Wall Resident and Local Surgeon Dr. Thomas Bauer Receives American Cancer Society Award for Healthcare Professional of the Year
April 02, 2018
Thoracic surgeon Thomas L. Bauer II, M.D., FACS, interim medical director for Hackensack Meridian Health Cancer Care in Monmouth, Ocean and Middlesex counties, has been named Healthcare Professional of the Year by the American Cancer Society. The award was presented to the Wall resident at the annual Tides of Change Gala in recognition of his personalized, innovative and compassionate cancer care of patients.
Dr. Bauer also serves as medical director of Thoracic Oncology for Hackensack Meridian Health Cancer Care in Monmouth, Ocean and Middlesex counties, and chief of thoracic surgery at Jersey Shore University Medical Center. He is a board certified thoracic surgeon, specializing in lung, esophageal and thoracic disease. He is an associate professor of surgery in the newly formed Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University.
Prior to joining Hackensack Meridian Health in 2014, Dr. Bauer had been a practicing thoracic surgeon for 12 years at the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center at Christiana Care in Newark, Delaware where he served as the Chief of Thoracic Surgery. Dr. Bauer has also been Associate Professor of Surgery at Jefferson Medical College and held academic appointments for over a decade. Specific clinical expertise includes: aero-digestive tract stenting, CyberKnife, minimally invasive transthoracic and transhiatal esophagectomy, mediastinal tumors, laparoscopic repair paraesophageal hernias and Heller myotomy VATS and various robotics procedures. In addition, Dr. Bauer has significant expertise in advanced diaphragmatic pacing, reconstruction and plication programs.
Dr. Bauer is devoted to continuing education and has developed numerous clinical research and educational programs sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Bauer has written and contributed to over 130 academic presentations, abstracts, and journals. He is a fellow/member of numerous professional organizations and has authored peer reviewed articles in the New England Journal of Medicine, The Journal of the American Medical Association, Annals of Internal Medicine, and The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. He is also on the editorial board of Journal of Surgical Oncology and Annals of Surgical Oncology. He has also led or participated in many research grants totaling over $1.8 million dollars in his career.
ABOUT HACKENSACK MERIDIAN HEALTH
Hackensack Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit health care organization that is the most comprehensive and truly integrated health care network in New Jersey, offering a complete range of medical services, innovative research and life-enhancing care. Hackensack Meridian Health comprises 16 hospitals from Bergen to Ocean counties, which includes three academic medical centers – Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, JFK Medical Center in Edison; two children’s hospitals - Joseph M. Sanzari Children's Hospital in Hackensack, K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital in Neptune; 11 community hospitals - Ocean Medical Center in Brick, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, Mountainside Medical Center in Montclair, Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin, Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge, and Pascack Valley Medical Center in Westwood, JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute in Edison and Shore Rehabilitation Institute in Brick.
Additionally, the network has more than 160 patient care locations throughout the state which include ambulatory care centers, surgery centers, home health services, long-term care and assisted living communities, ambulance services, lifesaving air medical transportation, fitness and wellness centers, rehabilitation centers, and urgent care and after-hours centers. Hackensack Meridian Health has 33,000 team members, and 6,500 physicians and is a distinguished leader in health care philanthropy, committed to the health and well-being of the communities it serves.
The network's notable distinctions include having one of only five major academic medical centers in the nation to receive Healthgrades America's 50 Best Hospitals Award for five or more consecutive years, four hospitals among the top 10 in New Jersey, including Hackensack University Medical Center which is ranked No. 1 by U.S. News and World Report. Other honors include consistently achieving Magnet® recognition for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, recipient of the John M. Eisenberg Award for Patient Safety and Quality from The Joint Commission and the National Quality Forum, a six-time recipient of Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For," one of the "20 Best Workplaces in Health Care" in the nation, and the number one "Best Place to Work for Women." Hackensack Meridian Health is a member of AllSpire Health Partners, an interstate consortium of leading health systems, to focus on the sharing of best practices in clinical care and achieving efficiencies.
For additional information, please visit www.HackensackMeridianHealth.org.