Discovery Health Channel Medical Honors to Showcase Best and Brightest in Medicine

Televised Event to Spotlight the Unique and Valuable Contributions Made by the Nation’s Most Influential and Innovative Health Care Leaders

(February 3, 2004) Discovery Health Channel today announced that for the first time ever, the nation’s leading health organizations will come together to celebrate and honor the best in medical achievement. This inaugural gala event, Discovery Health Channel Medical Honors, will be held on April 22, 2004 to commend the achievements of individual health care providers, institutions and clinical researchers who have made tremendous contributions to the field of medicine and in the lives of people around the world. The Honors will be broadcast on Discovery Health Channel as a two-hour special on June 24, 2004.

Approximately 1,000 guests from the most influential organizations and leading facilities in the medical community, as well as many Hollywood celebrity presenters, will attend the prestigious ceremony, which will take place at the D.A.R. Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C.

"For the first time, we are bringing together the leading health organizations to share the same stage with the common goal of honoring the best and brightest in the medical community," said Eileen O’Neill, Interim General Manager of Discovery Health Channel. "The Discovery Health Channel Medical Honors will shine a spotlight on the people responsible for the remarkable discoveries and unselfish contributions that improve the lives of others."

During the Hollywood-style Honors ceremony, America’s leading medical organizations will join Discovery Health Channel in saluting lifesaving contributions recognized in various categories of health care. The following organizations will be presenting honors:

• American Academy of Pediatrics

• American Cancer Society

• American Diabetes Association

• American Heart Association

• American Hospital Association

• American Lung Association

• Biotechnology Industry Association

• Consumer Healthcare Products Association

• Kaiser Family Foundation

• The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation

• The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

In addition, the Discovery Health Channel International Honor, a special recognition of contributions in health care outside of the United States, will be awarded during the ceremony.  

"Our hope is that the Discovery Health Channel Medical Honors will help further the causes of these forward-thinking organizations and will give a boost to all fields of medical research," said Ms. O’Neill. "We are proud to have the opportunity to put the people responsible for such significant health care advances on center stage."

An advisory board comprised of former high-ranking pubic health officials as well as leaders from academia and the medical community has assisted the Discovery Health Channel in reviewing the honors criteria and honoree selection established by the partner organizations to ensure consistency across all of the selections.

Discovery Health Channel takes viewers inside the fascinating and informative world of health and medicine to experience firsthand, compelling, real-life stories of medical breakthroughs and human triumphs. Currently in more than 50 million homes, Discovery Health Channel is the only 24-hour network and Web site - discovery.com/health - devoted to what matters most - health.