Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion

Local HeRO Award certificate and trophy received by CHERP Core Investigator, Aaron L. Schwartz, MD, PhD

Dr. Aaron Schwartz awarded Local HeRO Award—Clinical Individual from CMCVAMC

CHERP Core Investigator, Aaron L. Schwartz, MD, PhD, was awarded the Local HeRO Award—Clinical Individual from the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center (CMCVAMC) on June 27, 2024 at their 2024 High Reliability Organization (HRO) Safety Fair. The HeRO Award recognizes VA employees who have made significant contributions to creating a culture of safety within the organization.

Dr. Schwartz is a Staff Physician at CMCVAMC and Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Medical Ethics and Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on understanding and improving health care efficiency and quality. Dr. Schwartz was awarded the HeRO Award for his investigation into a case of a Veteran patient’s false positive alcohol tests while using a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor as part of his diabetes mellitus care. The patient was being tested through the city probation office and faced a probation violation because of these false positive toxicology results. Dr. Schwartz’s investigation and patient advocacy brought attention to the potential risks of improper handling and storage of specimens and the role SGLT2s have in fermentation of urinary glucose into ethanol.

The case study was published in The New England Journal of Medicine.