Gilchrist Award 2022 Winner: Dr. Sarah Israelson

We are thrilled to present our third annual Gerald Gilchrist Medical Champion award to Dr. Sarah Israelson, a family physician at Lakewood Health System in Motley and Staples, Minnesota. This award seeks to honor a Reach Out and Read Minnesota provider whose exemplary personal and professional medical leadership has helped to make delivery of the Reach Out and Read program model all it can be in pediatric primary care. The award was created to celebrate the legacy of Dr. Gerald Gilchrist, a founding board member of Reach Out and Read Minnesota, who passed away in April of this year. Throughout his life and storied career, Dr. Gilchrist maintained a passion for supporting the health, literacy, and early learning of young children.

We are pleased to grant the award this year to Dr. Israelson, whose leadership in the Lakewood Health System, and whose compassionate, development-centered practice, have made her an outstanding Reach Out and Read provider. Watch Dr. Israelson accept the award at our Spring Benefit in the video above, where she discusses sharing the joys of reading with young children—and smiling through her mask as she does!—and motivating her colleagues to prioritize early learning in their care for their young patients.  

You can watch the full 2022 Spring Benefit here

Thank you, Dr. Israelson for your leadership in the clinic and compassionate care for your patients!