School of Medicine staff members honored with 2020, 2021 service awards
Dean, Faculty Practice Plan celebrate staff for research and operations support, clinical service
Matt MillerWashington University Medical Campus leaders have chosen staff members to honor with service awards for their work and dedication during 2020 and 2021.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 and 2021 have been like nothing before. As the Washington University Medical Campus emerges from the intensity of the pandemic, Medical Campus leaders have chosen staff members to honor with service awards for their work and dedication during these two trying years.
“It is astounding to look back and consider all that we have been through and all that academic medicine was able to accomplish this year, under such extreme adversity,” said David H. Perlmutter, MD, executive vice chancellor for medical affairs, the George and Carol Bauer Dean of the School of Medicine, and the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Distinguished Professor. “We were asked to be adaptive and light on our feet. We were charged with taking care of the sickest and most vulnerable while also using our skills and expertise to develop better ways to prevent and treat a deadly virus. We were compelled to work as a team – not just doctors and nurses but the entirety of the academic medical center apparatus – even as it became so much harder to do so.”
Those challenges have made leaders on the Medical Campus beyond grateful for the many people who have worked so hard despite the many difficulties that presented themselves. To reflect some of that gratitude, Perlmutter has announced the 2020 and 2021 winners of the Research Support Award, Operations Staff Award and the Dean’s Distinguished Service Award.
In addition, Linda Postula, chief nursing executive for the Faculty Practice Plan, has announced the inaugural winners of the Kelley Mullen Clinical Service Award, which recognizes a clinical support staff member who consistently goes above and beyond. The award is named after Kelley Mullen, a gifted and beloved nurse-clinician and administrator who died in 2019.
Here are the honorees:
Research Support Award:
- 2021: Bradley Whitener, research specialist, Department of Medicine, infectious diseases.
- 2020: Olga Novak, senior clinical research coordinator, Department of Neurology.
Operations Staff Award:
- 2021: Debbie Pfeiffer, assistant to the chair, Department of Neuroscience
- 2020: Inez Edwards, custodian I, School of Medicine.
Dean’s Distinguished Service Award:
- 2021: Anne K. DeSchryver, director of business operations, Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University Pain Center.
- 2020: Lisa Koester, nurse practitioner, Department of Medicine, renal.
Kelley Mullen Clinical Service Award:
- 2021: Kathy Bradley, clinical administrator, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.
- 2020: Laura Kuchnicki, clinical administrator, Department of Neurology.
