Innovators' Circle
Planting the seeds of innovation
Abington Health helps ensure that the healthcare innovations of tomorrow receive support today through our Innovators' Circle program. Serving as an internal foundation, the program enables philanthropic leaders from the community to invest in innovative programs and creative solutions to healthcare challenges by funding seed grants for physicians, nurses and hospital staff. With expert guidance from physician and nurse clinical advisors and community leaders, the Innovators' Circle program has supported the earliest stages of many promising innovations that have gone on to attract wider funding and recognition.
Innovators' Circle includes two committees:
• The Clinical Advisory Committee, chaired by G. Chris Christensen, III, D.O., is responsible for the internal promotion of the program, seeking and encouraging innovative ideas that would fit the grant requirements.
• The Executive Leadership and Allocation Committee, chaired by Joie Smith, is responsible for evaluating applications for the grants and distributing the funds.
Contributions to Innovators' Circle will directly support new innovative ideas that come directly from Abington Health physicians, nurses and staff. Implementing these ideas will help improve healthcare at Abington Memorial Hospital, Lansdale Hospital and elsewhere.
For more information contact:
Lori Ferro
Annual Giving Officer
215-481-2529
lferro@amh.org
or
Monica G. Simon, RN, MSN, GPC
Grants Officer
215-481-2021
msimon@amh.org
Innovators' Circle Award Recipients:
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
Innovators' Circle Special Awards
Abington Health Recognizes Physician and Nurse Innovators
From left to right: Arnold Zaslow, former chair,
Innovators’ Circle Executive Leadership and
Allocation Committee; Susan Kristiniak, D.H.A.,
M.S.N., R.N., Nurse Honoree Award Recipient;
Gerard Cleary, D.O., Physician Honoree Award
Recipient; and G. Chris Christensen, D.O., chair,
Innovators’ Circle Clinical Advisory Committee.
Gerard M. Cleary, D.O., was named the 2011 Innovators’ Circle Physician Honoree and Susan Kristiniak, D.H.A., M.S.N., R.N. was named the 2011 Innovators’ Circle Nurse Honoree. The Innovators’ Circle program provides seed money to Abington Health physicians, nurses and staff for innovative programs and creative approaches to complex healthcare challenges.
Dr. Cleary is medical director and patient safety officer of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Abington Memorial Hospital. He and his colleagues received an Innovators’ Circle grant to identify common parental stressors from the NICU experience and to initiate a pilot intervention program for families of high-risk newborns. Study results were presented at a national conference, received a national award from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and will soon be published in a major journal.
Sue Kristiniak manages the Palliative and Pastoral Care departments at Abington Memorial Hospital and co-chairs the Integrative Nursing Council. She has more than 30 years of nursing experience in areas spanning direct patient care to nursing leadership with a particular passion for the integration of holistic nursing care and self-care practices. She received an Innovators’ Circle grant to improve patient satisfaction with complementary therapies, which was recognized at the national Nursing Magnet Conference.
The Innovators’ Circle program is an internal foundation at Abington Health that invests in innovative people and ideas with great potential for the future of healthcare. Overseen by an Executive Leadership and Allocation Committee of community leaders and a Clinical Advisory Committee comprised of leading Abington physicians and nurses, the Innovators Circle Program has funded 45 innovative projects since 2005.
