Company: Nasal Healthcare company
Nomination Submitted by: Avaans
Company Description: Nasal Healthcare company
Nomination Category: Individual Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Female Innovator of the Year – Government or Non-Profit –10 or Less Employees
 Nomination Title: Dr. Gail Lebovic, Innovator of training tool for breast surgery
- Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes, explaining the achievements since July 1, 2021 of the nominated woman, OR written answers to the questions? (Choose one):
A video of up to five (5) minutes
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video. If you are submitting written answers to the questions for this category, provide them in the spaces below:
https://vimeo.com/664466927?share=copy
- Briefly describe the nominated individual: history and past performance (up to 200 words):
Total 197 words used.
Dr. Gail Lebovic has committed her career to improving delivery of women’s healthcare, particularly in diagnosis and treatment of patients with breast cancer. Internationally recognized for her ground-breaking work as an Oncoplastic Surgeon, Dr. Lebovic is also highly regarded as a creative inventor, visionary leader, and entrepreneur in the field of medical device development. Her career over the past 25+ years has been a driving force in improving breast cancer surgery throughout the world.
Dr. Lebovic is a passionate philanthropist and educator. She has committed herself to ongoing educational efforts and in 2007 she founded The School of Oncoplastic Surgery (501c3), with a mission to train surgeons and healthcare professionals. The school, originally founded by a grant from the Mary Kay Ash Foundation, has trained over 1500 surgeons. It is estimated that these surgeons have positively impacted the care of approximately 2,000,000 million around the world. As a pioneer, Dr. Lebovic was the first woman surgeon in the US to utilize and teach these techniques, long before acceptance of this pivotal way of thinking in the surgical community. Her passion for patient advocacy and achieving the best outcomes has created steadfast following among surgeons worldwide.
- Outline the nominee's achievements since July 1 2021 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):
Total 249 words used.
In addition to her instrumental work as a clinician, philanthropist and educator, Dr. Lebovic has had a stunning career as an entrepreneur. Having co-founded multiple medical device companies, and with over 50 US patents, one of her most recent creations is a unique educational simulator for surgeons called the Symmetrist Mammo Model™. The Symmetrist is used for training surgeons, medical students and healthcare professionals involved in the care of breast cancer patients. It can be used in conjunction with live/in-person trainings but most importantly can be used to train surgeons around the world remotely. Dr. Lebovic created the model during the recent pandemic so as to be able to continue surgical training even in the midst of a global crisis.
The Symmetrist is used to emphasize the importance of a woman’s feelings before, during and after breast cancer surgery and to teach clinicians the importance of empathy as they care for patients and work to optimize patient outcomes. The model and workshop are used as a platform to engage surgeons and clinical personnel in a hands-on workshop. Key teaching points covered in these courses include:
•Assessment of symmetry and anatomical features
•Pre-operative planning
•Patient desires considering risks/benefits & options
•Local and total breast reconstruction
•How to avoid common deformities created during breast procedures
This ingenious tool allowed surgeons from around the world to continue collaborating and learning from each other – even under the worst of circumstances. Today, the Symmetrist continues to play a vital role in medical education.
- Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the nominee's past performance (up to 250 words):
Total 240 words used.
The unique nature of Dr. Lebovic’s achievements cannot be overstated, particularly as a woman in the historically male dominated field of surgery. Her achievements entailed decades of commitment to patients, and courage to introduce new techniques in surgery to help improve patients’ lives. Her passion for achieving excellence on behalf of all patients is what sets her apart from others. Dr. Lebovic’s work as a pioneer in Oncoplastic Surgery, a philanthropist, creative inventor and educator are second to none in the field. She has been recognized by her peers as someone unique and very special.
Creating the Symmetrist is a great example of how Dr. Lebovic’s creative spirit can have an enormous impact. Not only did she create the model, she also formulated the educational workshops that occurred during, and now after, the pandemic.
In the Global effort to increase use of breast conservation and reconstruction, Dr. Lebovic uses the Symmetrist to facilitate interaction with expert faculty to engage surgeons around the world on a digital platform, making it an extremely useful and timely tool for Oncoplastic training.
The effectiveness of the Symmetrist was rated by participants and showed extremely positive feedback:
- 90% rated this educational activity as Excellent
- 97% noted the workshop improved their competence
- 90% noted the workshop enhanced their communications skills
- 93% noted the workshop will improve patient outcomes
- 94% stated they would recommend the program to colleagues
- 100% stated the workshop was free from commercial bias
- Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 122 words used.
A study that included 3 Symmetrist training courses was recently presented at the American Society of Breast Surgeons meeting in Boston, April 2023. (See attached summary). The participants included healthcare professionals involved in the care of breast cancer patients. Most were surgeons with varying experience and length of time in practice.
The results as evidenced by this peer reviewed presentation show the Symmetrist to be a useful tool, and unique in that it provides a platform that can be used in conjunction with live in-person didactic courses, remote courses on a digital platform and it can be used to create a hybrid training course as well. There is no other surgical training tool like it, especially in the field of breast/oncoplastic surgery.
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