Two leaders from Hackensack Meridian Health will be honored by the New Jersey Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (NJAAP) on Wednesday for their work in improving the lives of children and their families.
Jeffrey Boscamp, M.D., the president and dean of the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine (HMSOM), will be named the “Pediatrician of the Year” at the NJAAP’s 14th annual New Jersey Children’s Ball. Judy Aschner, M.D., a physician-scientist at the Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI) who is also a professor of pediatrics at HMSOM, will receive the “Champion for Children Award.”
“Dr. Boscamp and Dr. Aschner are excellent leaders who have contributed in the clinical setting, and beyond,” said Robert C. Garrett, FACHE, the chief executive officer of Hackensack Meridian Health. “We are thrilled to see them honored by the NJAAP for their ongoing work.”
Boscamp, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist, was named dean of the medical school in December 2022 and oversaw its final full accreditation in 2023. A longstanding, highly regarded leader at Hackensack University Medical Center, he also served as a member of the Hackensack University Medical Center Medical Executive Committee and continues to serve on the Hackensack Meridian Health Board of Trustees Academics Committee.
Boscamp founded the Section of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and the Steven Bader Immunologic Institute and provided essential pediatric infectious diseases support to the Tomorrow’s Children’s Institute, the largest pediatric hematology-oncology program in the state of New Jersey. He also chaired the Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital and held the Marvin I. Gottlieb, M.D., Ph.D., Endowed Chair of Pediatrics for 14 years.
Under his leadership, the Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital achieved a national top-50 ranking in US News and World Report – the first Hackensack Meridian program to achieve this as well as the first children’s hospital in New Jersey to be ranked in the top 50 nationally.
Aschner, a neonatologist, is the past physician-in-chief of Hackensack Meridian Children’s Health, and served as the Marvin I. Gottlieb, M.D., Ph.D., Endowed Chair of Pediatrics at the Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital. She is receiving the award for her work to improve the lives of children and families through the HealthySteps program at Hackensack Meridian Children’s Health, a grant-funded, evidence-based, interdisciplinary pediatric primary care program that promotes positive parenting and healthy development for babies and toddlers under age 4, with an emphasis on culturally diverse families living in low-income areas.
In addition to her work with the Healthy Steps program, Aschner’s research projects include a major nationwide initiative of the National Institutes of Health focused on the impact of environmental factors, broadly defined, on children’s health and development: the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program. Aschner had also previously been a clinician, researcher, and administrator at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Wake Forest University Health Sciences, among other institutions.
The awards will be presented to Boscamp and Aschner during the NJAAP’s 14th Annual Children’s Ball on May 8 at The Palace at Somerset Park, in Somerset.
