By Derrick Smith, Public Affairs Officer

February 23, 2022

Dr. Maria Ribeiro has been selected as a recipient of the Unsung Heroine Award as part of the Emory Women of Excellence Award, presented by the Center for Women at Emory and the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Each year, an award ceremony celebrating those who have demonstrated extraordinary dedication to issues affecting women at Emory and in the larger community is held.

Dr. Maria Ribeiro has been selected as a recipient of the Unsung Heroine Award as part of the Emory Women of Excellence Award, presented by the Center for Women at Emory and the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Each year, an award ceremony celebrating those who have demonstrated extraordinary dedication to issues affecting women at Emory and in the larger community is held.

“Dr. Ribeiro has been an incredibly dedicated physician, making sure all her patients had the top-quality care they deserved,” shared Dr. Theresa Wicklin Gillespie, Professor, Dept of Surgery and Dept of Hematology & Medical Oncology at Emory University School of Medicine.

Dr. Ribeiro spent 22 years as Chief of Hematology-Oncology at the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center and 27 years as faculty at Emory, as well as staff physician in the Emory Hemophilia program. Having just completed her research fellowship in 1994, Dr. Ribeiro was made Chief of the extremely busy and chronically understaffed Heme-Onc service in 1999 and due to staffing issues, would stay late to administer medicines herself.

“In my point of view, it has been an honor to service both populations during the same time” said Dr. Ribeiro. I’ve been honored to work here almost 30 years and for them to recognize something I enjoy so much makes me very happy”.

When the clinical trials staff grew thinner and even thinner, Dr. Ribeiro would serve as study coordinator, data manager, and regulatory specialist as needed to ensure Veterans received access to clinical research and optimal care. Every patient dealing with a cancer diagnosis trusted “Dr. Maria” and were comforted knowing she would do everything possible to help their journey, whether towards recovery, or palliation.

Dr. Ribeiro added, “The Veterans are so special. The VA is the best healthcare system in this country. If I had to choose an insurance that I could choose from anywhere, I would clearly choose an insurance that was like the Veterans Affairs”. She added, there is no insurance in the country that has the broad coverage like the VA has.

At times, she was the only heme-onc physician on the entire service. Despite the extraordinary effort required simply to maintain operations, Dr. Ribeiro built the Atlanta VA Hematology-Oncology service into a national model of best practices and guideline-concordant care. Her reasons were simple, “When you have to treat patients with every cancer imaginable, you need to stick to the guidelines and evidence. I don’t have the luxury of being a specialist in just one cancer type.”

What makes Dr. Ribeiro an Unsung Heroine?

“Maria has worked tirelessly for Emory, for the VA, and for her patients and colleagues. She has been unrecognized, unheralded, and unseen. Time to sing her praises with the Emory Women of Excellence Award,” said Dr. Maria Jose Ribeiro, our Unsung Heroine.

“I think anyone who has ever worked with Dr. Ribeiro, been mentored by Dr. Ribeiro, or been a patient of Dr. Ribeiro, the answer to that question is obvious,” added Dr. Wicklin.

Original article here.