Alex Brumley and Alan Johns have been chosen as Hamilton County’s winners of the 2020 Governor’s Volunteer Stars Awards.
Brumley is the youth winner for her work at the Chattanooga Community Kitchen.
Alex serves as an example by just being herself. She is a humble example of a volunteer motivated by love and compassion and working to restore dignity without seeking credit. Since March, the Community Kitchen has been serving three daily meals in to-go boxes. Brumley’s homemade desserts are a wonderful treat to include in the box. Their meals are planned thoughtfully to provide balanced nutrition and always include protein, carbohydrates, vegetables, dessert and fresh bread.
Brumley has used this opportunity to express her creativity, spread joy and learn new baking techniques. Each week their staff looks forward to seeing what she’s created and as they carry the baked goods into the kitchen, participants eagerly ask if it will be included in lunch.
Johns was the adult winner for this work with Enterprise South Nature Park.
He has long exemplified a level of commitment to the park that can serve as a model for others. He is well-known for his intelligence, work ethic, positive attitude, leadership and diligence. He is well respected throughout the mountain biking community for being the “go-to” person for getting things done when it pertains to the mountain bike trails.
Johns championed the construction of 10 miles of mountain bike trails and is currently dedicated to the widespread growth of the local mountain biking community. His diligence in trail maintenance has been particularly important to ensuring the quality of the trails inside the park. His mission has always been to improve the park trails to reduce risk and increase the enjoyment of all users by educating, maintaining and protecting.
Koffron joins Erlanger Transplant Center as director
Erlanger Kidney Transplant Center welcomes Alan Koffron, M.D., as its new surgical director. Dr. Koffron will work alongside Kenneth Kokko, M.D., kidney transplant center program and medical director.
Koffron and Kokko will be responsible for quality initiatives within the program, maintenance of translation protocols and interaction with the global transplant community.
“Dr. Koffron is an incredibly accomplished individual and physician, and I believe he will be a superb addition to the kidney transplant team,” says Tanner Goodyear, vice president of operations. “He has extensive knowledge in multiorgan transplant surgery, and we expect this to be a great asset to our program. The kidney transplant team and our patients are in good hands under his direction and leadership.”
Koffron earned his medical degree from the University of Iowa College of Medicine. Following medical school, he completed residency training in general surgery at Chicago Medical School University of Health Sciences.
Koffron completed two fellowships – a multiple-organ transplant surgery and hepatobiliary surgery fellowship at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago and a pediatric liver transplant surgery and hepatobiliary surgery fellowship at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
Throughout his clinical career, Koffron has received many honors and awards, including residency, fellowship, research, teaching, surgical advancement and clinical excellence and innovation awards. He has also been awarded media honors such as “Top Doctor” or “Top Surgeon” from Chicago and Detroit magazines for several consecutive years.
UTC professors to appear on PBS series
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has announced two of its faculty members will be featured on a Public Broadcasting Service series this month.
Ashley Howell, assistant professor in the department of psychology, and Kristina Wick, Vicky B. Gregg chair of gerontology and assistant professor in the School of Nursing, will both be on “Explore Health,” which discusses various subjects related to health, medicine and overall wellness.
The 30-minute series, broadcast on Thursdays at 8 p.m., is in its third season and, among the topics recently discussed, are sleep, immunology and lung cancer. Experts in various health-related fields are interviewed on each episode.
The show is hosted by Ron Harr, former CEO of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce and, before that, a longtime employee of BlueCross BlueShield in Chattanooga.