Northwell Health held its 2026 Truly Awards in New York City. The event served to recognize physicians and nurses for their profound commitment to mentorship, innovation and compassionate care, qualities central to the health system's identity.
This year’s celebration reflected the growing scale and engagement behind the program. The nomination and voting process drew participation from across the organization, with more than 2,000 nominators submitting entries, over 20,000 votes cast, 551 in‑person attendees, and 1,300 additional viewers joining via livestream—underscoring the program’s reach and resonance across the organization.
The selection process was extensive, with 30 physician finalists being chosen from a pool of 1,164 nominees and 35 nurse finalists from 1,536 nominees before the ultimate recipients were revealed live. In addition to the main awards, the event also featured presentations for The Dr. Lawrence Smith Lifetime Achievement Award, The Distinguished Physician Award, and The Patients' Choice Award.
Northwell Health is part of the AMA Health System Member Program, which provides enterprise solutions to equip leadership, physicians and care teams with resources to help drive the future of medicine.
From listening to recognition
What began as physician feedback evolved into a systemwide recognition strategy.
Recognizing and celebrating physician excellence is a growing strategy to improve well-being and engagement across health systems. At Northwell Health, The Truly Awards began in direct response to physician feedback collected through listening events.
Northwell Health’s Physician Partners’ Engagement Committee developed The Truly Awards to address this need. Since its launch in 2019, The Truly Awards has honored thousands of physicians across Northwell Health, and its success ultimately inspired the creation of a parallel recognition framework for nurses.
The program started with a systemwide campaign focused on our “organizational values - truly compassionate, truly innovative, truly ambitious, truly together, and truly inclusive,” said Lee Richstone, MD, a urologic oncologist at Northwell Health and former chair of the Physician Engagement Committee through 2025. He is also the chairman of the department of urology and director of laparoscopic and robotic surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital.
That evolution culminated in this year’s combined celebration, intentionally bringing physicians and nurses together to recognize excellence across the entire care team.
“We recognize that our initial campaign was meant to drive engagement of our employed physicians,” Dr. Richstone said. “So we expanded it by creating a specific award for our voluntary physicians to recognize the huge amount of value that they bring to our organization.”
The continued expansion was particularly impactful for physicians who joined Northwell from Nuvance Health, ensuring their contributions are fully recognized as part of the growing Northwell family.
To strengthen the program’s longevity, Northwell also consolidated other legacy recognition initiatives under The Truly Awards umbrella, establishing it as the organization’s flagship annual recognition event.
“This comprehensive approach brought together a full suite of honors,” Dr. Richstone said. “It’s incredible in terms of what it represents culturally, with thousands of employees celebrating the work of doctors and telling stories that are incredibly moving.”
Honoring excellence across disciplines
In addition to the Truly Awards, the ceremony spotlighted several signature honors recognizing career-long achievement and patient trust:
- The Dr. Lawrence Smith Lifetime Achievement Award honored Alan Hartman, MD, and Vincent Vinciguerra, MD, recognizing physician leaders who exemplify clinical excellence, education, and mentorship.
- The Distinguished Physician Award was bestowed upon Tochi Iroku-Malize, MD, MPH, Louis Kavoussi, MD, Karen Kostroff, MD, and Stacey Rosen, MD, honoring Physician Partners who have advanced teams and strengthened Northwell Health’s reputation locally and nationally.
- The Patients’ Choice Award celebrated 165 physicians who consistently earned five‑star patient satisfaction ratings over an 18‑month period, with a record 24 clinicians recognized as multi‑year recipients.
According to system leaders, the Awards also serve as a powerful storytelling platform.
The Truly Awards “offer the opportunity for physicians and nonphysicians to get to know so many of our wonderful doctors,” said Nicole J. Berwald, MD, emergency physician, chair of the Physician Partners Engagement Committee for Northwell Health. She is also vice president and chief medical officer at Northwell Staten Island University Hospital.
Dr. Berwald describes the Awards as an opportunity to understand the breadth of what Northwell Health’s clinicians do—both within their roles and beyond them, “Many people found it inspirational to hear the stories,” she said.
2026 Truly Awards recipients
The recipients of the 2026 Truly Awards exemplify Northwell Health’s core values through their daily actions:
- The Truly Rising Star Award: Aldo Alleva, MD, family medicine, North Shore University Hospital and Akash Shah, MD, internal medicine, Danbury Hospital.
- The Truly Caring Touch Award: Randy S. D'Amico, MD, neurosurgery, Lenox Hill Hospital.
- The Truly Leadership Award: Sherri Sandel, DO, internal medicine, Northern Westchester Hospital.
- The Truly Mentorship Award: Dara Shalom, MD, urogynecology & Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery, North Shore University Hospital.
- The Truly Inclusive Award: Santhosh Paulus, MD, family medicine, Huntington Hospital.
- The Truly Outstanding Contribution Award: Robert Prichep, MD, general surgery/vascular surgery, South Shore University Hospital.
Aligning recognition with values
Award categories were intentionally designed around Northwell Health’s core values: truly compassionate, truly innovative, truly ambitious, truly together and truly inclusive.
The committee identified what makes physicians feel proud of their work and connected to their purpose by “linking them to qualities of physician excellence to celebrate our physicians and drive recognition,” said Dr. Richstone.
“We don’t just look at The Truly Awards as the one day we celebrate the winners … we use it as a progressive road map of celebration and recognition,” said Dr. Berwald.
Uniting around recognition
The nomination process includes stories, personal accounts, photos, and reflections that celebrate individual impact. Each nominee receives the submitted materials, offering meaningful insight into how colleagues experience their work.
“When nominees receive those words from their colleagues, they truly feel appreciated and valued to know that someone took the time to put pen to paper with thoughts that they have about them,” said Dr. Berwald.
With more than 106,000 team members, including over 20,000 physicians, Northwell Health is one of the largest health systems in the country. Leaders say The Truly Awards have become a powerful unifying force across sites, specialties, and roles.
A red-carpet experience
The awards ceremony is centered around Northwell Health’s values and the outstanding work of the physicians who bring these values to life.
Importantly, the event also shines a light on every nominee, reinforcing that recognition itself—beyond winning—is meaningful.
Senior leadership support has been essential to sustaining the program’s success.
“We promote and get buy-in from the highest level of leaders in the organization, and that cascades through every group … trickling from leadership to frontline staff,” Dr. Berwald explained.
Celebrating thousands of doctors and giving this event the red-carpet treatment has helped boost engagement, with employees at all levels eager to attend the event.
“The Truly Awards doesn’t just engage physicians; it brings the entire organization together through the process,” said Dr. Berwald. “Everyone gets engaged - team members from all disciplines.”
Moving the needle
“The Truly Awards are at the core of our recognition program, but we do other programs as well,” said Dr. Berwald. “We recognize physicians on work anniversaries, birthdays and for other important events. We have a variety of ways of communicating and have found personal communication from leaders is well received. But more than communicating, much of what we do is about listening to what the team wants, what feels good to them, and then creating programs that can touch many,” she added.
Northwell is deeply committed to understanding what physicians value and tailoring recognition accordingly. To mirror this success, Drs. Richstone and Berwald recommend other health systems customize recognition to what physicians deem most important, combining opportunities to gather together with personal gestures.
