W. Eugene Basanta, a law professor at Southern Illinois University, will receive the Austin Fleming Award on Friday, June 27, during the ISBA Annual Meeting in St. Louis.

Now in his 20th year as editor of Health Care Lawyer, the newsletter of the Health Care Law Section, Basanta has produced 75 issues totaling 916 pages of timely substantive information on important developments in the practice.

The quality of the content of his newsletters has been as impressive as quantity of pages on which they are printed.

Special issues have been produced on the history and background of the Health Care Surrogate Act (1991), and the controversial corporate practice of medicine doctrine (1995).

“It is impossible to overstate Professor Basanta’s devotion to the publication of this extraordinary newsletter,” said his nominator, Champaign attorney Keith E. Emmons, a section council chair.

Current chair Nancy K. McKenna of Skokie, associate general counsel of Rush North Shore Medical Center, added that Basanta’s knowledge of health care law has resulted in development of an exceptional publication.

“Gene’s academic experience has brought a scholarly level of expertise and a valuable perspective to the newsletter,” she said in a supporting letter.

A member of the SIU law faculty since 1980, Basanta became a professor in 1992. He also teaches at the Department of Medical Humanities at the School of Medicine, and has served as interim dean and associate dean for academic affairs.

He is co-director of the SIU Center for Health Law and Policy and a past chair of the Law and Medicine Committee of the American Bar Association Section of Tort and Insurance Practice.

A member of Phi Beta Kappa, Basanta received his juris doctorate from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 1975 and a master of laws degree from the Temple University School of Law in 1980.

The American College of Legal Medicine honored him with a Gold Medal in 2006 and a President’s Award in 2005, and he has received teaching awards at SIU.

Basanta also is one of nine section and committee newsletter editors who will receive service awards during the ISBA Annual Meeting.

Editors to be honored

Newsletter Editor Service Award presentations include a 25-year plaque to Patrick J. Hughes of Springfield, for his work on the Human Rights Section publication. Other recipients are:

20 years: W. Eugene Basanta of Car-bon-dale, Health Care Law Section, and Michael R. Lied of Peoria, Labor and Employment Law Section.

10 years: Lewis F. Matuszewich of Crystal Lake, International and Immigration Law Section.

5 years: E. Lynn Grayson of Chicago, Committee on Women and the Law; Marlene A. Kurilla, Insurance Law Section; Edward M. Maloney of Skokie, Traffic Laws and Courts Section; James K. Weston of Wheaton, Mineral Law Section; Alexander P. White of Chicago, State and Local Taxation Section.