Cooper University Health Care’s Stephen Trzeciak, M.D., MPH, the Edward D. Viner Endowed Chief of Medicine and medical director for the Adult Health Institute at Cooper, has been awarded the inaugural Schwartz Compassion Champion Award by the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare.
The honor was presented at the 30th Annual Kenneth B. Schwartz Compassionate Healthcare Dinner held recently in Boston.
The event brought together health care leaders and supporters from across the country and raised more than $900,000 to fund programs supporting compassionate patient care.
Dr. Trzeciak, who also serves as professor and chair of Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, delivered the evening’s keynote address.
Dr. Trzeciak is an internationally recognized co-author with Cooper co-CEO Anthony Mazzarelli, M.D., JD, MBE, of the acclaimed book “Compassionomics: The Revolutionary Scientific Evidence that Caring Makes a Difference” and has dedicated his career to elevating the science of compassion in medicine.
His leadership at Cooper has helped shape a culture where empathy, connection and evidence-based compassionate care are central to clinical excellence.
“Dr. Trzeciak’s research and advocacy have fundamentally changed how we think about the role of compassion in health care,” said Michael Gustafson, M.D., MBA and CEO of the Schwartz Center. “His work has helped advance the scientific foundation for what we’ve always believed — that compassion is a critical component of effective medical care.”
Through his research and publications, Dr. Trzeciak has shown that compassion not only enhances the patient experience but also improves clinical outcomes and health care team well-being — evidence that continues to influence Cooper’s own compassionate care initiatives.
“I am honored to be recognized by the Schwartz Center,” said Dr. Trzeciak. “The science is clear: compassion improves outcomes for patients and strengthens the well-being of health care teams. But beyond the data, compassion is what connects us to the very purpose of medicine — caring for people in their most vulnerable moments.”
Dr. Trzeciak also expressed his hope that this recognition will help further advance the science of compassion so that it becomes a core competency across all health care settings.
“(Dr. Trzeciak) has given us the scientific data to advocate for what we know in our hearts to be true — that compassion heals,” said Jean-Paul Rebillard, chair of the Schwartz Center Board.
For nearly 30 years, the Schwartz Center has supported health care organizations — including Cooper — through programs such as Schwartz Rounds that help clinicians reflect on the human side of medicine. Nearly 800 organizations worldwide participate in these programs, which have been shown to strengthen resilience and enhance the delivery of compassionate care.
