Walentik Leadership in Health Award

Missouri Foundation for Health›Our Focus›Legacy Endeavors›Walentik Leadership in Health Award
Headshot of Dr. Corinne Walentik

Dr. Corinne Walentik was a powerful advocate who helped shape the Foundation in its early days and whose work included saving the lives of countless infants as a doctor in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Over the course of a decade (2012-2022), the award was presented annually to a health leader in Missouri who exemplified the passion, dedication, and energy that Dr. Walentik brought to her work. Although the award has been retired, her spirit lives on through the innumerable lives she touched, and in those she inspired to follow in her footsteps.

Please note that the Dr. Corinne Walentik Leadership in Health Award has been retired, and we are no longer accepting applications. Join our mailing list for updates on upcoming projects that honor the work of outstanding Missourians dedicated to health equity.

About Dr. Walentik

Corinne Walentik was a professor of pediatrics in the Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at Saint Louis University and physician executive for Managed Care and Public Policy at SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center. Known as a champion for children, Dr. Walentik was passionate about improving children’s health care and public health and received significant local, regional, and national recognition for her tireless efforts. Dr. Walentik served on MFH’s Community Advisory Council for six years before joining the Board of Directors in 2007. She passed away in 2012.

Photo taken from St. Louis Post-Dispatch magazine showing Dr. Corinne Walentik treating a baby in pediatric ward, February 23, 1992

About the Award

The recipient received a personal award of $2,500, and a $25,000 award was made to an 501(c)(3) charitable organization of the recipient’s choosing. The formal presentation of the award took place at the Foundation’s Annual Dinner in St. Louis each December.

Awardees

2022: Dr. Ashlea Cardin, Mercy Kids Hospital in Springfield, *Amish Outreach Medical Clinic

2021: Dr. Sarah Garwood, The SPOT at Jennings

2020: Dr. Kathy Fenger, LOGOS School

2019: Dr. Nick Holekamp, Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital

2018: Okunsola M. Amadou, Jamaa Birth Village

2017: DiAnne Mueller, Saint Louis Crisis Nursery

2016: Dr. Jason Purnell, Health Equity Works,  *Sarah & Arteria King Memorial Scholarship

2015: Sister Anne Francioni, Whole Kids Outreach

2014: Dr. Katie Plax, The SPOT

2013: Dr. Corinne Walentik, *Nurses for Newborns (Posthumous Award)

* Honorees gave the monetary award to their own nonprofit organizations, unless otherwise specified.

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