Dr. Al Connors and Dr. Mimi Lam: A Legacy of Care, Commitment and Community

On March 31, 2026, the MetroHealth community gathered for a moment that beautifully combined celebration, legacy and academic excellence: the investiture of Dr. J. Daryl Thornton, Division Director of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, and the Director of the Center for Health Equity, Engagement, Education and Research, as the inaugural Mary Elizabeth Connors Professor in Critical Care Research.

The ceremony was a recognition of Dr. Thornton’s exceptional contributions to pulmonary and critical care medicine and a tribute to the extraordinary generosity and vision of Dr. Alfred F. “Al” Connors, Jr. and his wife, Dr. Mildred “Mimi” Lam.

This endowed professorship — one of five established by Drs. Connors and Lam – stands as a living testament to their lifelong commitment to MetroHealth, our mission, our patients, our community, and the generations of physicians, nurses and staff that serve this mission.

Two Lifetimes of Service to MetroHealth

For more than five decades, Dr. Connors and Dr. Lam have been integral to the fabric of MetroHealth. Dr. Lam arrived as an intern in 1973 and Dr. Connors in 1974 and quickly embraced the organization’s mission –delivering exceptional care to every member of the community, regardless of circumstance. That commitment became the foundation of their enduring careers.

They met during their residency and married in 1978, forming a partnership rooted in shared purpose. Their dedication to patient care, the education of medical students, residents and fellows, and service to the community became the center of a partnership that has now spanned decades.

Dr. Connors trained at MetroHealth under a remarkable group of physician-leaders who helped shape his approach to medicine and education. He went on to become one of MetroHealth’s most influential educators, mentoring hundreds of residents, fellows and junior faculty. He often reflects that preparing the next generation of physicians has been one of the greatest privileges of his career.

Over the years, his leadership and impact have spanned numerous roles, including pulmonary and critical care physician, founding Director of the Medical Intensive Care Unit, nationally respected researcher in critical care and end-of-life care, Chair of the Department of Medicine, Executive Vice President, Chief Clinical Officer, Chief Academic Officer and Chief Quality Officer. Since 2009, he has also served as a dedicated member of The MetroHealth Foundation Board.

Throughout his career, Dr. Connors has helped shape MetroHealth’s direction in lasting ways—clinically, academically and operationally. He championed the system’s deep, enduring partnership with the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and played a key role in expanding MetroHealth from a primarily Main Campus-based system into a fully integrated network with more than 20 sites across Cuyahoga County, now serving hundreds of thousands of patients each year.

Dr. Lam has also built a remarkable career at both MetroHealth and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. She remains deeply engaged in clinical care as an active nephrologist, attending on the inpatient Nephrology service, caring for patients on hemodialysis across multiple dialysis units and seeing patients in the nephrology clinic. A beloved teacher of medical students, residents and fellows, she has directed Renal Physiology education at the CWRU School of Medicine since the 1980s. In recognition of her extraordinary impact, she was awarded the Kaiser Permanente Excellence in Teaching Award, the highest teaching honor at the School of Medicine.

Why They Give

For Drs. Connors and Lam, philanthropy has never been about recognition. It has always been about responsibility to the community, to our patients, to future trainees and to the mission that shaped their lives.

“We gained so much from MetroHealth,” Dr. Connors said. “This place shaped our lives as physicians and as people. We want to make sure MetroHealth is strong 100 years from now — still caring for the people who need it most.”

MetroHealth’s academic mission is central to that belief. As both a major teaching hospital and public safety‑net health system, excellence in education and research is not optional — it is essential.

Dr. Connors has long understood that the strength of MetroHealth’s faculty is what ultimately protects patient care. That is why endowed professorships matter so deeply.

Endowed professorships, he says, are one of the most powerful ways to ensure the mission endures. “These funds make sure we can support research, education and excellence no matter what’s happening financially,” he explained. “That’s how you protect quality. That’s how you ensure MetroHealth continues to attract the best and brightest.”

As someone who trained here, hired here and mentored generations of physicians here, he knows firsthand how vital it is that MetroHealth remains a place where brilliant, mission‑driven clinicians want to build their careers.

Why Critical Care

Dr. Connors’ own career as a pulmonary and critical care physician makes this professorship especially meaningful. He created MetroHealth’s first MICU in the 1980s, led critical care for many years and hired several of the leaders who shape the field at MetroHealth – including Dr. J. Daryl Thornton, the inaugural chairholder.

Supporting critical care research, he says, is a way to honor the work that has defined his professional life. “We take care of people at their sickest. Supporting that kind of work matters.”

A Tribute to Mary Elizabeth Connors

The professorship is named in honor of Mary Elizabeth Connors, Al’s mother – a brilliant, education‑focused New Yorker born into a large Irish immigrant family. She studied at Hunter College and Fordham before raising eight children while her husband served in the Navy during World War II.

“My mother was remarkable,” Dr. Connors said. “Quiet strength. Sharp mind. She influenced all of us.”

Mary Elizabeth was also famously skeptical of doctors. “Doctors don’t know everything,” she’d often say, making the professorship’s title a point of affectionate humor within the family.

“She’d smile at it,” he said. “I know she would.”

A Call to Others

Drs. Connors and Lam hope their gift will inspire others to support MetroHealth, especially physicians who understand firsthand the importance of the health system’s mission.

“People at Metro already give so much of themselves every day, but those who understand our mission best know how important it is to support it. We want to encourage that,” Drs. Connors and Lam shared.

The couple emphasizes that endowments are among the most powerful ways to ensure MetroHealth continues to serve with excellence for generations.

“Endowments grow with inflation, they support their purpose year after year, and they create stability for the institution. It’s the best possible way to make a long-term difference.”

Enduring Impact

Through their extraordinary generosity, Dr. Connors and Lam are helping secure MetroHealth’s future – strengthening academic medicine, supporting innovative research and ensuring that thousands of patients benefit from exceptional care for generations to come.

Their legacy is one of devotion: to MetroHealth, to education, to community and to the patients and families who depend on all three.

For more information, please contact Greg Sanders, Vice President of Philanthropy, at 440-592-1319 or gsanders@metrohealth.org.