Environmental Factor, January 2007, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

Institute Honors Employee Achievements

By Eddy Ball
January 2007

David Schwartz, Perry Blackshear, Dennis Lang and Marc Hollander, and Samuel Wilson

Schwartz was joined on stage by (from left) Director of Clinical Research Perry Blackshear, M.D., Acting DERT Director Dennis Lang, Ph.D., Associate Director for Management Marc Hollander and Deputy Director Samuel Wilson, M.D. (Photo courtesy of Steve McCaw)

News Director Robin Mackar, shown with Schwartz, was the first recipient honored at the ceremony. (Photo courtesy of Steve McCaw)

Patricia Chulada, Paivi Salo, Liam O'Fallon and Micheal Humble with David Schwartz

Schwartz recognized Patricia Chulada, Ph.D., Paivi Salo, Ph.D., Liam O'Fallon and Michael Humble, Ph.D., for their successful Discovery Channel show on mold and the environment. (Photo courtesy of Steve McCaw)

Schwartz presented 13 post-doctoral fellows with cash awards and recognition for research excellence. (Photo courtesy of Steve McCaw)

On the afternoon of December 14, NIEHS honored employee achievements at the 2006 Director's Annual Honor Awards Ceremony in Rodbell Auditorium. Director David A. Schwartz, M.D., addressed an unusually well-dressed audience of Honor Award Winners and colleagues. Along with other NIEHS leaders, Schwartz presented award plaques and cash prizes to scores of people whose individual and group efforts had helped NIEHS move forward and enjoy a highly successful year.

"This is really a time for us to celebrate our joint accomplishments and also our individual accomplishments," Schwartz told the audience. "I just want to tell you, as director of the Institute, how proud I am to lead the Institute and how thankful I am for the support that all of you have provided."

The NIH Merit Awards recognized individual and group accomplishments in the Office of the Director (OD), Office of Management (OM), Division of Extramural Research and Training (DERT) and Division of Intramural Research (DIR). In addition, employees won awards for collaborative efforts across divisions, accomplishments as unsung heroes and on the basis of peer nominations.

Thirteen post-doctoral fellows won stipends of $1,000 each for professional development as part of the Fellows Award for Research Excellence (FARE) Awards, and a special category honored employees with the 2006 DHHS Secretary's Award for Distinguished Service for dedicated support for the health and safety of victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita along the Gulf Coast. Closing out the ceremony were the NIH Director's Award and awards to 17 employees for 30 years of Service Recognition.

OM Analyst Diane Crawford organized the annual event.

OD: NIH Director's Award Winners
Individuals: Robin M. Mackar, Brenda Weiss. Ph.D., Sheila Newton, Ph.D., Davenport Robertson, M.S.L.S., Allen Dearry, Ph.D., Larry Wright, Ph.D., M.S.L.S., and Angie Sanders.

Collaborative Effort Across Divisions: Marc. S. Hollander, Allen Dearry, Ph.D., Steve Akiyama, Ph.D,. Richard A. Freed, Nancy Stegman, Joseph Hughes and Mary Wolfe, Ph.D.

OM: NIH Director's Award Winners
Individuals: Clarence Gibson, Dick Sloan and Rich Freed.

Groups: Scott Merkle, Christopher Hunt, Jr, Diane Crawford, William Fitzgerald, Deloris Anderson and Valeria Shropshire; Kimberly S. Peterson, Mitsue M. Parrish and Kathryn W. Woods; Mary E. Butts, Vicki T. Grigston, Laurie K. Johnson, Vanessa R. Knight and Susan H. Hart.

Collaborative Effort Across Divisions Richard A. Freed, Ellen Moul, Michael Spencer, Charletta Fowler, Margarita Roque, Bruce Wiggins, Stephanie A. Jones and Connie C. Riley.

DERT: NIH Director's Award Winners
Individuals: Cindy P. Lawler, Ph.D.

Groups: Anne Sassaman, Ph.D., Dennis Lang, Ph.D., Janice Allen, Ph.D., Carol Shreffler, Ph.D., and J. Patrick Mastin, Ph.D.; Kimberly McAllister, Ph.D., Janice Allen, Ph.D., Jerry Phelps, Cindy Lawler, Ph.D., Kimberly Gray, Ph.D., David Balshaw, Ph.D., Jerry Heindel, Ph.D., and Claudia Thompson, Ph.D.; Elizabeth McNair and Michelle Owens.

DIR: NIH Director's Award Winners
Individuals: Deborah McCarley; Lisa F. Rogers; Michael D. Shelby, Ph.D.

Groups: Mike Tyson, Roy Reter and John Grovenstein; Kristine Witt, Ph.D., Raymond Tice, Ph.D., and Cynthia Smith, Ph.D.

Collaborative Effort Across Divisions: Michael Humble, Ph.D., Liam O'Fallon, Paivi Salo, Ph.D., and Patricia Chulada, Ph.D.

Unsung Heroes
Bonnie Allen, Leona Maghan and Denise Lasko

PEER Awards
Ronnie L. Dunn, Leesa Deterding, Ph.D., Christine Alston and Lars C. Pedersen, Ph.D.

DHHS Secretary's Award for Distinguished Service
Samuel Arbes, Ph.D., Gwen Collman, Ph.D., Diane Forsythe, D.V.M., Mary Grant,.D.V.M., Angie Sanders, William Stokes, D.V.M., Claudia Thompson, Ph.D., Samuel Wilson, M.D., Beth Anderson, Allen Dearry, Ph.D., Richard Freed, Joseph Hughes, Stella Sieber, William Suk, Ph.D., Brenda Weis, Ph.D., and Mary Wolfe, Ph.D.

FARE Awards
Sayura Aoyagi, Ph.D., Mercedes E. Arana, Ph.D., Jeffrey W. Card, Ph.D., Miguel Garcia-Diaz, Ph.D., Yu-Ying He, Ph.D., Kellen L. Meadows, Ph.D., Anita J. Reddy, Ph.D., Kathleen A. Smoak, Ph.D., Yuan Wang, Ph.D., Sufen Yang, Ph.D., Bryan L. Betz, Ph.D., Michelle L. Block, Ph.D., Shannon L. Dallas, Ph.D., Deborah A. Greer, Ph.D., Shannon F. Holmes, Ph.D., Zachary F. Pursell, Ph.D., Tina M. Saldana, Ph.D., Krisztian Stadler, Ph.D., Zongli Xu, Ph.D., and Eda Yildirim, Ph.D.

NIH Director's Award
Connie Riley - Administrative
Thomas Kunkel, Ph.D. - Scientific/Medical
William Copeland, Ph.D. - Mentoring

30 years of Service Recognition
Mary Alexander, Barbara Burkhart, Ph.D., James Dix, Donald Gula, Susan Johnson, Charle League, Leroy Long, Denise Orzech, John Pritchard, Ph.D., Colleen Anna, William Caspary, Ph.D., Beth Gladen, Ph.D., Laurie Johnson, Kenneth Korach, Ph.D., Edward Lebetkin, Scott Merkle, John Peterson, Jr.

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