Dr. Dianne Sawyer was presented with the Gold-Headed Cane Award by the McLennan County Medical Society at a banquet on Thursday, May 9 at the Lee Lockwood Library. This was the 20th year the member physicians of the McLennan County Medical Society nominated and voted for one of their colleagues to receive this award. Based on a tradition that originated in England in the 1600’s the qualifications of the recipient include professional standing, good citizenship and personal integrity and is a symbol of respect, truth, culture and art in the medical profession. Here in the United States, many larger cities have carried it on to honor an outstanding physician with a long history of commitment to quality medicine in their community.
Only the second female physician to receive this award, Dr. Sawyer attended Texas Women’s University before finishing medical school at UTMB in Galveston. She completed her residency in obstetrics/gynecology at St. Luke’s Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, where she graduated as Chief Resident before opening her own practice in Waco in 1986. In addition, Dr. Sawyer has served on the Board of the Hillcrest Family Health Clinics, Hillcrest Medical Center Foundation, Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest Foundation and American Cancer Society Medical Advisory Board, serving as Chair in 2005.
Active outside the Waco medical community, Dr. Sawyer has been a member of the Junior League of Waco since 1991, serving as President in 2002 as well as on the Waco Symphony Council since 2000, serving as President in 2009 and in 2019. Additionally, she has served two terms on the Waco Symphony Association Board.
Dr. Sawyer has been married to husband, Dr. J. Clay Sawyer, a retired psychiatrist, for 40 years.
read more