UofL honors David Novak and family

In recognition of their outstanding support to the University of Louisville Department of Pediatrics, the University of Louisville today honored David Novak, his family and the Lift-A-Life Foundation by naming its new pediatrics medical office building the Novak Center for Children’s Health.

The Novak Center for Children’s Health is scheduled to open to patients in July 2018. The eight-story, 176,000-square-foot building is the first new health care facility in the Louisville Medical Center in nearly a decade.

“David Novak and his family continually demonstrate their strong commitment to the well-being of the children of Kentucky and beyond,” said Gregory C. Postel, MD, interim president of the University of Louisville. “It is not just symbolic, but appropriate that one of the area’s premiere pediatric health care centers be named in their honor.”

In addition to financial support toward the construction of the Novak Center for Children’s Health, the Novak Family and the Lift-A-Life Foundation have been instrumental in the creation and growth of the Wendy Novak Diabetes Center, which will have its outpatient services based in the new facility.

“At the University of Louisville, and through its primary children’s partner in Norton Healthcare, we have some of the premiere health care providers in the nation,” Novak said. “We now will have the world-class outpatient facility to match the level of care our children receive.”

One of the significant advantages of the new facility will be the ability for patients to see all their childhood health providers in a single location. Currently, patients and their caregivers oftentimes must travel to multiple buildings in the medical center to see providers.

The story of Noah Barone and his family demonstrates the significant change the new facility will make in the lives of patients and their families and caregivers. Since 2006, he has been fighting a rare brain disorder that has required him seeing providers in hematology, ophthalmology, neurology and more.

“Everyone person who has helped provide for Noah through the years has been exceptional,” said Geneva Barone, Noah’s mother. “At times, it has been inconvenient having to go to the varying locations to see everyone. To have everyone in a single location, and knowing that we will not have to travel throughout the medical center is wonderful. While everyone makes us feel like family, to have a single location to visit will be like having a medical home.”

“We are building the future of pediatric health care right here in Louisville,” said Charles Woods, MD, interim chair of the UofL Department of Pediatrics. “This facility will enable us to transform how we deliver care by having our multidisciplinary teams located in one space so they can meet simultaneously with the patients and their families. This will eliminate substantial inconvenient delays and obstacles in our patients receiving the very best of care in the most time way possible.”

David Novak served as CEO of Louisville-based Yum! Brands from 1999 to 2016. He and his family established the Wendy Novak Diabetes Center in 2015. 

Check out video from the naming ceremony: