Cooper University Health Care announced that Dr. Stephen Trzeciak, the Edward D. Viner Endowed chief of medicine and medical director for the Adult Health Institute at Cooper, has received the inaugural Schwartz Compassion Champion Award.
The honor was presented by the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare at its 30th Annual Kenneth B. Schwartz Compassionate Healthcare Dinner in Boston, an event that raised over $900,000 to support compassionate patient care programs nationwide. Trzeciak, who also serves as professor and chair of medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, delivered the keynote address for the evening.
Trzeciak is internationally recognized as the co-author, alongside Cooper Co-CEO Dr. Anthony Mazzarelli, of the acclaimed book Compassionomics: The Revolutionary Scientific Evidence that Caring Makes a Difference. His career has been dedicated to establishing the scientific foundation of compassion in medicine, a principle that guides Cooper’s clinical culture.
“Dr. Trzeciak’s research and advocacy have fundamentally changed how we think about the role of compassion in health care,” Dr. Michael Gustafson, CEO of the Schwartz Center said. “His work has helped advance the scientific foundation for what we’ve always believed—that compassion is a critical component of effective medical care.”
Through his research and publications, Trzeciak has shown that compassion not only dramatically enhances the patient experience but also demonstrably improves clinical outcomes and strengthens the well-being of the health care team.
Accepting the award, Trzeciak stressed the necessity of integrating compassion into the medical field.
“The science is clear: compassion improves outcomes for patients and strengthens the well-being of health care teams,” Trzeciak said. “But beyond the data, compassion is what connects us to the very purpose of medicine—caring for people in their most vulnerable moments.”
His hope is that this recognition will further advance the science of compassion so that it becomes a core competency across all healthcare settings.
The Schwartz Center, which celebrated nearly 30 years of operation, supports health care organizations worldwide—including Cooper—with programs such as Schwartz Rounds®, which help clinicians reflect on the human side of medicine, strengthening resilience and enhancing compassionate care delivery.
Cooper University Health Care, headquartered in Camden, is a leading academic health system and South Jersey’s only Level 1 trauma center.
