ISU-Boise HIV educator receives top Health Care Hero honor; Speech and Language Clinic, pharmacy professor also recognized

Idaho State University-Boise’s HIV education coordinator Judy Thorne has received the top honor in the educator category of the third annual Idaho Business Review’s Health Care Hero awards competition. Winners were announced Oct. 8 during a dinner in Boise.

Other ISU honorees recognized at the event were clinical assistant pharmacy professor Elaine Ladd, Pharm.D., in the volunteer category, and the ISU-Boise Speech and Language Clinic in the rehabilitation category. The clinic is staffed by director Kristin Negilski and clinical faculty Sarah Connolly, Beth Guryan and Martha Malkasian.

ISU-Boise speech-language pathology master’s student Meredith Ann Alder was awarded the newspaper’s $1,000 Health Care Heroes student scholarship. Barb Mason. Pharm.D., chair of the ISU College of Pharmacy, was a keynote speaker.

Thorne, who joined ISU in 2003, received the top honor for her work in HIV/AIDS education—specifically with underserved populations in the Treasure Valley.

Thorne and the other ISU finalists were among 30 honorees representing 10 categories in health care and medical education. Judges –which included representatives from the Idaho Alliance of Nursing, Idaho Hospital Association and Idaho Health Care Association—selected a top honor in each category.

Idaho State University, Regence BlueShield of Idaho and Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center are presenting of the Health Care Heroes’ program.