Inaugural award honors legacy of late heart doctor Alfred Valles

Last week the inaugural Alfred Valles, MD, Legacy Award was presented to Dr. Talal Arab, honoring both the work of Arab at Saint Agnes Medical Center and the legacy of the late Valles, who was killed in a car accident last fall.

Valles, a graduate of Kerman High School, attended Fresno State, the University of Wisconsin and the Mayo Clinic before returning to make an impact in the Valley, serving as a leading heart doctor, colleague and educator for doctors at The Heart Group .

Saint Agnes has recognized physicians with the Champion in Care Award since 2009. Valles, who received the award in 2019, will continue to see his legacy honored with the renaming of the award to honor his work at the hospital and in the community.

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Arab was selected from a pool of 29 nominees, and was cited for often going above and beyond to support patients at the hospital, providing nurses assistance administering medication, performing CPR and, on one occasion, feeding a patient breakfast during a busy shift.

“It’s always an honor to be voted by your nurses and colleagues as the physician of the year. We had a good attendance of all those that wanted to honor Dr. Valles and his loving memory in addition to celebrating Dr Arab,” sais John Evanko, MD, Chief Medical Officer.

At last Thursday’s ceremony, Saint Agnes Leaders, Board of Directors and Medical Executives were joined by Valles’ family to present Arab with the award.

“Today I was awarded a great honor,” Arab said. “When you come into work, you don’t think about things like this, but to win an award among all our amazing colleagues here means a great deal to me.”