Mooney Receives 2024 Walter A. Franck Physician Excellence Award

COOPERSTOWN—Eric Mooney, MD, senior attending physician in Bassett Healthcare Network’s Department of Plastics and Reconstructive Surgery, is the recipient of the 2024 Walter A. Franck Physician Excellence Award.

“This was surprising—I know and work with many providers who are worthy of this distinction,” said Dr. Mooney. “It is also a huge honor. I know Dr. Franck personally, having worked with him many years before his retirement. It is pleasing enough just to have been his colleague.”

The Franck award is among the most prestigious recognitions awarded to caregivers. It recognizes a physician, nominated by peers, who exemplifies excellence in the areas of clinical care, scholarship and citizenship. Dr. Mooney’s multiple nominations, submitted by his colleagues, emphatically commend him in all three areas.

“Dr. Mooney’s skills are renowned. He practices as a true artist, setting the standard for excellence in all aspects of surgery.”

“Dr. Mooney treats each patient with great compassion, seemingly as if they were a member of his family… Eric is someone you can bring a surgical question or challenge to without any feeling of inferiority or inadequacy. He unimposingly offers ideas and is open to better solutions.”

“Eric is just a very kind person with a great sense of humor. In our community, he has coached youth soccer for many years and been on the Cooperstown Food Pantry Board for nearly 10 years. In our larger world community, he participated in over 25 medical mission trips as a part of volunteer teams traveling to developing countries to provide surgeries to the underserved, and train local surgeons.”

“My fellow colleagues are one of the main reasons why I’ve made Bassett my professional home for almost 27 years,” said Dr. Mooney. “In my division, we help and cover for each other, rather than competing against one another. Working in a department that primarily focuses on reconstructive work, I also get to connect with many other specialties, like Cancer Services. I am surrounded by wonderful people to work with.”

Medical missions have been an important highlight of Dr. Mooney’s career.

“I made my first trip to perform surgery abroad to Bangladesh in the mid-1990s. Once I was here, Tom Huntsman introduced me to the organization Resurge. I’ve been on dozens of trips since to Tanzania, Vietnam, Nepal, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, China, and India to rebuild after burns, reconstruct cleft lips and pallets, and repair hands. I am very thankful Bassett has given me the opportunity to do that work.”

Dr. Mooney also feels particularly honored to receive an award honoring Dr. Walter A. Franck. Dr. Franck is a retired rheumatologist who provided exceptional care for more than four decades and served as senior associate dean at Bassett’s Columbia Medical School program until his retirement in 2014.

“Dr. Franck is a remarkable physician,” Dr. Mooney said. “In fact, on my last trip to Tanzania, I worked with an anesthesiologist who completed his residency here at Bassett Medical Center. He shared with me a story about Dr. Franck’s personal attention as a hospital leader that he says has profoundly shaped his own doctoring to this day.

“It is a huge honor to receive an award named for someone with such a living legacy. It’s also a good reminder to us as healthcare providers: Our impact on others is much bigger than we realize,” Dr. Mooney added.