The Wichita Business Journal recently honored the 2025 Health Care Heroes, and this year's honorees include several KU School of Medicine-Wichita alumni, staff and faculty members, including one honored for lifetime achievement.

This is the 16th year for the awards, which recognize the exceptional professionals who work tirelessly to make health care better in Wichita and Kansas. This year's Health Care Heroes were honored during a Sept. 11 dinner at Mark Arts, where Marilee McBoyle-Wiesner, M.D., professor emerita in the Department of Surgery at KU School of Medicine-Wichita, received the Health Care Heroes award for lifetime achievement.

The first female board-certified surgeon in Kansas, specializing in breast care surgery, McBoyle-Wiesner has been a surgeon and educator for more than 45 years. She shared with the Wichita Business Journal that she has taught more than 1,000 medical students. McBoyle-Wiesner, an alumna of KU School of Medicine-Wichita, is a nationally recognized surgery educator for surgery residents and medical students, and led efforts to certify the Surgical Skills Lab as an accredited education institute by the American College of Surgeons. The lab, which is on the third floor of Ascension Via Christi St. Francis, was named in her honor. 

Those who have been mentored by McBoyle-Wiesner, including Theresa Cusick, M.D., clinical professor in the Department of Surgery, recall how she broke barriers for women – McBoyle-Wiesner was the only female surgeon in town when Cusick was a resident in the KUSM-Wichita program in 1994. McBoyle-Wiesner served as medical director for the Ascension Via Christi’s Wound Therapy and Hyperbaric Treatment Center. In October 2023, she was inducted as a full member of the American College of Surgeons’ Academy of Master Surgeon Educators®. At the time of her induction, Alex D. Ammar, M.D., professor and recently retired chair of the Department of Surgery, said, "… to my knowledge (she) is the first surgeon in the entire KU Surgery system to receive full member status.”

You can view all of this year’s honorees on the WBJ website. Below are Health Care Heroes award recipients listed under the category of the award.

Administrative Excellence Award

• Aaron Ryan, executive director of the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita Medical Practice Association

Emergency Care & First Responders

• Beth Heflin, M.D., assistant professor, Pediatrics

Physicians

• Erin Baxa, M.D., student and resident alumna, Family Medicine
• Nicholas Brown, M.D., volunteer clinical associate professor, student and resident alumnus, Surgery
• Saba Fatima, M.D., assistant professor, Pediatrics
• Cassie Karlsson, M.D., associate professor, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
• Bal Sharma, M.D., fellowship alumnus, Psychiatry

Below: Marilee McBoyle-Wiesner, M.D., and Nicholas Brown, M.D.