Celebrating Staff Achievements at the Faculty of Medicine
“At the Faculty of Medicine, we want to be sure we recognize the fine work of our professional staff — every single day. It is important to do that informally, with words of support and kindness ... and gratitude. But it’s also important to recognize staff with events like this one,” said Tim Neff, Chief Administrative Officer.
The David Keeling Award was presented to Amanda Patterson, the Business Manager at the Department of Physical Therapy. Patterson has been instrumental in providing exceptional financial and administrative support and establishing excellent working relationships with staff, students, donors, alumni at the Department of Physical Therapy.
Recognized for her commitment to creating a collegial and balanced work environment, Renee Brost, Director of Administration for the Donnelly Centre, received the Leadership Award. Brost has been highly successful at achieving the type of work environment that the Faculty of Medicine seeks for all its employees. Brost recognizes the strengths of each employee and is dedicated to ensuring that every member of the team reaches their full potential.
The Quality Improvement Award recipient, Anastasia Meletopoulos, is the Academic Affairs Specialist in the Office of the Dean. The highly effective processes and procedures implemented by Meletopoulos make the Faculty’s work more efficient and are held up as an example for other divisions across campus.
Leah Scherk, Facilities Planner in Facilities Management and Space Planning, was awarded the New Employee Award. This award recognizes a staff member who has been at the University less than two years and has performed well, with great potential for career development. Scherk has supported several Faculty of Medicine departments with complex renovations and physical space upgrades and always goes the extra mile to understand and meet the needs of each group.
The award for Service in a Laboratory Research Environment was awarded to Bryan San Luis, who works in the lab of Charlie Boone at the Donnelly Centre. San Luis makes important contributions to the lab on a daily basis - his speed and accuracy are unbeatable in genomics projects. Not only is he able to complete his assignments quickly, but his data have a high level of reproducibility and reliability – this is critical for success at the highest level of science.
Ariel Ng was recognized for her commitment to community with the Community Service Award. Ng devotes one evening a week and one overnight shift a month to the Toronto Distress Centre, an agency that provides around-the-clock response to people in emotional crises. She provides crisis response and intervention to the emotionally vulnerable and at-risk populations.
Finally, the award for Fostering a Collaborative Environment went to a team that has been instrumental in the development, design and delivery of the new Foundations Curriculum for our MD students – the most significant curriculum change in over 20 years. They adapted and improvised continuously to meet very tight deadlines and worked together to achieve a high standard of excellence, creating a positive work environment for each other and the senior leadership team. This team includes Bektu Abidta, Melissa Casco, Tamica Charles, Elizabeth Day, Karine Frisou-Dugas, Frazer Howard, Sylvia Jao, Bochra Kurabi, Lina Marino, Joan McKnight, Jennifer Ng, Pauline Pan, Frances Rankin, Susan Rice, Yasmin Shariff, Yuxin Tu and Roxanne Wright.
