News

Eskenazi Health Foundation and St. Margaret’s Hospital Guild are proud to celebrate Megan Porter, M.Ed., MSW, LSW, and Claire Willard, M.D., as co-recipients of the 2025 Achievement in Medicine (AIM) Award, presented by St. Margaret’s Hospital Guild and Versiti Blood Center of Indiana. The AIM Award honors an Eskenazi Health team member who exemplifies excellence in caring for the community.

Ms. Megan Porter, a social worker with Eskenazi Health Palliative Care and the program’s hospice coordinator, was recognized for her unwavering advocacy on behalf of vulnerable patients. Megan bridges care gaps, coordinates across teams and ensures social and medical needs are met with dignity and compassion. Her nominators described her as “tenacious, resourceful and deeply compassionate,” noting her ability to innovate, problem-solve and build community partnerships to advance equitable, personalized care.

Dr. Claire Willard, medical director of Eskenazi Health Palliative Care, was honored for her leadership, expertise and profound compassion. As chair of the Eskenazi Health Ethics Committee since 2017, she has guided patients, families and colleagues through the most complex and vulnerable moments in medicine. Colleagues praise her ability to deliver difficult information with clarity and compassion, ensuring patients feel cared for and respected. In addition to her service at Eskenazi Health, Dr. Willard is an assistant professor of clinical medicine at the IU School of Medicine.

For more than a century, St. Margaret’s Hospital Guild has stood alongside Eskenazi Health, raising nearly $15 million to advance care for patients and the community. Eskenazi Health Foundation is deeply grateful for their partnership in honoring the extraordinary work of Megan Porter and Dr. Claire Willard.