Upstate Medical University physicians Gennady Bratslavsky, MD, and Kristopher Paolino, MD, have been selected as winners of the 2022 Excellence in Healthcare Awards.

The awards are presented by the CNY Business Journal and BHG Financial. The award presentation, held Oct. 20, is available here: https://www.cnybj.com/2022-excellence-in-healthcare-awards/

Bratslavsky, the Phillip Capozzi, MD, Professor of Urology and chair of the Department of Urology, was honored with the A. John Merola Lifetime Achievement Award.

Bratslavsky’s career includes time at the NCI/NIH, where he served as a senior staff with the NCI's Urologic Oncology Branch since 2007. He also served as a clinical fellow in urologic oncology from 2005 to 2007. He also serves as a consultant to the Gastroenterology and Urology Devices Panel of the Medical Devices Advisory Committee for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and as a Steering Committee member of the Genitourinary Oncology Center of Excellence for the Clinical Research Center of the National Institutes of Health.

He has co-authored more than 150 peer-reviewed publications, numerous book chapters and editorials. He belongs to the American Urological Association (AUA), Onondaga County Medical Society and Society of Urologic Oncology

Since 2018, he has served as president of the SUO-CTC (Society of Urologic Oncology-Clinical Trial Consortium). Created, owned and operated by its members, the SUO-CTC is a clinical research investigator network of more than 180 clinical sites in the U.S. and Canada. This national alliance of leading academic and community-based uro-oncologists is committed to furthering urology research.

Bratslavsky, who emigrated from Ukraine 30 years ago, and his wife have been raising money to provide medical supplies to Ukraine since the Russian invasion began in February.

Paolino, director of clinical research at Upstate’s Institute for Global Health and Translational Sciences, has received the Excellence in Medicine award, honoring a physician whose job performance is considered exemplary by patients and staff.

Paolino is a leading infectious disease researcher and clinician with a focus on tick-borne illnesses. He is much-sought-after speaker on tick-borne illnesses, especially Lyme disease. He has worked closely with the SUNY Center for Vector-Borne Diseases, based at Upstate, to improve tick identification and surveillance.

Paolino is noted for his compassionate approach to caring for patients, many of whom are often dealing with numerous symptoms and uncertainty about their diagnosis and treatment. He is a go-to source for other physicians seeking answers to clinical questions about tick-borne diseases.

As one nominator wrote, Dr Paolino “has established himself as an indispensable asset to our institution and region.”

Also honored was Rich Uhlig, CEO of Quadrant Biosciences, a life science company with offices in Central New York Biotech Accelerator at Upstate. Quadrant, in partnership with Upstate Medical University, developed the Clarifi COVID-19 saliva test kit in 2020 in response to the demand for highly sensitive, saliva-based COVID-19 tests.

Uhlig also was recognized in 2021 as one of the Top 50 Healthcare Technology CEOs by The Healthcare Technology Report. Uhlig was recognized for his exceptional leadership and guidance in the midst of the global pandemic, which included the development of the highly accurate saliva test for COVID-19.

Caption: Kristopher Paolino, MD, and Gennady Bratslasvky, MD, are winners of 2022 Excellence in Healthcare awards.