Kate Fitzpatrick Barnico '80 honored with Mary Kontos Care Champion Award for Cystic Fibrosis care excellence
Kate Fitzpatrick Barnico ’80, program nurse manager at the Boston Children’s Hospital
Cystic Fibrosis Center, received the Mary Kontos Care Champion Award from the Cystic
Fibrosis Foundation, the world’s leader in the fight against the disease. The award
“recognizes the contributions of non-physician members of a care team who demonstrate
a passion for excellence and commitment to the care of individuals with cystic fibrosis.”
She accepted the award in front of 3,000 attendees at the North American Cystic Fibrosis
Conference in Philadelphia in November 2022. 
Barnico graduated in 1980 from Skidmore’s nursing program, spending two years on the
Saratoga Springs campus and two years on Skidmore’s New York City nursing campus.
That same year, she started her career as a member of an adolescent medical unit team
at Boston Children’s Hospital, caring for some of the hospital’s sickest children,
including those with cystic fibrosis. At that time, the average life expectancy for
cystic fibrosis patients was age 15. “Today, thanks to the efforts of the Cystic Fibrosis
Foundation and the development of improved medications, it is age 53,” Barnico says.
Cystic fibrosis is a progressive genetic disease in which thick mucus affects the
lungs, pancreas, and other organs. About 40,000 children and adults across the United
States live with the disease. “I love my work. I still have the fire of my youth,
and I now have the wisdom that comes with age and experience,” says Barnico, who has
been in her current position since 2008 in one of the largest cystic fibrosis centers
in the nation. “Every day, I feel like the staff and I make a difference in the lives
of our patients and their families.”
