Dale Bratzler, D.O., MPH, who has been a leading voice on COVID-19 safety for Oklahoma, OU Health, and the University of Oklahoma, has been honored with the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award.
The award, bestowed by the OU College of Medicine, is given annually to a faculty member who demonstrates excellence in promoting scholarship, encouraging high standards of care, and integrity and commitment to compassionate care of patients and to the art and science of medical practice.
Bratzler, who serves as OU Health’s Chief Quality Officer, was named Chief COVID Officer for OU when the pandemic arrived. Bratzler is also professor and chair of the Department of Health Administration and Policy in the Hudson College of Public Health at the OU Health Sciences Center. In addition, he is a professor in the OU College of Medicine.
“2021 is a year that I hope bestows accolades on those who carried us through 2020. There is no one who has better portrayed the compassionate, scientifically proficient physician on the Health Sciences Center campus than Dale Bratzler,” read a letter of support for the award.
In addition to his ongoing work in response to COVID-19, Bratzler has been a campus leader for many initiatives. As Chief Quality Officer for OU Health, he oversees healthcare quality measurements and improvements. He is a leader in interprofessional education, which brings together students from many different healthcare disciplines to learn how to care for patients as a team, and he works with students as they see patients in Oklahoma City free clinics.
Bratzler provides expertise on population health, in which healthcare providers proactively work to improve the health of specific populations of people with the greatest needs. He is also a national expert on surgical site infections, which are the most common and expensive form of hospital-acquired infections. He was the lead author of a study that resulted in new guidelines being adopted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on steps to reduce the likelihood of surgical site infections.
OU Health — along with its academic partner, the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center — is the state’s only comprehensive academic health system of hospitals, clinics and centers of excellence. With 11,000 employees and more than 1,300 physicians and advanced practice providers, OU Health is home to Oklahoma’s largest physician network with a complete range of specialty care. OU Health serves Oklahoma and the region with the state’s only freestanding children’s hospital, the only National Cancer Institute-Designated OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center and Oklahoma’s flagship hospital, which serves as the state’s only Level 1 trauma center. Becker’s Hospital Review named University of Oklahoma Medical Center one of the 100 Great Hospitals in America for 2020. OU Health’s oncology program at Stephenson Cancer Center and University of Oklahoma Medical Center was named Oklahoma’s top facility for cancer care by U.S. News & World Report in its 2020-21 rankings. OU Health was also ranked by U.S. News & World Report as high performing in these specialties: Colon Surgery, COPD and Congestive Heart Failure. OU Health’s mission is to lead healthcare in patient care, education and research. To learn more, visit ouhealth.com.
