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Ira D. Papel honored as 2009 Schoenrock Award Recipient
Ira D. Papel, M.D., has been chosen to receive the 2009 Larry D. Schoenrock Distinguished Service Award, which will be presented during the AAFPRS Fall meeting in San Diego. The American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery grants the award annually to an individual who has made significant contributions to the facial plastic surgery examination program, its financial security, and/or its support within the specialty, organized medicine, and state legislative and regulatory bodies.
Papel has always known that medicine was his calling, but his real immersion into facial plastic surgery came during his 1987 fellowship with Drs. Roger Crumley, Sheldon Kabaker, and Larry Schoenrock. "Roger was the program director at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), but I spent a lot of time with Shelley and Larry in their practices when I wasn't with Roger at UCSF," relates Papel. "Talk about guiding forces. These three surgeons provided lasting impressions in both my personal and professional lives."
"Leslie and I bonded with Larry and Diane Schoenrock during my fellowship," Papel confides. "Theirs was a very special marriage and they opened their home to us-we even obtained one of their beloved Viszla puppies several years later. Our children had fallen in love with these beautiful, smart and elegant dogs. I felt close to both of them, and we maintained our friendship long beyond the time I spent in my fellowship in California."
"Larry was incredibly colorful, with boundless energy-the man was always focused on what was important to him, and believe me," says Papel, "facial plastic surgery was what made Larry tick." Papel illustrates a perfect example of Schoenrock's phenomenal work ethic. "I'll never forget an AAFPRS meeting in Florida with Larry. I took a very early morning flight from Baltimore and as I was getting off the plane in Florida, Larry was just touching down on the red-eye flight from California. We went to the meeting together, I heard Larry's one-hour lecture, and he said, 'Ira, it's been great to be with you.' I asked him where he was going and he said, 'I've got to get back home,' remembers Papel, who still shakes his head at the memory. "Larry flew all the way across the country to give a one-hour lecture and then turned around and went back home on the same day. No matter what it was, Larry always made time for facial plastic surgery."
Larry Schoenrock's dedication to the ABFPRS and his enthusiasm for the specialty was obviously shared by Papel. After his AAFPRS fellowship, Papel returned to Baltimore to work at Johns Hopkins University and initiate the facial plastic surgery division. After five years at Hopkins, Papel started his own private practice in Baltimore and was soon joined in practice by fellow ABFPRS diplomate, Theda C. Kontis, M.D. In addition to running a successful facial plastic surgery practice, Dr. Papel also serves as an AAFPRS fellowship director with Patrick Byrne, M.D., and is an Associate Professor of Facial Plastic Surgery at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Papel's long-standing commitment to the ABFPRS can be evidenced through his almost twenty years of service to the ABFPRS as Board Vice-President, Board Secretary, Board Treasurer, Chairman of the Graduate Medical Education Committee, Chairman of the Oral Exam Resource Development Committee, and Chairman of the Bylaws and Publication Committee. Dr. Papel also helped the ABFPRS achieve recognition by the Board of Physicians in the state of Maryland, and has served as an ABFPRS examiner 19 times. His ability to influence young surgeons to participate in the ABFPRS certification program is evidenced by the fact that over one-third of the regular track candidates who applied for certification this year cited their association with Papel as one of their motivating reasons for applying for certification.
"The ABFPRS has provided all facial plastic surgeons with a rock solid base which is now internationally recognized as a standard of excellence in the certification process. On a personal level, the Board staff, Directors, and Senior Advisers have become close friends with whom I have enjoyed working with on many levels. It is hard to look back on the last twenty years without recognizing the large role the ABFPRS has played in my career," relates Papel.
Nominations for the 2010 Schoenrock award should be addressed to the ABFPRS Executive Committee in care of ABFPRS, 115-C South Saint Asaph Street, Alexandria, VA 22314, or email SchoenrockAward@abfprs.org.
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