Joseph E. Parrillo, M.D., Receives Weill Cornell Medical College Alumni Association Special Achievement Award
October 25, 2018
Joseph E. Parrillo, M.D., chair, Heart and Vascular Hospital at Hackensack Meridian Health Hackensack University Medical Center, Justice Marie Garibaldi Endowed Chair, received the Weill Cornell Medical College Alumni Special Achievement Award in a ceremony at Weill Cornell Medical College.
Established in 2008, the Weill Cornell Medical College Alumni Association Special Achievement Award recognizes alumni who have made notable achievements in medicine or related fields that significantly advance health care and medical science, including "non-traditional" health care-related endeavors in areas such as national policy, business and entrepreneurialism, technology, aerospace and engineering, arts and culture, philanthropy, and humanitarian aid development.
“Congratulations to Dr. Parrillo for this prestigious award and special achievement. It is certainly well-deserved as he has developed our Heart and Vascular Hospital into a world-class hospital within a hospital,” said Ihor S. Sawczuk, M.D., FACS, regional president, northern market, Hackensack Meridian Health.
A graduate of Weill Cornell Medical College in 1972, he is also chair and professor of the Cardiology Department at the recently established Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University. Prior to Hackensack University Medical Center, he was professor and founding chair of the Department of Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (Camden, NJ), Edward D. Viner chair of the Department of Medicine and director of Cooper Heart Institute at Cooper University Hospital. Dr. Parrillo previously was the James B. Herrick Professor of Medicine and chief, Cardiovascular Program at Rush Medical Center in Chicago, IL.
At the awards ceremony at Weill Cornell Medical College, Dr. Parrillo gave a medical presentation entitled “Cardiac Depression and Septic Shock: Mechanisms, Treatments, and Colleagues.” The lecture highlighted Dr. Parrillo’s pioneering and seminal research describing cardiac depression in human septic shock.
“I would like to congratulate Dr. Parrillo for receiving the Special Achievement Award from his alma mater and continuing to keep the Heart and Vascular Hospital at Hackensack University Medical Center on the cutting edge of cardiac care,” said Mark D. Sparta, FACHE, president, Hackensack University Medical Center, executive vice president, Population Health, Hackensack Meridian Health.
A magna cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College (Hanover, NH), Dr. Parrillo received his medical degree with honors from Weill Cornell Medical College (New York, NY) where he was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha. He did his post-graduate training at Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, MA), The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center (New York, NY), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH, Bethesda, MD). Dr. Parrillo is board-certified in internal medicine, allergy and immunology, cardiovascular disease, and critical care medicine.
Dr. Parrillo’s involvement in academia has led to significant medical advances. Examples of his work can be found in the more than 1,070 publications he has authored or co-authored. One of Dr. Parrillo's most notable scientific contributions was the discovery that reversible myocardial depression was very common in human sepsis and septic shock. This seminal research has resulted in major insights regarding the mechanisms and treatment of serious infections and septic shock.
Dr. Parrillo received the NIH Director’s Award, the highest civil service employee honor, for “creating a superior Critical Care Medicine Department.” He was elected to membership in the highly prestigious American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. Dr. Parrillo was the recipient of the Distinguished Investigator Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American College of Critical Care Medicine. He is a past president of the Society of Critical Care Medicine served as editor-in-chief of the journal, Critical Care Medicine, and is the editor of one of the major standard textbooks entitled Critical Care Medicine: Diagnosis and Management in the Adult.
Dr. Parrillo’s major interests have been cardiovascular performance in sepsis and shock; heart failure; myocarditis; and the critically ill cardiovascular patient.
About Hackensack Meridian Health Hackensack University Medical Center
Hackensack Meridian Health Hackensack University Medical Center, a 781-bed nonprofit teaching and research hospital located in Bergen County, NJ, is the largest provider of inpatient and outpatient services in the state. Founded in 1888 as the county’s first hospital, it is now part of one of the largest networks in the state comprised of 33,000 team members and more than 6,500 physicians. Hackensack University Medical Center was listed as one of the top two hospitals in New Jersey in U.S. News & World Report’s 2018-19 Best Hospital rankings. It was also named one of the top five New York Metro Area hospitals. Hackensack University Medical Center is one of only five major academic medical centers in the nation to receive Healthgrades America’s 50 Best Hospitals Award for five or more years in a row. Becker’s Hospital Review recognized Hackensack University Medical Center as one of the 100 Great Hospitals in America 2018. The medical center is one of the top 25 green hospitals in the country according to Practice Greenhealth, and received 25 Gold Seals of Approval™ by The Joint Commission – more than any other hospital in the country. It was the first hospital in New Jersey and second in the nation to become a Magnet® recognized hospital for nursing excellence; receiving its fifth consecutive designation in 2014. Hackensack University Medical Center has created an entire campus of award-winning care, including: the John Theurer Cancer Center; the Heart & Vascular Hospital; and the Sarkis and Siran Gabrellian Women’s and Children’s Pavilion, which houses the Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital and Donna A. Sanzari Women’s Hospital, which was designed with The Deirdre Imus Environmental Health Center® and listed on the Green Guide’s list of Top 10 Green Hospitals in the U.S. Hackensack University Medical Center is the Hometown Hospital of the New York Giants and the New York Red Bulls and is Official Medical Services Provider to THE NORTHERN TRUST PGA Golf Tournament. It remains committed to its community through fundraising and community events especially the Tackle Kids Cancer Campaign providing much needed research at the Children’s Cancer Institute housed at the Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital. To learn more, visit www.HackensackUMC.org.