2013 Legacy of Life Awards Presented to Les & Reva Olson Family and Dr. John Burke

SALT LAKE CITY – The Les & Reva Olson Family is the recipient of the 2013 Heart and Lung Research Foundation’s Legacy of Life Award, given to eminent leaders with Utah ties for their contribution to the well-being of people everywhere.

In addition, John P. Burke, MD, chief of clinical epidemiology for Intermountain Medical Center, LDS Hospital, Alta View Hospital, Riverton Hospital and TOSH, is the recipient of the Foundation’s Legacy of Life Scientific Honoree Medallion for his pioneering efforts in critical care medicine, standardization of care, telemedicine and quality improvement efforts.

The Heart and Lung Research Foundation, a subsidiary of the Intermountain Research & Medical Foundation, gives the award at an annual benefit dinner that raises funds to advance cardiovascular and pulmonary health, not only in Utah, but worldwide.

The Les & Reva Olson Family are the founders and owners of the Les Olson Company. The company, a family owned and operated business that sells and services Sharp copiers, has served the communities of Utah and Nevada for over 50 years. From the very beginning Les focused his efforts on customer service, continually reminding his employees that he was not their boss, the customer was. Les and Reva always said, "Anyone can sell a machine, but if you can't provide service you're out of business. Service is our backbone!"

Dr. Burke is credited with major advances in reducing hospital infection rates, developing protocols to utilize electronic medical records to assist in advances in infectious disease management, and in pre-operative antibiotic administration at the surgical site to reduce infection rates.

Dr. Burke started his career as a resident at the Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital in internal medicine, followed by a fellowship at Boston City Hospital, and an internship back at Yale-New Haven. He’s a graduate of the University of Iowa School of Medicine, and is the author of more than 100 scientific publications and original articles. He’s the recipient of the Priscilla M. Mayden Award for outstanding contribution in the field of medical informatics and has been named one of the Best Doctors in America six different times. He has received the Osler’s Cloak Award for excellence in caring and curing from Intermountain Healthcare’s Advanced Training Program and was named Researcher of the Year at LDS Hospital in 1999.