Faculty of Medicine Celebrates Staff Achievements
The Faculty of Medicine held its annual staff recognition barbeque to honour the efforts and hard work of the Faculty’s administrative, technical and research staff. The event, now in its third year, took place last month.
“This is our opportunity to recognize the good work that goes on in U of T Medicine. To celebrate your accomplishments and to share some pride in the work of our Faculty,” said Tim Neff, Chief Administrative Officer and the event’s emcee.
The event also marked Dean Trevor Young’s first staff recognition event since he began his role in January.
“Since I’ve become Dean, it’s become clear to me every day, in so many ways, that I stand on the shoulders of every person here,” said Young. “Without your work, there is no Faculty of Medicine. But because you do your work so well, we’ve done well as a Faculty.”
This year’s event honoured twenty Staff IMPACT Award winners:
The Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology’s Manager of Business and Administration, Christine Kreutzer, received the David Keeling Award for Administrative Excellence. Kreutzer was recognized for her efforts to increase graduate enrollment, create a new digital education library and for making communications a priority within her department.
Clare Mitchell, Director of Business and Administration in the Department of Medicine, won the Leadership Award. Mitchell is a new addition to the Department of Medicine, but her work creating a collegial and balanced work environment, supporting the professional development of staff and leading her staff to align with the priorities of the Faculty of Medicine have made a tremendous impact.
The New Employee Award went to the Institute of Medical Science’s Thesis and Examination Officer Sarah Topa. Since she began her job less than two years ago, Topa streamlined communications within her department, improved publications and programs within the department while supporting students as they complete their degrees.
Gabrielle Duchesne, the Office of Advancement’s Senior Development officer, received the Social Responsibility Award for demonstrating the Faculty’s commitment to social responsibility through volunteerism. Duchesne volunteers as a victim services crisis counsellor with the Toronto Police volunteer program and mentors professionals who have recently immigrated to Canada through the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council.
Wendy Horsfall, Pharmacology and Toxicology Research Associate, won the Laboratory Research Environment Award for her outstanding service to students and principal investigators. Horsfall has been part of the University’s scientific community for more than 20 years. Her attention to detail, excellence in practicing and demonstrating proper methodology are recognized and appreciated by her lab members.
The Quality Improvement Award was presented to Rob Page, IT Manager Rehabilitation Sciences. He helped create nine new web-based tools to improve his department’s efficiency. These range from tools to improve academic processes to a system that helps improve application review.
The Quality Improvement Team Award went to a group including staff from Human Resources and Discovery Commons. Together, the group improved the appointments process within the Faculty of Medicine. They consulted with administrative staff in all departments, and built a new system from the ground up that was faster and easier to use. The team includes Academic HR Coordinators Christianne Green and Donna Deak and Discovery Commons Business Systems Analyst Katherine McConnell.
The Fostering a Collaborative Environment Award went to a large group of staff including members from Discovery Commons, Human Resources, Lab Medicine Pathobiology and the Department of Family and Community Medicine. Together, the group developed the FOCUS system, a single place to track and manage all demographic data on faculty and staff. The team includes Ben Smith Lee, Carolanne Graham, Christianne Green, Christine Kreutzer, Court van Beek, Julie Verduci, Marie Leverman, Patricia Cayetano, Philip Chung, Sam Chan and Shahidul Haque Apu.
