Department of Internal Medicine Staff Members Recognized at First Annual Excellence Awards
On Friday, February 21, an audience of nominated staff members, their nominators, and various department and division leaders gathered to celebrate the department's first-ever Staff Excellence Awards. Though an awards ceremony has existed for faculty for many years, and more recently for Advanced Practice Clinicians, there has never been yearly awards dedicated solely to the department's staff members.
"We believe in recognizing and expressing appreciation for all contributions to the success of our department," said Aaron Bell, Director of Finance & Operations, and master of ceremonies for the afternoon’s event. "It is a privilege to honor some of the exceptional performances in 2019 by a few of many great colleagues. This staff recognition program aligns nicely with the feedback from the Staff World Cafe in 2018, and recent Waggl data."
Guests were treated to a lunch buffet, specialty U-themed desserts, and an awards ceremony to honor the final five winners from the pool of twenty-three total nominees. All nominations were scored blindly by a selection committee, consisting of department and division leadership, on three distinct categories: overall achievement and performance; personal interaction; and initiative and creativity.
“I speak on behalf of the committee when I say total scores were very close, and truly any of the nominees could have been among the final five winners,” Bell remarked during the ceremony’s opening statements. After much discussion between members of the selection committee, the final five winners were chosen and then announced during the ceremony. Each final winner received a personalized plaque and gift card.
Congratulations again to all our nominees, and to our final five winners! Read on to learn more about this year’s talented group of winners.
Winner #1 – Carrie Edlund
Carrie was nominated for this award by her colleague, Dr. Susan Zickmund. She is a Senior Research Technical Writer who supports the Division of Epidemiology and its affiliated VA Informatics, Decision-Enhancement, and Analytic Sciences (IDEAS) Center of Innovation.
Carrie’s experience writing about qualitative research nicely compliments the informatics expertise of the wide-range of investigators she serves across the Health system; she assists not only with the editing and reviewing of their work, but she has mastered technical skills that include table, survey and document design, troubleshooting Microsoft programs and bibliographic software. She has been a champion for methods of fostering patient engagement and for improving communication in the IDEAS Center. She is flexible, a picture of calm during grant time, and her enthusiasm for work is contagious.
To quote her nominator, Dr. Zickmund: “Simply put, Carrie is essential to the core function of our research, and thus, has gone above and beyond the original goals of her position, all to the betterment of health services research at the University of Utah.”
Winner #2 – Selma Lopez
Selma received a record six nominations from six members of her division, including: Drs. Ryan Murphy and Santosh Reddy, and APCs Alexander Gouttsoul, Zara Mahamat, Caryn Peters and Gene Scerbo. Her many nominations are a testament to her effectiveness and competency as the Hospitalist Coordinator for the Division of General Internal Medicine.
Selma is quoted as the “glue that holds together” the Hospitalist group; she is constantly managing a complicated and large group of MDs and APCs, and is often the first and last point of contact for virtually any issue in this group or the division. From putting together clinical schedules to responding to email issues in a timely manner to actively resolving issues, Selma embodies an employee who goes above and beyond the call of duty.
The Hospitalist group has seen a large increase of size in the past few years, and Selma has masterfully adapted the groups’ processes to ensure smooth on-boardings of APCs and faculty members. She is respectful, positive, and always has a smile on her face. Even when she is unsure of an answer to a question, she is considered wealth of knowledge who is able to find the next best person to contact.
To quote one of her nominators, Dr. Ryan Murphy: “When I describe everything Selma does for us to other departments and divisions within the School of Medicine, I am often met with incredulity and jealously; it would be a monumental challenge to have someone fill her shoes.”
Winner # 3 – Heather Parkin-Sokoloff
Heather is a Clinical Research Manager in the Department’s Research Administration team. She was nominated by her supervisor and colleague, Scott Low.
Heather’s tenacity and hard work on a recent multi-sponsored study turned a $1.2 million negative balance into a break-even/no loss project. This is an amazing accomplishment, especially considering she kept up with her other duties during this busy time. She is a master of process improvements, having developed the processes and templates for post-award management of sponsored clinical trials. Principle investigators now know in in detail the status of their projects, and can allow for the proper adjustments to be made in order to prevent a loss or negative balance – all thanks in part to Heather.
Heather has been described as a pleasure to work with, and is well-liked by her coworkers, and the faculty and staff she supports. She truly enjoys her work and likes to keep busy, often resulting in a large workload and at times very long hours.
Winner #4 – Kristina Stratford
Kristina is a Clinical Research Coordinator in the Division of Epidemiology. She was nominated by Drs. Lindsay Visnovsky and Catherine Loc-Carrillo, both also from the Division of Epidemiology.
Kristina is described as an extremely proactive and committed research coordinator. She has never looked at her job description and compared it to the additional work requested of her. She is an organizational juggernaut, balancing the many hours she travels for her work, respectfully pushing her investigators to meet deadlines, and the numerous small day-to-day tasks that keep her organization running smoothly and efficiently.
She embodies the spirit of our education mission, pushing herself to complete additional trainings such as the certified clinical research professional program and RATS courses, so she can keep learning and to be a wealth of knowledge for upcoming projects. She also encourages others to continue to improve their skills, and is known for passing along relevant training courses or grant writing opportunities to junior faculty so they can advance in their field.
Winner #5 – Carol Stevens
Carol was nominated by Dr. Sonja Raaum from the Division of General Internal Medicine. She is an Academic Program Manager in the Office of Education, and Clerkship Coordinator for our 3rd year medical students and the Advanced Internal Medicine 4th year students.
The Advanced Internal Medicine course was new when Carol started working with us, and she has absolutely been instrumental in its success. She stays on top of scheduling, coordinating and communicating with the students she oversees, ensuring their success along the way. Every task she undertakes gets completed with exceptional quality.
She is known for her ability to think critically, which has led to some major innovations within the curriculum. As class sizes have increased over the years, Carol has worked to allow her Advanced IM students to have additional experiences working in sub-specialties, which doubled the amount of clinical spots on the majority of rotations. While many employees have institutional knowledge, Carol is one of the few who is actually willing to put plans into action and improve processes along the way.
From left to right: Kristina Stratford, Carrie Edlund, Selma Lopez,
Heather Parkin-Sokoloff, Carol Stevens