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Phillip Lucas, MD, Receives Milton Hamolsky Outstanding Physician Award

1.24.2011-- The Rhode Island Hospital medical staff presented its annual Milton Hamolsky Outstanding Physician Award to orthopedic surgeon Phillip R. Lucas, MD, for his leadership, commitment to patient care, hospital and community service, and local and national recognition by his peers. The award is the highest honor the Rhode Island Hospital medical staff bestows on one of its own.

Lucas, a resident of Barrington, has spent his entire career – more than 30 years – as a surgeon at Rhode Island Hospital. He has served as an associate surgeon in the department of orthopedics since 1978, and for 25 years was the director of the division of orthopedic spinal surgery. He is also an associate clinical professor of orthopedics at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University; a physician with University Orthopedics; and an examiner for the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery.

“Dr. Lucas has dedicated himself to providing our patients with compassionate, high-quality care for more than three decades,” says Michael G. Ehrlich, MD, chief of the department of orthopedics. “He is a role model for our residents, and we are fortunate to have such a skilled, dedicated orthopedic surgeon on our staff. This award reflects his talent, leadership and commitment, and it is an honor he truly deserves.”

“Dr. Lucas embodies all of the qualities that this award honors,” says Daniel J. Levine, MD, president of the medical staff association at Rhode Island Hospital “He was selected by nomination and vote of his peers – the 1,600 physicians at Rhode Island Hospital. This singular recognition of a lifetime of outstanding work in a caring community speaks for itself and represents the merit and recognition he has achieved and so richly deserves.”

Lucas earned his bachelor’s degree at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis., and his medical degree at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He completed his internship and residency at Rhode Island Hospital, and a spine fellowship at the University of Toronto. He serves on various professional associations including the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, the North American Spine Society, the Rhode Island Orthopedic Society, New England Orthopedic Society among other organizations, and as a member of the board of directors of Attention to Prevention.

He received the Outstanding Physicians Award from Harvard Community Health in 1996; the Teaching Recognition Award from Brown University in 1999; and the Brown University Residency Teaching Award, Orthopedics, in 2000. His research interests include long-term outcome on lumbar diskectomy; outcome studies of surgical treatment of spinal problems on the elderly; minimal invasive spinal fusion using the endoscopic technique; comparison of open verses endoscopic anterior anti-body fusion of the lumbar spine; enhancement of spinal fusion using BMP-6 exposed osteoprogenitor cells; and long-term results ofkyphoplasty treatment of spinal fractures.

The Hamolsky Outstanding Physician Award is presented each year to a physician who has made exceptional contributions to medicine, medical education and research; who has demonstrated leadership; and who has been an exemplary role model. The award honors Milton Hamolsky, MD, a now-retired endocrinologist who came to Rhode Island Hospital in 1963 and served as the first full-time physician-in-chief. Hamolsky is also the retired chief administrative officer of the Rhode Island Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline and a pioneer of medical education in Rhode Island.