The UT Health Science Center (UTHSC) has officially submitted its nominees to the UT System for the 2023 President’s Awards. Based on the BE ONE UT values, these awards are the highest honor a UT employee can receive.
UTHSC’s 2023 nominees are:
- Dr. James Bailey – Bold and impactful (faculty)
This award honors an individual who serves the state by tackling grand challenges. Dr. Bailey has developed and led the Tennessee Population Health Consortium, Tennessee Heart Health Network, and Tennessee Population Health Data Network to improve our state’s health care landscape.
- Melissa Smith – Bold and impactful (Staff)
This award honors an individual who serves the state by tackling grand challenges. Melissa goes above and beyond to provide excellent service to students, staff, and faculty each day in her work and consistently has been described by students in Knoxville as welcoming and kind.
- Dr. David Shibata – Embrace diversity (faculty)
This award honors an individual who respects our individual organizational uniqueness that makes us stronger. Dr. Shibata displays empathy, promotes collegiality, and models inclusive behavior by fostering a culture that supports and celebrates inclusivity, growth, and development.
- Nury Magana – Embrace diversity (staff)
This award honors an individual who respects our individual organizational uniqueness that makes us stronger. Nury exemplifies the mission of UTHSC through her work by providing service with professionalism, showing empathy for staff, and demonstrating her passion for helping underserved communities.
- Dr. Bradley Boucher – Optimistic and visionary (faculty)
This award honors an individual who empowers courageous leadership. Dr. Boucher demonstrates his perpetual optimism not only through his leadership of the UTHSC College of Pharmacy but also through his involvement across the discipline of clinical pharmacy.
- Charles Hicks – Optimistic and visionary (staff)
This award honors an individual who empowers courageous leadership. Charles consistently finds the positive aspect of all situations and inspires others with the infectious enthusiasm he brings to his daily work with the Department of Physiology.
- Dr. Gabor Tigyi – Nimble and innovative (faculty)
This award honors an individual who inspires creativity and transformational actions. Dr. Tigyi has showcased his creativity and encouraged innovative behaviors with his agile approach to scientific inquiry based on funding and scientific metrics.
- Patricia Page – Nimble and innovative (staff)
This award honors an individual who inspires creativity and transformational actions. Patricia’s willingness to try new things to achieve a better outcome has resulted in contributions that have significantly impacted sponsored projects and research compliance.
- Dr. Neil Hayes – Excel in all we do (faculty)
This award honors an individual who continuously commits to improvement and outstanding performance. Dr. Hayes has demonstrated his commitment to excellence by building the infrastructure needed to establish cancer center designation for UTHSC.
- Sherry Frazier Warford – Excel in all we do (staff)
This award honors an individual who continuously commits to improvement and outstanding performance. Sherry exhibits a continuous pursuit of growth through not only her own learning but also by encouraging her lab technicians to pursue training opportunities for their own career development.
- Dr. Natascha Thompson – Transparent and trusted (faculty)
This award honors an individual who fosters integrity through openness, accountability, and stewardship. Dr. Thompson has demonstrated through her work that she is an honest, proactive communicator who is highly respected by her patients, colleagues, residents, and fellows.
- Ronald Davis – Transparent and trusted (staff)
This award honors an individual who fosters integrity through openness, accountability, and stewardship. Ronald is an advocate for students, a good steward of resources, and a transparent communicator through his work in overseeing the labs in the General Education Building.
These nominees were selected following a campus call to identify UTHSC employees who exhibited the BE ONE UT values. Each category has up to ten candidates, nominated by UT’s campus and institute leaders.
Our UTHSC nominees will now be reviewed and scored by a committee comprised of representatives from across the UT System. The honorees of this year’s President’s Awards will be announced at the June UT Board of Trustees meeting and each winner will receive a commemorative plaque and $3,000.
Please join us as we congratulate and celebrate UTHSC’s nominees for this year’s prestigious President’s Awards!