PORTLAND - Larry Mullins, DHA, president and CEO of Samaritan Health Services is one of three recipients of the 2008 Oregon Health Forum's Leadership in Health awards. The awards, which will be presented at a dinner on Dec. 2, exemplify the organization's tradition of honoring exceptional Oregon leaders who have contributed to the health of Oregonians.

Mullins will receive the Lifetime Leadership Award. He was nominated by Sen. Frank Morse (R-Albany), a board member and former chairman of Samaritan Health Services.

"During his 17 years here [Mullins] has led the development of a truly exceptional regional health care system that now consists of five hospitals, 27 physician clinics, four health plans and a senior care facility," Morse wrote in his nomination.

Mullins has also spearheaded efforts to enhance graduate medical education and other workforce development programs in order to address access issues as well as critical shortages of health professionals. Toward that end, Samaritan Health Services has received accreditation to offer physician residency training in family practice, internal medicine and psychiatry beginning in July 2009, and earlier this year announced plans to develop a health sciences campus in Lebanon that includes a medical school in partnership with Pomona, Calif.-based Western University of Health Sciences.

The other winners are Thomas Aschenbrener, president of Northwest Health Foundation, for the Visionary Leadership Award, and Rev. Reneé Ward, founder and executive director of Chrysalis Ministries, a faith-based nonprofit agency, for the Community Leadership Award.

Past recipients of Oregon Health Forum's Leadership in Health awards include former Governor John Kitzhaber and Dr. Rick Wopat, of Lebanon.

Oregon Health Forum is dedicated to ensuring opportunities for all Oregonians to improve the health of their communities through dialogue, education and the dissemination of timely and relevant information. Oregon Health Forum strives to be the Northwest's leading resource for information and engagement on health policy and community health.