Sandy Arnold, MD, MSc, division chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and medical co-director for the Antimicrobial Stewardship at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, will receive the 2021 Community Service Award from the Margolin Hebrew Academy Feinstone Yeshiva of the South at its 71st Annual Scholarship Banquet June 20.
Dr. Arnold is being recognized for her efforts to help the school administrators develop an in-person-school plan for the fall of 2020 that incorporated safety measures, up-to-date science, and medical recommendations. Dr. Arnold was introduced to Rabbi Benjy Owen, Margolin’s head of school, in the summer of 2020 by Tracey Mendelson, MSN, NNP-BC, the vice president of Margolin’s Board of Trustees and a local health professional. This presented the opportunity for Dr. Arnold to work with the school in developing the fall plans that allowed the school’s 200 students, 90 family units, and over 60 faculty members to return to classes safely.
“Dr. Arnold and I were acquainted through the Memphis Jewish Community Center girls’ soccer league, where our daughters played together, and also through my work as a neonatal nurse practitioner, where she had been the consulting physician for several of my patients. I knew her to be extremely competent and kind with which to work,” said Mendelson, a 1996 graduate of UTHSC’s College of Nursing. “This summer was no different, and I think it really says a lot about UTHSC’s physicians, how they’re trained, and Dr. Arnold’s expertise.”
Dr. Arnold has been with UTHSC for almost 20 years and has been a professor and division chief in Pediatric Infectious Diseases since 2015. She received her medical degree from the University of Toronto in 1992, as well as a Master of Science degree in clinical epidemiology in 2003. Dr. Arnold is certified in pediatric infectious diseases by the American Board of Pediatrics and has worked with Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital’s COVID-19 Task Force on pandemic guidance and webinars for the Memphis community over the past year.
“I felt, and still do feel passionately about the need for children to be learning in a school setting, and I wanted this to be more prioritized,” Dr. Arnold said. “The Hebrew Academy, being a smaller school, had the opportunity to do this right, and I feel honored to have been able to help them accomplish what they did this last year.”
Each year, Margolin Hebrew Academy hosts a scholarship banquet to raise funds for the school. This year, it will host the banquet virtually. The virtual dinner features an awards ceremony, which includes Dr. Arnold’s award.