Margaret Crotty and Rory Riggs, Roderick Wong, MD, and Denise Núñez, MD to receive awards at UHF fundraising gala
NEW YORK, NY—October 7, 2024—United Hospital Fund will host its annual Gala tonight at Cipriani 42nd Street, bringing together almost 450 health care, community, and business leaders to support its work to build an effective and equitable health care system for every New Yorker and to honor four exceptional leaders for their efforts to improve health and health care. Margaret Crotty and her husband Rory Riggs will receive the Health Care Leadership Award for their important work at the intersection of health care, public health, and biotechnology; Roderick Wong, MD, will receive the Distinguished Community Service Award for founding the RTW Foundation to improve the health of underserved populations and advance health equity in New York City; and Denise Núñez, MD, will receive a Special Tribute for her commitment to the needs of the Latino populations in the Bronx, with a special focus on children’s health and welfare.
The event has raised almost $1 million to support United Hospital Fund to improve health care and health equity in New York.
“We are proud to bring together a large group of leaders from across the health care community this evening to pay tribute to four exceptional honorees, all dedicated to improving the health and the lives of New Yorkers, particularly those most in need,” said Oxiris Barbot, MD, president and CEO of United Hospital Fund. “Tonight’s honorees truly embody the core values of United Hospital Fund and the best of New York.”
The Health Care Leadership Award, to be presented to Margaret Crotty and Rory Riggs, recognizes extraordinary personal leadership and longstanding contributions to improving health and the health care system.
In Ms. Crotty’s 30-year career as an influential leader in education, humanitarian aid, technology, and public health, she’s been driven by two guiding principles: tackling disparities, in health and education, here in New York and across the world, and ensuring that the people on the frontlines have what they need to make an impact. In her most recent role as president and CEO of JSI, where she oversees nearly 5,000 staff in more than 40 countries, she has championed work to improve health outcomes and infectious disease control. As CEO of Partnership with Children, she worked to provide school-based behavioral health services across New York City. Her international leadership includes her years as head of AFS-USA Intercultural Programs, and at Save the Children, where she launched a $2 billion dollar program to reduce child and maternal mortality. Ms. Crotty serves as the Chair of Northwell Health’s Board of Trustees and as a board member of United Hospital Fund.
Mr. Riggs shares Ms. Crotty’s commitment to finding sustainable solutions to complex problems in health care. An executive, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist focused on biotechnology and health care, Mr. Riggs has been the co-founder, chairman, and director of several cutting-edge companies making material, positive change: at Biomatrix, that was the development of Synvisc, a biological device that eases knee pain caused by osteoarthritis, and at Sugen, it was the first kinase-based cancer therapeutic solution. In his current role as CEO at Cibus, Mr. Riggs is overseeing the development of gene-editing technologies to develop plant traits in seeds, which can help mitigate climate change effects, making agriculture more sustainable and efficient and lowering the use of chemicals in the global food supply.
The Distinguished Community Service Award, which will be presented to Roderick Wong, MD, recognizes an individual whose exceptional voluntary leadership of a specific initiative is improving health and health care.
In early 2020, Dr. Wong, the founder of RTW, a life sciences investment and innovation firm, was preparing his newly formed nonprofit, RTW Foundation, for its first grant cycle. And then the pandemic hit. While the foundation was originally formed to fund research and development of medicines for neglected rare diseases, they quickly decided to divert the first grant cycles to address the pandemic in New York City, providing funds to community groups to support frontline health care workers, distribute vaccines, provide remote learning support to families in temporary housing, and help Chinatown businesses. Seeing the impact of this work, Dr. Wong changed the foundation’s approach: it now works on two fronts: partnering with local organizations to advance health equity in New York City and ultrarare disease research. Examples of the community engagement work include RaisingHealth, a pop-up clinic serving low-income immigrant families in Sunset Park; a street-based medicine team by Harlem United providing low-threshold medical services for people with opioid dependency; the Razom Ukrainian Response Initiative, which hosts monthly health events for Ukrainian refugees; and a STEM mentoring program for middle and high schoolers, which was co-created with Areté Education, BioBus, Hunts Point Alliance for Children, and Weill Cornell Medicine. Since 2020, the Foundation estimates its health equity initiatives have reached more than 94,000 New Yorkers.
The Special Tribute, which will be awarded to Denise Núñez, MD, recognizes the achievements of an individual or organization that has had a significant impact on health care in New York—and has earned the respect and admiration of UHF.
Denise Núñez, MD, is a champion for health equity in the Bronx's Latino community. As a pediatric intensivist at Montefiore Medical Center and founder of multiple pediatric clinics in the Bronx, she has been a tireless advocate for her patients, many of whom are part of underserved, Spanish-speaking populations. During the pandemic, she tackled the surge of misinformation in her community by creating social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube to reach thousands of people with vital facts about the virus, testing, and vaccines. Despite her busy clinical schedule, Dr. Núñez is committed to expanding her impact beyond medicine. In 2016, she founded Niño de la Caridad Foundation, a nonprofit that is improving the lives of predominantly Latino youth and families in the Bronx. The Foundation’s programs include an initiative for parents to help navigate the college admissions process; an after-school homework club for younger students; and the Leaders of the Future program for high schoolers, which focuses on college admissions, leadership development, and mentorship; a new mental health counseling program; and meals and nutrition workshops. Between 85% and 100% of students in these programs are accepted to college, many with scholarships. The Foundation estimates that since its inception, it has helped over 10,000 families in the Bronx.
Proceeds from the Gala support UHF’s work to build an effective and equitable health care system for every New Yorker. John Simons, chair of United Hospital Fund, served as event chair.
About United Hospital Fund
United Hospital Fund works to build an effective and equitable health care system for every New Yorker. An independent, nonprofit organization, we are a force for improvement, analyzing public policy to inform decision-makers, finding common ground among diverse stakeholders, and developing and supporting innovative programs that improve health and health care. We work to dismantle barriers in health policy and health care delivery that prevent equitable opportunities for health. For more on our initiatives and programs please visit our website at www.uhfnyc.org and follow us on LinkedIn, X., Instagram, and Facebook.