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Pediatric Complex Care Lifetime Achievement Awards Presented to Nora Wells and John Gordon, MD

Friends, family, and colleagues gathered to celebrate Nora Wells and John Gordon, MD on Sept. 26, 2024 at Boston Children's Hospital. The health care pioneers were honored for dedicating their lives to improving care for children with medical complexity. 

Allysa Ware succeeded Wells as executive director of Family Voices and remarked on her significant contributions to the field. 

“When I think about Nora, and the impact that she has had on the lives of children with special healthcare needs, I think of the butterfly effect. If you're not familiar with the butterfly effect, it's the idea that if a butterfly flaps its wings in India, the tiny little change it creates in the air pressure eventually builds into a tornado all the way across the world. Somewhere in Oklahoma, a very small action turns into something big and complex. All that is happening now is the tornado that started from the actions of one mom speaking up for one child. That is the impact of family engagement which Nora has exemplified throughout her life. For almost five decades Nora has worked tirelessly to ensure that every child has access to a well-functioning healthcare system, and this is the reason she is here to receive a lifetime achievement award.”

Holly Colby worked alongside John Gordon at Children’s Wisconsin as nurse care coordinator and nursing leader. Now retired, she joined the ceremony to present Gordon with the award. 

“There's no doubt that Dr. Gordon was a pioneer in the field of complex care. In collaboration with an extensive network of colleagues, he developed a strong and growing complex care model. He recruited and trained exemplary team members, like me. He partnered with payers in Wisconsin Medicaid to promote program funding. He involved families in all aspects of the program. He collected, analyzed, presented, and published outcome and clinical data. And he generously shared knowledge with other programs and clinicians. I hope to have painted a picture of the tireless devotion, pioneering spirit, and steadfast work that embodies the scope of Dr. Gordon's work in complex care over 20-plus years. He's had a profound impact on children and families and was a champion in developing a roadmap for the ongoing development and sustainability of complex care.” 

The ceremony was hosted by Dr. Jay Berry, chief of complex care at Boston Children's Hospital and director of the Maternal and Child Health Bureau's Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs Research Network. 

Wells and Gordon received a plaque and an honorarium provided by Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health. The Pediatric Complex Care Lifetime Achievement Award is supported by CYSHCNet, Family Voices, Academic Pediatrics Association Complex Care and Disability Special Interest Group, and Children’s Hospital Association.

The link to watch the recording follows (use passcode: @k3R250b). 

Now Accepting Applications for Mid-Career and Lifetime Achievement Awards

We are excited to announce two awards for 2025! Application materials are due on Dec. 15, 2024.

The Pediatric Complex Care Achievement Awards celebrate individuals who dedicate their lives—through commitment and work—to serving children with medical complexity. The awards honor those who have made exceptional, long-lasting contributions to help children with medical complexity in many areas, including clinical care delivery, advocacy, policy, administration, research, and education/training. The awards also honor lived experience incorporated into any of these areas.

Mid-Career Award

To award and celebrate individuals from any background or profession who, in the middle of their careers, with at least 10 years of service who:

• Are dedicating their lives—through commitment and work—to serve children with medical complexity in any setting (local, regional, national, etc.)
• Are making exceptional contributions to help the children and their families in areas including, but not limited to, clinical care delivery, advocacy, healthcare policy, administration, research, and education training, as well as lived experience incorporated into any of these areas
• Show promise for continued excellence in helping children with medical complexity and their families

Lifetime Achievement Award

To award and celebrate individuals from any background or profession who:

• Have dedicated their lives—through a lifetime of commitment and work—to serve children with medical complexity
• Have made exceptional, long-lasting contributions to help the children and their families in areas including, but not limited to, clinical care delivery, advocacy, healthcare policy, administration, research, and education/training, as well as lived experience incorporated into any of these areas

Join Us For a Virtual Cafe About Health Equity and Anti-Ableism Through Family Partnership

Join us Wednesday, Oct. 30, 4-5 p.m. ET for the fifth of six virtual cafés about Health Equity and Anti-Ableism Through Family Partnership. This session will be led by discussants Nikki Montgomery, MA, MEd, GPAC, director of strategy and communications, Family Voices and mother of a child with medical complexity; and Michelle J. White, MD, MPH, associate professor of pediatrics, Duke University School of Medicine. 

Discussants will first give examples of the pressing need to address bias in systems of care and move from a medical to social model of care, and the key ways family colleagues’ lived expertise is essential to humanizing systems. Through facilitated discussion in breakouts, participants will explore and learn together tangible tools, strategies, and resources to effectively partner with families to make real progress in health equity and anti-ableism. We will reconvene the group for family co-facilitators to briefly share high-level takeaways from breakouts.

This series is funded by Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health.