Cheryl Klass, MBA, BSN, RN, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Kaleida Health, received the Ozanam Medal at the 2023 President’s Dinner hosted by her alma mater Niagara University on November 9. Klass graduated from the Niagara University nursing program in 1977.
Vincent Callanan, MD, medical director of the Pediatric ENT Center at Oishei Children's Hospital (OCH), also received the Ozanam Medal.
“Caring hands and a loving heart, that's what I think about when I think about a nurse, and that's what I think about when I think about Cheryl Klass,” said Kaleida Health President and CEO Don Boyd in a video released by the university (see link below). “She has a unique way and a skill and ability to touch people and to understand their issue, what the challenge is, and then to help them think through what the path forward is that's going to be successful.”
Adnan Siddiqui, MD, Jacobs Institute CEO and director of neurological stroke services at the Gates Vascular Institute, said, “Medicine is a business, but it's a different kind of business that requires different kinds of leaders. I think Cheryl exemplifies that admirably by being somebody who came from the medical profession and then developed these administrative attributes down the road – but at the heart of it all, she still is a nurse.”
“They truly are a power couple,” said Kaleida Health Chief Administrative Office Michael Hughes, “but they would be the first to say, ‘Oh no, we're not,’ and I just think that speaks to their humility.”
The award is presented “in recognition and appreciation for extraordinary contributions and commitment to the mission of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, in the spirit of its founder Frederic Ozanam,” according to the university’s website. Klass will be leaving her position at Kaleida Health sometime after the first quarter of 2024, once her successor as COO is named and in place.
Cheryl A. Klass and Dr. Vincent Callanan receive the Ozanam Medal. Video produced by Niagara University.
