Andrea Shaw, MD, medical director of Upstate University Hospital’s Center for International Health, has been honored with the President’s Award by Catholic Charities of Onondaga County. She received the award at the agency’s House of Providence award celebration earlier this month.

Shaw and her medical team provide care to families who come through Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement program. She oversees a weekly wellness clinic at the Refugee Resettlement program, offering blood pressure and diabetes screenings for new arrivals—many of whom have undiagnosed conditions.

This clinic grew out of her efforts to screen refugees for COVID during the pandemic. For more than a year, COVID screening clinics were conducted weekly at Northside CYO by Shaw and her team at Upstate, working in concert with Catholic Charities’ multilingual peer navigators. More than 1,000 individuals were screened. Once COVID vaccines became available, Shaw partnered with Catholic Charities to provide COVID vaccination clinics, serving almost 1,000 people to date, with new clinics every month.

Shaw and her team also created a clinic for Afghan humanitarian parolees during the Afghan resettlement effort and saw close to 75 percent of the Afghans who came to Syracuse.

In honoring Shaw, Catholic Charities highlighted her commitment to ensuring refugees have a healthy start to their new lives in Syracuse.

“Throughout her partnerships with us, Dr. Shaw takes texts and late-night phone calls about emergency health issues among the refugee populations, even making home visits when necessary. She has been at our side throughout every tough medical case. She is a critical, faithful contact for our Refugee Resettlement staff when they encounter children in need of medical attention.

“The area’s resettlement rates rank among the highest in the country, and Dr. Shaw’s continued mission to serve the refugee communities is of tremendous value to countless lives,” the agency continued.

Upstate’s Center for International Health is located in the Nappi Wellness Institute.

Shaw holds faculty appointments in Pediatrics, Emergency Medicine, Medicine and Public Health and Preventive Medicine.

Caption: Andrea Shaw, MD, received the 2004 President's Award from Catholic Charities of Onondaga County.