Richard Cantor, MD, the longtime director of Upstate University Hospital’s Pediatric Emergency Department, has been named the 2016 Physician of the Year by the New York American College of Emergency Physicians (New York ACEP). Cantor is a resident of Fayetteville.
The award recognizes Cantor’s dedication and commitment to the improvement of quality patient care and the advancement of emergency medicine in New York through clinical, research, educational and administrative activities. New York ACEP’s board of directors say recipients of the award have enhanced the state’s health care system and advanced the profession of emergency medicine.
Cantor is the second Upstate physician to receive the honor since it was introduced in 1994. John McCabe, MD, CEO of Upstate University Hospital and former chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine, received the honor in 1995.
Cantor, who serves as a professor in Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics, has directed Upstate pediatric emergency care since 1984 and recently presided over the opening of Upstate’s new expanded pediatric emergency department, the only dedicated pediatric emergency department in the region.
Cantor has been instrumental in enhancing care in the pediatric emergency department by introducing child life specialists to the unit. These specially trained individuals are experts in working with families and patients to lessen anxiety related to hospital visits and medical procedures. Upstate’s pediatric emergency department employs two child life specialists.
Cantor also serves as medical director of the Upstate Poison Center, one of only two such centers in the state. The poison center is a resource for the medical community and public on questions related to poisonings.
He is a sought-after presenter on pediatric emergency issues in the United States and abroad.
He has authored numerous articles on pediatric emergency care and poisonings in professional journals, as well as numerous chapters in medical textbooks.
Cantor also serves as director of the fellowship program in pediatric emergency medicine.
Cantor is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians.
He earned his undergraduate degree from SUNY Buffalo and his medical degree from Upstate, where he also completed his pediatric residency.
