Tilton Award Nomination Survey
Save The Date Oct 9, 2025 at the University and Whist Club
Delaware’s medical community recognizes Dr. Tilton as one of the most important physicians in our Nation’s history. Not only did this superpatriot, visionary and passionate Delawarean save countless lives during the Revolutionary War, but he also shaped the future medical landscape in the United States. Dr. Tilton was a military physician war hero who implemented innovative infectious disease precautions such as proper ventilation that still have relevance to today’s world. As a Regimental Surgeon in Gen. Washington’s army, he set up systems and protocols to ensure proper sanitation and prevent the spread of diseases such as smallpox and yellow fever. Dr. Tilton’s legacy is a man of many firsts—as both a physician and historical figure.
Tilton’s Key Accomplishments
- One of the first men to receive medical honors in America.
- A founder and first President of the Medical Society of Delaware.
- First president of the Delaware State Society of the Cincinnati.
- Delaware’s first Regimental Surgeon in the Continental Army.
- Delaware’s first Commissioner of Loans when the U.S. Treasury Department was created.
- Member of the Continental Congress in 1783.
- Appointed First Surgeon General of the U.S. Army during the War of 1812, where his foresight to track the impact of weather on soldiers’ health provided critical military intelligence and was the catalyst for today’s National Weather Service.
The awardee shall display the positive and outstanding characteristics of James Tilton, MD
- Leadership
- Vision
- Innovative and pioneering spirit
- Focused on medical excellence and advancing the profession of medicine
- Life-long commitment to service for the betterment of patients and our surrounding communities
- Courage, tenacity & perseverance
- Highly principled
- Statesperson and an ambassador for the profession of medicine
- The awardee shall be a member* of the Medical Society of Delaware to appropriately honor MSD’s first President.
*An eligible MSD member physician nominee is a Delaware licensed and fully practicing or retired MSD member, physician emeritus member, or other full-time member in good standing.
*You may determine if a physician is a member by checking the online MSD Physician finder and searching on Last Name or the fields listed. If the physician is not a member, you will see the message “There are no records.”
2017 - G. Dean MacEwan, MD, Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery, Nemours
2018 - Stephen Permut, MD, JD, Family Practice, St Francis, Temple University, MSD Past President, AMA Board of Trustees
2019 - Nicholas Petrelli, MD, Helen Graham Cancer Center
2020 - Garrett H.C. Colmorgen, MD, Director of Obstetrics and Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Bayhealth Medical Center and the Chair of Bayhealth Medical Group Operating Council
2021 – Ray A. Blackwell, M.D., MJ, Chief of Cardiac Surgery, and the W. Samuel Carpenter, III, Distinguished Chair of Cardiovascular Surgery for ChristianaCare
2022 – Richard Henderson, MD, Past President of the Medical Society of Delaware, Chair of the MSD Government Affairs Committee, and retired obstetrician/gynecologist from Saint Francis Healthcare in Wilmington
2023 – Nancy Fan, MD, two-term Past President of the Medical Society of Delaware, chair of the Delaware Health Care Commission
2024 – Louis E. Bartoshesky, MD, MPH – Retired Pediatrician/ Geneticist at ChristianaCare and Nemours Children’s Health, Past President of the DE Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and Chair of the American College of Medial Genetics