Samuel A. Cassell, MD, was recognized earlier this month with the Jack B. McConnell, MD, Award for Excellence in Volunteerism, an honor awarded by the AMA Foundation to a senior physician who provides treatment to U.S. patients who lack access to care.
Medical trips to the Far East and Haiti led Dr. Cassell, to his post-retirement career as founding chair of the Bergen Volunteer Medical Initiative. In 2009, Dr. Cassell and a team of dedicated individuals created a five-day-a-week health center offering free health care for working low-income, uninsured residents of Bergen County, New Jersey. Five years into its existence, the Bergen Volunteer Medical Initiative has 65 medical volunteers and staff who care for more than 1,000 patients during 6,000 medical visits each year.
A retired internist with a sub-specialty in pulmonary medicine, Dr. Cassell entered medicine in 1965, accumulating a curriculum vitae packed with private practice, teaching and a number of leadership positions at Barnert Hospital in Paterson, New Jersey.
