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founders and jacoby angel awards

Every two years awards are given to members in the CF Community. Our CF Roundtable® readers nominate individuals who make outstanding contributions to the CF Community. The USACFA Board of Directors votes on the nominees. Nominations will be accepted in the summer of 2022 with the Award Ceremony in the fall. Click here to learn about previous award ceremonies.

deadline:
March 1, 2024
The jacoby angel award
cf roundtable founders award

The Jacoby Angel Award is presented to a person with cystic fibrosis who is making a difference in the lives of one or more people with or without CF. The award is named in memory of Dr. Jack Jacoby who was a CF physician at the St. Vincent’s CF Center in New York City for more than 15 years from 1982 – 1997. Dr. Jacoby had CF and used his own experience living with the disease to provide exceptional medical care to his patients. Dr. Jacoby’s patients still talk about the significant impact he had on their lives and still refer to him as an angel sent to help them fight the effect of CF on their lives. Dr. Jacoby always put the needs of others above his own needs d worked tirelessly to bring comfort and relief to his patients. He was the medical advisor for USACFA and wrote a medical column for CF Roundtable for many years. We look forward to receiving nominations for the Jacoby Angel Award for people who have followed in the footsteps of the award’s namesake, Dr. Jack Jacoby, by being people with CF who dedicate themselves to helping others.

 

Past Jacoby Angel winners include: Michelle Compton, Susan Burroughs, Robyn Petras, Pammie Post, Jerry Cahill, Isabel Stenzel Byrnes and Dr. Paul Quinton.

The Founders Award recognizes a person who has made an outstanding contribution to the adult CF community. The nominee can be someone with or without CF. The award was named in honor of the group of adults with CF who founded the US Adult CF Association (USACFA) and created CF Roundtable®. They worked tirelessly to bring information to the adult CF community at a time when there was no Internet and no efforts to connect adults with CF and provide information and support to the adult CF community.

 

Past recipients of the Founders Award include: Dr. Jerry Nick, Dr. James Yankaskas, Robyn Petras, Dorothy Hello, James Passamano, Dr. Jennifer Taylor-Cousar and Cathy Chacon.

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2015 award breakfast and candle lighting ceremony

The US Adult CF Association held its Award Ceremony to present the organization’s 2015 Jacoby Angel Award and 2015 Founders Award. The ceremony was held in Phoenix, Arizona on October 9, 2015 during the North American CF Conference and had 102 in attendance. Watch the award ceremony by clicking on the link at the end of this blog post. The five Founders Award nominees were honored and included Dr. Michael Boyle, Jessica Martens, Connie St. Clair, Marion Jones and James Passamano.

 

The Founders award was presented to James Passamano. James is a partner in the law firm of Sufian & Passamano and has spent the past 20 years advocating for the rights of people with CF.

 

James successfully brought a federal civil rights case

pro bono against Arkansas Medicaid in 2014/2015 regarding the provision of coverage for medically necessary treatment. The case is regarded as one of the most significant victories for the rights of Medicaid beneficiaries in the United States. The case also strengthened the ability of all people with CF to gain access to the treatment they need to fight CF.

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The four Jacoby Angel Award nominees were honored and included Isabel Stenzel Byrnes, Emily Kramer-Golinkoff, William Elder, Jr. and Emily Schiller. The Jacoby Angel Award was presented to Isabel Stenzel-Byrnes. Isabel has worked to raise awareness about CF since childhood. She is the co-author of the best selling book The Power of Two and the co-star of the documentary The Power of Two portraying the lives of twin sisters with CF and their journey through lung transplant. Isabel was instrumental with her sister Anabel in changing a Japanese law that prevented people with CF in Japan from gaining access to life saving CF medications. Isabel is a longtime volunteer for CFRI and the U.S. Transplant Games and is a hospice social worker.

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The award ceremony also included a candle lighting ceremony which honored the memory of Dr. Jacoby, the founders of our organization, Catherine Martinet and Pammie Post who were founder-like in their contributions to USACFA.

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We honored some long time supporters of USACFA and the CF adult community by asking them to be candle lighters: Dr. Pat Walker, Dr. Berdella, Joan Finnegan Brooks, Dr. Marcia Katz, Dr. Noreen Henig, Dr. Ahmet Uluer, Dr. James Yankaskas, Dr. Julie Biller, Dr. Jeff Wine and Marlene Wine, Paula and Debbie Motenko. The attendees were asked to think about the memory of a person with CF who had inspired them or who inspires them now as the candles were lit.

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The award ceremony included recognition of past Founders Award winners Dr. Nick and Dr Yankaskas and 15 CF Center social workers were called to the front and presented with small gifts as a token of appreciation for their dedication to helping adults with CF. The award ceremony was a memorable event that left many attendees visibly moved by the stories of dedication to the CF community the USACFA award nominees, recipients and founders exemplify. Many in attendance later remarked the award ceremony was one of the most memorable events they had attended.

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