COOPERSTOWN — On Saturday, March 26, 8 p.m., Douglas DeLong, MD, MACP will receive the Dr. Larry Zaroff Man of Good Conscience Award from the American Medical Women’s Association at the 107th Annual AMWA Meeting, which runs today through Saturday, March 27. DeLong retired from Bassett Healthcare Network in Cooperstown in January.

The AMWA’s Dr. Larry Zaroff Man of Good Conscience Award is presented annually to a man who has been a champion and supporter of women in medicine. Zaroff, the announcement said, was a mentor to generations of physicians, medical students, and pre-medical students. 

A cardiac surgeon and later humanities professor at Stanford, Zaroff was an avid supporter of women in medicine at all stages of their career. His well-known courses always presented a special session devoted to the issues and challenges faced by women in medicine. AMWA Executive Director Eliza Lo Chin, MD, a longtime colleague and guest speaker at these sessions, established this award to honor Zaroff’s commitment to the advancement of women in medicine. 

DeLong has been a coach, mentor, and sponsor of women through his career, the announcement said, adding he has worked to create a just and equitable environment as an advocate in a variety of important areas that have had significant impacts for patients and healthcare professionals. DeLong held the academic rank of Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine in the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. He is emeritus past-chair of the Board of Regents of the American College of Physicians (ACP), where he helped to shepherd the key policy papers, “Achieving Gender Equity in Physician Compensation and Career Advancement,” and “Women’s Health Policy in the United States.”

Prior to his term on the ACP’s Board of Regents, DeLong served as chair of the Board of Governors and Governor of the New York Hudson Valley Chapter. DeLong spent four decades practicing general internal medicine; never in a town with more than one traffic light. He lives with his wife, Lynn, on a 250-acre tree farm in upstate New York and loves Nordic skiing, sailing and good eats. 

“I am honored to present the Dr. Larry Zaroff Man of Good Conscience Award to Dr. Douglas DeLong,” said AMWA President, Janice Werbinski, MD. “Dr. DeLong’s medical career has been exemplary in many ways, including his dedication to working in smaller communities, his commitment as a professor and mentor to many, and his leadership in the medical profession, including the extraordinary, sustained work he has done to help support women and the cause of equity in the medical profession.”