr. Jacobson made my quality of life so much better. It was a true blessing in my life. Thank you so much.”
• Sent to Nataliya Uboha, MD, PhD, associate professor, Hematology, Medical Oncology and Palliative Care: “I'm deeply grateful to Dr. Uboha for her outstanding care over the past three years. She's gone above and beyond ‘medically and humanely’ advocating for my screenings, challenging insurance, and never giving up on me. A true hero!”
• Sent to James Stein, MD, Robert Turell Professor of Cardiovascular Research, Cardiovascular Medicine; Robert Przybelski, MD, MS, professor, Geriatrics and Gerontology; and Andrea Schnell, MD, clinical associate professor, General Internal Medicine: “These three physicians go out of their way to help their patients. Patients are more than a number to them, and they make their patients feel like they are heard, respected, and cared for.”
• Sent to Parul Agarwal, MD, professor, Gastroenterology and Hepatology: “Dr. A is brilliant [and] kind - she's partly why I'm still here today, when I was afraid, she was my strength.”
• Sent to Noelle LoConte, MD, associate professor, Hematology, Medical Oncology and Palliative Care, and Patrick Pfau, MD, professor, Gastroenterology and Hepatology: “Thank you so much for the excellent care and treatments given to me these past 3 1/2 years. You are both excellent doctors who truly care about your patients.”

A chance to give back

Giving opens the door. It turns gratitude into something that strengthens care for everyone.

Lynn Schnapp, MD, department chair

Philanthropic gifts accompanied many of the messages—gifts that vitally help support research, educational initiatives, faculty positions, patient care and more. 

“I’m continually inspired by how grateful patients want to give back,” reflects Lynn Schnapp, MD, department chair and George R. and Elaine Love Professor. “Not just to say thank you, but to make sure others receive the same exceptional care. Through Healthcare Heroes, those individual acts of generosity ripple outward, fueling discovery and compassion across our entire department.”

And while campaigns like Healthcare Heroes do help facilitate grateful patient giving, so can individual, trusting relationships between patients and their providers.

“Often, patients want to express their appreciation in a deeper way but don’t realize that philanthropy can be part of that story,” says Dr. Schnapp. “Giving opens the door. It turns gratitude into something that strengthens care for everyone.”

If a patient expresses interest in supporting the work of the department through giving, a good place to start is to connect them with a member of the DOM philanthropy team:

• Pete Schmeling, CFRE, associate vice president of development, at 608-354-9388 or pete.schmeling@supportuw.org (Endocrinology, Gastroenterology and Hepatology, General Internal Medicine, Geriatrics, Hematology, Medical Oncology and Palliative Care, Hospital Medicine, Infectious Disease)
• Deshawn McKinney, senior director of development, at 608-419-8100 or deshawn.mckinney@supportuw.org (Nephrology, Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care, Cardiovascular Medicine, Rheumatology)