2011 Premier to honor Levesque, Trivikram

Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center will honor the Rev. Joseph L. Levesque, C.M., president of Niagara University, and Ajit Trivikram, M.D., for their service to the hospital and community at the 2010 Premier.

 Levesque has served as president of Niagara University since January 2000. Under his leadership, the university has emphasized instilling the value of service to others, especially the poor and marginalized in society, in students and other members of the campus community. To that end, the university has implemented such initiatives as Learn and Serve Niagara, ReNU Niagara and the Border Community Service program.

In addition, faculty and students in biology, biochemistry, chemistry and psychology have developed integrated research projects in numerous areas of study. Such efforts include a collaboration between Niagara's Academic Center for Integrated Sciences and The Heart Center of Niagara at Memorial regarding the noninvasive diagnosis and treatment of patients with coronary artery disease.

 Since 1965, Trivikram has played an important role in the lives of literally thousands of patients at Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center. Whether the surgeries he performed were routinely scheduled weeks in advance or deemed necessary on a moment's notice to save a life threatened by a medical emergency, Trivikram has always answered the call -- not an hour later or the next day but whenever the need arose.

"And he has done so not only with great knowledge and skill but with compassion, grace and good humor -- qualities that have endeared him to his patients, his fellow physicians and the entire Memorial Medical Center team," said Memorial President and CEO Joseph A. Ruffolo.

The 2011 Premier, Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center's annual black tie dinner and entertainment gala, will be held Saturday, Jan. 15, at the Seneca Niagara Casino and Hotel, 310 Fourth St., Niagara Falls. Proceeds from the event will benefit the state-designated stroke center and other healthcare programs and services at Memorial.

For information and sponsorship opportunities, call 278-4570.