The Celebration of Excellence

This annual event honors faculty, alumni, and community partners. The special event also includes the presentation of the Community Health Award for outstanding commitment to community health.

Dr. Andrew Morgan and Quality Quest for Health of Illinois were presented with the prestigious 2012 Community Health Award during an awards banquet held Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2012, at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria. 

The awards were among many given out Wednesday as part of the Celebration of Excellence, which honored nearly 70 faculty for their accomplishments and dedication to medical education and their profession.

	Click on the Celebration of Excellence booklet to see a complete list of this year's faculty award recipients.

Of particular note, Heather M. McLaughlan, M.D., received the prestigious UICOMP Faculty of the Year Award for her dedication. Dr. McLaughlan, an Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics since 2003, was described by one of her peers as “the pediatrician’s pediatrician, the teacher’s teacher and the scholar’s scholar.”

One individual and one organization also is recognized each year for their special contributions in the areas of patient care, health-support services, medical education, research, wellness programs, and disease prevention. The Community Health Award continues a 16-year tradition.

Dr. Morgan, or “Dr. Andy,” as he is often called, has helped shape early intervention services for infants and toddlers with developmental disabilities in central Illinois. He is the Medical Director for Easter Seals and was among the first to champion early diagnosis of children with Autism using evidenced-based treatment and expanded family support services. He was instrumental in creating the Ray & Kathy LaHood Center for Cerebral Palsy and is the Founder and Director of The Penguin Project theatre company, a growing program that teaches developmentally disabled children to perform on stage. After more than 30 years, Dr. Morgan retired from the UICOMP earlier this year.

Quality Quest for Health of Illinois is a non-profit regional health improvement collaborative. The organization brings physicians, hospitals, health plans, employers, patients, and families together to focus on creating healthier communities. Data related to specific Quality Quest projects is collected and publicly reported to the medical community and the public. Quality Quest has developed a successful quality measurement program for colonoscopy and flattened the rise in high technology diagnostic imaging use in central Illinois.  Quality Quest worked with other organizations to create the Central Illinois Health Information Exchange which is providing fast and secure transfer of patient health records between providers. Quality Quest also led a successful healthy schools project in Peoria resulting in formation of the Central Illinois Wellness Council.

Community Health Award recipients are nominated and chosen by a panel composed of past recipients and area social service and health agency representatives.

View pictures of the 2011 Celebration of Excellence