The Department of Medicine and the Research Development Group is excited to announce this year’s Max Cooper Award for Career Excellence in Research recipient. This award recognizes researchers that have gained national recognition for important research discoveries over their scientific career.

Stefan Kertesz, MD (Professor, Preventive Medicine) is the 2023 Max Cooper award recipient. Kertesz's major research focuses on the implementation of housing solutions, delivery of high quality primary care, and development of methods to measure the primary care experience of homeless patients and hold clinical care systems accountable to this population. He has also studied housing programs, addiction tailored primary care and issues related to suicide.

Kertesz is the author of over 140 publications, and he has an 18-year history of research funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and Veterans Administration on care and services for problems of addiction and drug abuse. An addiction scholar, Kertesz serves on multiple task forces and teams related to opioid safety. He also led a national petition that resulted in major changes to a planned policy set up by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Kertesz was nominated by Andrea Cherrington, MD, MPH (Professor and Interim Division Director of Preventive Medicine). Cherrington expresses that she nominated Kertesz because, "all of his research has required constant innovation, collaboration and persistence, with particular emphasis on persistence because there is no National Institute or nonprofit funder dedicated to improving care of people who are homeless." She continues to articulate that Kertesz embodies the principles by which Max Cooper approaches science, patients, trainees, and life because, "at a time when investigators and policymakers alike are striving to make the connect between science and societal impact, Stefan and his body of work provide an outstanding example for how research can impact policy and public health."