Cooper University Hospital congratulates Edward D. Viner, MD, an internal medicine clinician for more than 45 years, in receiving the Strittmatter Award presented by the Philadelphia Medical Society. The Strittmatter Award is presented to a Philadelphia physician who has made the most valuable contributions to the healing arts.
Dr. Viner graduated from Harvard College, Cum Laude, and received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where he was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine, followed by a two-year fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
His prestigious career began at Pennsylvania Hospital, where he spent 22 years and directed the Internal Medicine Residency Program and for two years served as Acting Chief of Medicine. He was also Head of the Section of Hematology/Oncology, Director of Fellowship Training in these disciplines and Co-Director of the Oncology Research Lab.
In 1975, Dr. Viner started the first hospice program in the Philadelphia region. His involvement stemmed from his personal experience as a critically ill patient in 1972. He has also contributed to the effort to improve end-of-life care, nationally, which led to an invitation to testify before the House Select Committee on Aging, in 1985.
In 1987, Dr. Viner became Chief of Medicine at Cooper University Hospital, a position he held for twenty years, during which time he built an academic Department of Medicine and started Cooper’s suburban practice network. Under his leadership, Cooper was the first Philadelphia regional health system to adopt a hospitalist system for the care of inpatients.
Dr. Viner was a member of Cooper’s Board of Trustees for many years, and in 2008, was named Chair of the Cooper Foundation and Senior Vice President for Institutional Advancement. In recognition of his contributions to Cooper, the hospital named its new 30-bed Intensive Care Unit for Dr. Viner. Also, in 2008, the Edward D. Viner, MD, Chair of Medicine was created.
Throughout his years at Cooper, Dr. Viner worked tenaciously towards the creation of a new medical school, and it is a source of great pride to him that the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, the nation’s 135th allopathic medical school, will admit its first class in August 2012. In recognition of these efforts, Dr. Viner was named the school’s Honorary First Dean in 2009. Dr. Viner is also Professor of Medicine and a Board Member of the new Cooper Medical School.
He has been physician to the Philadelphia Orchestra for more than 40 years and was physician to the Philadelphia Flyers Hockey Club from 1974-1987.
Dr. Viner has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors. He has regularly been on regional and national lists of Best Doctors, and has been listed in Who’s Who in America. In 1984, he received the Philadelphia Caring Award, stemming from his leadership role in developing Hospice Care. (This award has been subsequently presented to First Lady Roslyn Carter; Surgeon General C. Everett Koop; Dr. Elizabeth Kubler Ross; and Mayor Edward Rendell, among others.) At Pennsylvania Hospital, a teaching award has been established in honor of Dr. Viner. He also was the recipient of the Sol Sherry, MD, Teaching Award at Cooper. In addition, in 2003, Dr. Viner was named laureate of the New Jersey Chapter of the American College of Physicians and was subsequently elected to Mastership in the College.
Congratulations Dr. Viner on this outstanding recognition!