Philadelphia Medicine Fall 2021 - 29

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of surgery at Thomas Jefferson University,
immortalized by Thomas Eakins' painting
" The Gross Clinic. "
The Samuel D. Gross Prize was first awarded
in 1895 and is only awarded once every five
years to the American surgeon who has made
the greatest contributions to surgery.
In 2019, he received the Richard D. Wood
Distinguished Alumni Award, the highest
honor conferred by the Children's Hospital
of Philadelphia.
Adzick and his wife Sandy have one
son and two grandchildren; they all enjoy
the beautiful island of Nantucket for rest,
relaxation and rejuvenation.
Practitioner of the Year Award
Wayne Bond Lau
PCMS presents
the annual Practitioner
of the Year
Award to a physician
who has been nominated
for dedication to
the medical profession
in the areas of quality
patient care and community
service. The
award is supported by
the Wiener Fund established by the late Jacob S.
Wiener, MD, past member of PCMS.
Wayne Bond Lau, MD, FAAEM, FACEP,
was born and raised in Lansdale, Pa. He
earned his medical degree at Jefferson Medical
College in 2004 and completed his emergency
medicine residency at Thomas Jefferson
University Hospital, serving as chief resident
in his final year in 2007.
A professor of emergency medicine, Lau
joined the dean's office at Sidney Kimmel
Medical College in the Office of Student
Affairs in July 2020.
The purpose of the Practitioner of the
Year Award is to select a member of The
Philadelphia County Medical Society who
has distinguished oneself by providing
patient care and community service with
compassion and dedication. Lau credits his
strong commitment to volunteerism and
care to his parents, HonKay and Meifong,
as well as his sister, Dr. Bonnie, who is also
an emergency physician and first introduced
him to the Chinatown Clinic (then led by
Dr. Vincent Zarro of the Drexel University
College of Medicine). Lau has patterned his
clinical care of patients after the influences
of his greatest bedside teachers, including Dr.
Sharon Griswold (his residency director), Dr.
Kenneth Neuburger and Dr. Alan Forstater.
During the ravages of COVID-19 this
past year and throughout his career, Lau
has demonstrated extraordinary dedication,
humanism and commitment in serving
one of the most vulnerable communities
in Philadelphia. His kindness, patience and
professionalism have served a population
often ignored, and he has made great effort
to lead and teach medical students of the
importance of helping those less fortunate
by life station and means. Until COVID-19
struck in 2020, the Chinatown Clinic cared
for patients at various sites in Philadelphia
every Wednesday night for nearly 25 years.
Because of the pandemic, for the first
time in a quarter century, the in-person clinic
could not commence. Through a patient
hotline, text messaging and painstaking
outreach, Lau and his team of students
kept consistent communication with the
community by helping to refill medications
and to provide rudimentary guidance and
medical referral through unparalleled times.
Most recently, Lau's Chinatown Clinic team
conducted COVID-19 vaccination events for
the community, helping many get vaccinated,
as life returns anew in the year ahead.
Through his work in emergency medicine
and knowledge of professional colleagues,
Lau has worked hard to create connections,
providing individualized care for patients
with few avenues to get help for their specific
situations. It is an understatement to say
that navigating the medical system for most
educated persons of means is a challenge.
Lau has made it a priority to help those less
fortunate and most vulnerable still obtain the
quality of health care that all should receive.
On an annual basis, Lau and his Chinatown
Clinic team provide free health care
to more than 2,000 Chinese, Indonesian,
Hispanic, Vietnamese, Cambodian and
African-American patients. Patients have
traveled from international locations, and
domestically as far away as California and
Ohio, to visit the clinic for help. The far
majority of these patients are uninsured,
undocumented and financially disadvantaged,
suffering complications from conditions such
as diabetes and hypertension.
Lau shares his passion for serving others
with the medical students he teaches at
Jefferson. Annually, he selects a group of firstyear
medical students that commit seriously
to volunteering weekly at the Chinatown
Clinic, regardless of academic schedule and
scholarly pressures. The interviewing process
is rigorous and difficult. He aggressively seeks
students with the compassionate heart and
energy necessary to live the clinic's mission.
This student core serves different roles in the
Chinatown Clinic as it progresses each year;
whereas junior students administratively run
the clinic and function as patient navigators,
senior students clinically care for patients and
are observed carefully by Lau. The Chinatown
Clinic is a welcoming, safe place trusted by
the community, the greatest compliment
to the work of many dedicated persons
led by Lau's example and personality. Lau
is tremendously grateful to the work of so
many at the clinic, particularly Dr. Vincent
Zarro, Dr. Barbara Hogan, Dr. Yawei Song,
Dr. Helen Teng and Dr. David Jack, who
have made the Chinatown Clinic a possibility.
Lau is a member of numerous professional
organizations, including The Philadelphia
County Medical Society (PCMS), Pennsylvania
Medical Society (PAMED), American
College of Emergency Physicians, Pennsylvania
Chapter of American College of
Emergency Physicians and the Society for
Academic Emergency Medicine.
Promoted to full professor in 2018, Lau
received accolades as one of Pennsylvania's
Top Physicians Under Age 40 (2017), the
Pennsylvania Medical Society's Everyday
Hero Award (2018) and Community Service
Award (2019). Most recently, he received one
of Sidney Kimmel Medical College's highest
awards: the Senior Class Portrait from the
Class of 2020.
Lau is married to fellow Jeffersonian Dr.
Tingfang Chen, a psychiatrist who serves as
the medical director of the Consult/Liaison
Service for Child/Adolescent Psychiatry at the
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Lau and
his wife have two daughters, Audrey and Lois. *
Fall 2021 : Philadelphia Medicine 29
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Philadelphia Medicine Fall 2021

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