2023 Office of the Director (OD) | NIH Director's Awards

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Ruth L. Kirschstein Mentoring Award

Individual Awards

For exemplary performance while demonstrating significant leadership, skill, and ability in serving as a mentor.

Rosalina O. Bray, OD

Administrative

Group Awards

Police Special Salary Rate Increase Team

In recognition of outstanding efforts to enhance recruitment and retention efforts of NIH police officers by establishing a higher Special Salary Rate.

Karen C. Cook, OD
Alexander Knobel, OD
Heather Powell, OD
Daniel Shumate, OD
Lauren Tedesco, OD

The Workplace Flexibilities Program Implementation Team

In recognition of the outstanding leadership, collaboration, and communication to successfully launch the NIH Workplace Flexibilities Program.

Olivia Aikins, OD
Elizabeth Chavez, OD
Deborah Coelho, OD
Michael D'Andrea, OD
Phillip W. Day, OD
Margaret Fletcher, OD
Ruth Fraley, OD
Annie Franco, OD
Parastoo Ghodsi, CIT
Amsatou Gueye, OD
Joseph Martin, OD
Mallory McCormick, OD
Patrick McGrady, OD
John Pearson, OD
Catherine Rusert, OD
Melissa Smith, OD
Carrol Stewman, OD
Diane M. Sullivan, OD
Timothy Tosten, OD

OITE Wellness Team

In recognition of outstanding efforts to create a comprehensive program encompassing a breadth of activities to support the mental health and well-being of NIH trainees.

Erika Barr, OD
Yewon Cheon, OD
Hyo-Jung Han, OD
Elena Hernandez-Ramon, OD
Sara Hunter, OD
Ella Ulrike E. Klenke, OD
Natasha Lugo-Escobar, OD
Moraima Matus-Nicodemos, OD
Jeffrey Mercurio, OD
Darryl M. Murray, OD
Andrea Naranjo Erazo, OD
Philip Ryan, OD
Alexis Schirling, OD
Gail K. Seabold, OD
Emily Summerbell, OD
Philip Wang, OD
Jennifer Wiggins, OD

Data Science Policy Council Subgroup and Implementation Team

For extraordinary dedication and teamwork in supporting NIH leadership and the research community in preparing and implementing the NIH Policy for Data Management and Sharing.

Ashley Alexander, OD
Heather Allison, OD
Elizabeth Baker, OD
Darya Biryukova, OD
Jade Blevins, OD
Christopher Booher, OD
Alesia Brody, OD
Antoinette Caliman, OD
Ishwar Chandramouliswaran, OD
Megan Columbus, OD
Sheri Cummins, OD
Cynthia Danielson, OD
Charles Dearolf, OD
Kasima Garst, OD
Susan Gregurick, OD
Alexandru Gurduiala, OD
Amy Hafez, OD
Christopher Hammond, OD
Chinonye Harvey, OD
Cheryl Jacobs, OD
Xanthia James, OD
Tyler Kasperbauer, OD
John Kim, OD
Christopher Kinsinger, OD
Etan Kuperberg, OD
Jennie Larkin, NIA
Hilary Leeds, OD
Adam Levy, OD
Jennifer Lewis, OD
Minna Liang, OD
Erin Luetkemeier, OD
Jill Mattia, OD
Monica McMillian, OD
Carrie Mitchell, OD
Cornelius Moore, OD
Fernando Nunez, OD
Vivian Ota Wang, OD
Taunton Paine, OD
Naci Powell, OD
Valerie Robinson, OD
Laura M. Roman, OD
David Rosen, OD
Emma Saiz, OD
Julia Slutsman, OD
Elyse M. Sullivan, OD
Rulei Tang, OD
Garrett Tosh, OD
Alessio Van Keulen, OD
Ellen Wann, OD
Zhu Ying, OD

DEIA Peer Circles

For leadership excellence in developing and implementing DEIA Peer Circles to provide employees a forum for open peer discussions related to DEIA.

Courtney Aklin, OD
Karen Bressler, OD
Latif Doman, OD
Debra Harding, OD
Melissa Laitner, OD
Charlene Le Fauve, OD
Tonya S. Lee, OD
Donna O'Neill, OD
Melissa Ovard, OD
Timothy Tosten, OD
Anna Verschoore, OD
Elizabeth Walsh, OD
Connie Wozny, OD

The NIH-Wide Strategic Plan for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Working Group

In recognition of outstanding contributions to advance the NIH Mission through development of the NIH-Wide Strategic Plan for DEIA.

Olga Acosta, NINR
Tamera Addison, NIDCR
Toyin Ajisafe, NICHD
Shilpa Amin, NIMHD
James M. Anderson, OD
Sharlis Anthony, OD
Trevor Archer, NIEHS
Shirley Arteaga, OD
Kiana Atkins, OD
Albert Avila, NIBIB
Deshiree Belis, OD
Shannon Bell, NCI
Julie Berko, OD
Marie A. Bernard, OD
Eddie Billingslea Jr., NIGMS
Thomas Boddie, OD
Alexis Braxton, CC
Rosalina O. Bray, OD
Penny Burgoon, NCATS
Stephanie Y. Burrows, NIAMS
Felecia Bush, OD
Juliane Caviston, OD
Brittany Chao, OD
Makyba Charles-Ayinde, OD
Tsz Chun Choi, NIMHD
Rebecca Coca, NCCIH
Dexter E. Collins, FIC
Christine Cooper, NIBIB
Mary Frances Cotch, NEI
Donna Crews, OD
Aria Crump, NIDA
Christina Daulton, NHGRI
Kevin Davis, CIT
Angel De La Cruz Landrau, NIDDK
Rachel Diamond, OD
Danny Dickerson, OD
Kathel Dunn, NLM
Kristen L. Dunn-Thomason, OD
Robert Eisinger, OD
Bonnie L. Ellis, CSR
Edgardo Falcon-Morales, NIGMS
Tilda M. Farhat, NIMHD
Kristina Faulk, OD
Ila Flannigan, CC
Gabriel B. Fosu, CSR
Meredith Fox, NIMH
Alison Gammie, NIGMS
Mary Garcia-Cazarin, OD
Kendrick Gibbs, OD
Caroline Goon, OD
Melissa Green Parker, OD
Christie Gunter, NHGRI
Justin Hentges, OD
Lauren D. Hill, NIMH
Reon Holloway, NICHD
Treava Hopkins-Laboy, OD
Kay Johnson, OD
Kimberly Johnson, OD
Shkeda Johnson-Young, NIDA
Patricia Jones, NIA
Michelle D. Jones-London, NINDS
Nicholas Jury, OD
Mary Kester, NCCIH
Kimberly Kirkpatrick, OD
David Kosub, OD
Jo-Ann Kriebel, NINR
Melissa Laitner, OD
Charlene Le Fauve, OD
Christy Ley, OD
Shelma M. Little, OD
Mia Lowden, NINR
Mark L. Lucano, NIDCD
Anna Mazzucco, OD
Martin Mendoza, OD
Rebecca Meseroll, OD
Leah R. Miller, NHLBI
Renee Minnick, OD
Oleg Mirochnitchenko, OD
Roland A. Owens, OD
Karen L. Parker, OD
Melissa Parker, OD
Parisa Parsafar, OD
Kelly Peralta, OD
Troy Pfister, NLM
Richard A. Phillips, NIAMS
Adam Politis, NICHD
Joy Postell, OD
Emmett Powell, OD
Leshawndra Price, NIAID
Sarah Rhodes, OD
David Rice, OD
Ryan Richardson, NINDS
Deidra Y. Roach, NIAAA
Stephon Scott, OD
Eric Wk. Sid, NCATS
Kelly Singel, OD
Karen Smith, NEI
Erin Spaniol, OD
Sanya Springfield, NCI
Denise Stredrick, OD
Stephen Teagarden, OD
Alyssa Tonsing-Carter, NIA
Jessica Tucker, OD
Marina L. Volkov, OD
Julie Wallace, NIDDK
Wayne Wang, NHLBI
Dawn Wayman, OD
Bali White, OD
Kevin Williams, OD
Bridget Williams-Simmons, NIAAA
David Wilson, OD
Jorge A. Zapata, NIAMS

AIM-AHEAD Development and Launch Team

For extraordinary efforts to develop a new flagship program in artificial intelligence and health equity research resulting in the launch of the AIM-AHEAD program.

Partha Bhattacharyya, NIA
Laura Biven, OD
Brittany Chao, OD
Dina Demner-Fushman, NLM
Joshua Denny, OD
Dolores D. Doherty, NIDDK
Deborah Duran, NIMHD
Christian Evans, OD
Shaojian Gao, NEI
Jordan Gladman, NINDS
Rebecca Goodwin, NLM
Monica Hooper, NIMHD
Michele McGuirl, NIGMS
Donald Milliken, NHLBI
Elaine O. Nsoesie, OD
Dina Paltoo, NHLBI
Chengyuan Press, NHLBI
John A. Prue, NIDCR
Nicole Redmond, NHLBI
Diana S. Rutberg, NIDCR
Neha Shah, NIDDK
Robert A. Star, NIDDK
Alastair Thomson, NHLBI
Xujing Wang, NIDDK

Community Partnerships to Advance Science for Society Working Group

For outstanding efforts to launch Community Partnerships to Advance Science for Society (ComPASS), a new community-led multisectoral structural intervention research model across NIH.

Amanda Acevedo, NCI
Brenda Adjei, NCI
Brian K. Albertini, NINR
Jennifer Alvidrez, OD
Sara Amolegbe, OD
Crystal L. Barksdale, NIMHD
Jessica Bellinger, CSR
Richard Benson, NINDS
Dara R. Blachman, OD
Cheryl Boyce, OD
Miranda Broadney, NIDDK
Alison Brown, NHLBI
Shalanda Bynum, NINR
Juanita Chinn, NICHD
Sara Dodson, NINDS
Regine A. Douthard, OD
Kristina Faulk, OD
Yvonne Ferguson, OD
Minnjuan Flournoy Floyd, NIDA
Paul Gaist, OD
Stephanie George, NIAMS
Rebecca Goodwin, NLM
Christopher M. Gordon, NIMH
Raquel Greer, NIDDK
Michelle Hamlet, OD
Hiroko Iida, NIDCR
Patricia Jones, NIA
Collene Lawhorn, NIMH
Jimmy Le, NEI
Jacqueline J. Lloyd, OD
Ebony Madden, NHGRI
Ellie Murcia, OD
David Murray, OD
Joan Nagel, NCATS
Malgorzata J. Ochocinska, OD
Kelli A. Oster, NINR
Karen L. Parker, OD
Jonathan D. Pollock, NIDA
Asif M. Rizwan, NHLBI
Deidra Y. Roach, NIAAA
Cendrine Robinson, NIDCD
Janeth Sanchez, OD
Jason Shockey, OD
Melissa Smarr, NIEHS
Nathaniel Stinson, NIMHD
Frederick Tyson, NIEHS
Nadra Tyus, OD
Tiffany Wallace, NCI
Damiya Whitaker, OD
Danyelle Winchester, OD
Esther Young, OD
Xinzhi Zhang, NHLBI
Julia Zur, NIDA

The RADx Data Hub Development Team

In recognition of exceptional dedication and significant effort to create a research data repository, the RADx Data Hub, for COVID-19 research data.

Dorothy Castille, NIMHD
Jue Chen, NHLBI
Anthony Dickherber, NCI
Lucy Hsu, OD
Erin J. Iturriaga, NHLBI
Andrew Kurtz, NCI
Vivian Ota Wang, OD
Yanli Wang, NLM
Andrew Weitz, NIBIB

UNITE U Committee RFI and Listening Session Teams

For developing and executing two major public engagement efforts, the UNITE Listening Sessions and Request for Information (RFI), on behalf of the UNITE Initiative.

Courtney Aklin, OD
Melissa Antman, ARPA-H
Shelli Avenevoli, NIMH
Dexter E. Collins, FIC
Lauren Cooper, NIMH
Kevin Davis, CIT
Maria Estrada Perez, NCI
Cara Finley, OD
Jamie Gulin, NIA
Monica Hooper, NIMHD
Shadab Hussain, NCI
Douglas Joubert, OD
Melissa Laitner, OD
Charlene Le Fauve, OD
Leslie D. Littlejohn, NIAMS
Mia Lowden, NINR
Vanessa J. Marshall, NIMHD
Troy Muhammad, NCI
Ian Myles, NIAID
Roland A. Owens, OD
Kamilah Rashid, NIGMS
Melanie Reagan, NEI
Ryan Richardson, NINDS
Anu Sharman, NCI
Denesha Simmons, NCCIH
Kelly G. Ten Hagen, NIDCR
Della White, NIGMS

DEIA Listening Sessions Team

For outstanding leadership and commitment in developing and executing the DEIA Listening Sessions.

Kiana Atkins, OD
Jerome Battle, CIT
Brittney Cardwell, OD
Tanya Chakraborty, OD
Jacklyn Chen, OD
Danny Dickerson, OD
Caroline Goon, OD
Deneen Hodges, OD
James Hopkins, OD
Kimberly Kirkpatrick, OD
Phalla Messina, OD
Isaiah Morrison, OD
Helene Payne, OD
Adam Politis, NICHD
Joy Postell, OD
Jennifer Pumphrey, OD
David Rice, OD
S. Monique Robinson, OD
Patricia Sauceda Kramer, OD
Carly Sullivan, OD
Bali White, OD
Jennifer Woronow, OD

Customer Service

Group Awards

RTP Campus Underground Electrical Emergency Repair Team

For exceptional efforts to ensure continuous critical patient care operations at the National Institute of Environmental Health Science Clinical Research Unit.

Lee Howell, OD
Jamie Measmer, OD
Joseph Shealey, OD

Regulations and Federal Register Branch

For innovative and streamlined technological improvements that provide customers across NIH a more effective process for regulation review.

Anna Z. Amar, OD
Alycia Booth, OD
Daniel Hernandez, OD
David Hoekzema, OD
Jerry Moore, OD

Individual Awards

For outstanding customer support managing critical facility projects, including laboratories and highly specialized medical research and treatment spaces that directly support important medical research.

Foster Awuku, OD

For exemplary customer service and dedication to the mission of the Division of International Services and greater NIH community.

Katie McLaughlin, OD

For exceptional customer service, collaboration, and partnership to NIH researchers as a biomedical research librarian.

Alicia Livinski, OD

For providing exceptional HR advice, guidance, and customer service to the NIH Clinical Center.

Brock Schimke, OD

For extraordinary commitment to customer needs and helpful, personalized technical support.

Franklyn G. Lubsey Jr., CIT

Emerging Leader

Individual Awards

For unwavering commitment and dedication as the sole chief officer leading Fire and Rescue operations during a time of unprecedented officer and firefighter vacancies.

Stephen Teagarden, OD

For exceptional leadership in utilizing and promoting artificial intelligence technologies to improve the accuracy of annual categorical reporting.

Julia Gichimu, OD

For leadership and coordination well beyond assigned responsibility in developing the START tool to enhance Common Fund program management.

Veronica Taylor, OD

Common Fund Unsung Heroes

Group Awards

HuBMAP Under-Represented Student Internship and Jumpstart Team

For extraordinary contributions to planning and implementing initiatives that build stronger communities of diverse, early-career stage investigators.

Zorina Galis, NHLBI
Ajay Pillai, NHGRI
Maya Vanzanten, NHGRI

Individual Awards

In recognition of outstanding grants management contributions to multiple Common Fund programs.

Gabriel Hidalgo, NIDCR

Mission Support

Group Awards

Vivarium Infrastructure Repair Team

For exceptional efforts to ensure continuous Vivarium operations during critical infrastructure repairs.

Franklin Chicas, OD
Eric Frails, OD
Antoine Jones, OD
Floyd Parezo, OD
Charles Pearson, OD
Brian Van Natten, OD
Vernon Vest, OD
Chuck Watkins, OD
Dennis Will, OD
Russell Zoutte, OD

Underground Electrical Emergency Repair Team

For exceptional efforts to ensure continuous critical patient care operations at the National Institute of Environmental Health Science Clinical Research Unit.